"What moves itself has been shown to be immortal... every body in which movement comes from within has a soul,
as that is the nature of the Soul." Phadrus, Plato
as that is the nature of the Soul." Phadrus, Plato
CONTACT IMPROV EVENTS 2025
FASCINATING FOUNDATIONS WEEKEND
January 25 & 26th
at the Quimper Grange in Port Townsend, WA
January 25 & 26th
at the Quimper Grange in Port Townsend, WA
We discover that Contact Improvisation has four main ingredients:
Presence, Point of Contact, Weight Sharing, and Momentum
We take a slow, mindful approach to attune our minds and bodies
to move together with care and ease.
Saturday January 25
10am - 6pm
Sunday January 26
10am - 6pm
(there will be long mid-session breaks both days,
please inquire if details would be helpful)
You are welcome to register by sending me an email with a bit about
your experience, interest, and any questions at movinggrace@gmail.com
and making advance payment to the same email for PayPal (friends & family) or
@mia_movinggrace on Venmo
$300 - 250 sliding scale
(additional financial accessibility scale available upon request)
**Class Size is limited so Register Now to save your spot!
More About Our Fascinating Foundations Classes...
Contact Improvisation is a 50 year old, ever-evolving, and beloved experiment in the physics, creativity, and relational awareness that emerges when two bodies meet in motion & contact. People are drawn to it's dynamic and connective nature more and more in these post-Covid times of re-connecting with each other and the value of healthy touch, and community. Some are interested more in the potential artistry, some for the play, some for the co-regulation and restorative effects, and some love it's athletic aspects... but it seems that all bodies and backgrounds are finding great value in the practice.
In this weekend immersion, we start at the very beginning. We discuss and establish our culture of consent and conscious connection. This emerges from a foundational principle of Presence.
Our inquiry continues with practices that cultivate helpful "Ways of Being" in our bodies and minds alone, and then with others. When approached with care and spaciousness, CI can help our nervous systems shift into regulated states
of relaxation, receptivity, and sensitivity.
From here we explore "Ways of Engaging"... and develop our own sensibilities to guide us in and out of dances
with consciousness, kindness, and presence. We engage basic physical principles of "point of contact", "weight sharing", and "momentum". These are the skills we build gradually over the weekend.
Although there will be much more to learn and discover, this series will give students the confidence and comfort they need to arrive in the community "Jam" space, ready to enjoy and feel safe.
In this weekend immersion, we start at the very beginning. We discuss and establish our culture of consent and conscious connection. This emerges from a foundational principle of Presence.
Our inquiry continues with practices that cultivate helpful "Ways of Being" in our bodies and minds alone, and then with others. When approached with care and spaciousness, CI can help our nervous systems shift into regulated states
of relaxation, receptivity, and sensitivity.
From here we explore "Ways of Engaging"... and develop our own sensibilities to guide us in and out of dances
with consciousness, kindness, and presence. We engage basic physical principles of "point of contact", "weight sharing", and "momentum". These are the skills we build gradually over the weekend.
Although there will be much more to learn and discover, this series will give students the confidence and comfort they need to arrive in the community "Jam" space, ready to enjoy and feel safe.
“Mia’s classes opened up in me a whole world of movement and self expression. I learned the core principals of Contact that not only give me more fluidity and confidence in dance but inform my soul as well about being in a body, in care and in loving grace.”
~ Ward Serrill
~ Ward Serrill
“Mia’s vast pool of teachings are rich with metaphor which deepens the dance and provides food for mind/body/spirit integration. In ongoing classes, great trust and rapport is built amongst the participants."
~ Jennifer Hill
~ Jennifer Hill
ONGOING FRIDAY JAM NIGHT @ The Hive!
Every Friday evening 4:30 - 7:30pm at The Hive in Port Hadlock
10632 Rhody Drive
$10-12
New to this Jam? Please arrive at 4:30pm your first time... our opening circle welcomes new participants. Otherwise it is a come and go as you wish.
Every Friday evening 4:30 - 7:30pm at The Hive in Port Hadlock
10632 Rhody Drive
$10-12
New to this Jam? Please arrive at 4:30pm your first time... our opening circle welcomes new participants. Otherwise it is a come and go as you wish.
PAST EVENTS:
Contact Improv Port Townsend and Moving Grace Arts are excited to host a weekend of community dance!
We warmly welcome our regional friends to join us for the 24th Annual Global Underscore, AND jams, dances, and classes to enjoy all weekend long! We'll offer camping and homestays to all we can. Shared potluck meals, fireside music and storytelling, beach time... Come play and relax in our special community and sanctuary!
June 21st - Solstice Jam with Live Music from Daniel Macke. 4:30 - 7:30pm at The Hive in Port Hadlock. $10 - 12
June 22nd - Global Underscore 8am - 12 noon outside at The Songhouse Sanctuary in Port Townsend $12 - 15
Afternoon Emergence - Beach time, forest bathing, solo or together...
Evening Magic - games and food as inspired with community singing
and Storytelling Fireside with Kirsten Webb, 7 - 10pm at The Songhouse Sanctuary
June 23rd - Soulful Sunday Ecstatic Dance, 10 - 11:30am at Madrona Mindbody $15
Continuing Contact Class 2 - 6pm at Madrona Mindbody $75
A la carte costs, register for each event separately. Come to one, more, or all!
A contribution will be requested for camping at The Songhouse Sanctuary ($15-20/night) and private arrangements will be made with various homestay hosts.
Please register in advance for the Underscore and Continuing Contact Class. Space limitations will apply for these two event only, so please contact Mia at movinggrace@gmail.com before sending payment.
Looking forward to a wildishing weekend together!
June 21st - Solstice Jam with Live Music from Daniel Macke. 4:30 - 7:30pm at The Hive in Port Hadlock. $10 - 12
June 22nd - Global Underscore 8am - 12 noon outside at The Songhouse Sanctuary in Port Townsend $12 - 15
Afternoon Emergence - Beach time, forest bathing, solo or together...
Evening Magic - games and food as inspired with community singing
and Storytelling Fireside with Kirsten Webb, 7 - 10pm at The Songhouse Sanctuary
June 23rd - Soulful Sunday Ecstatic Dance, 10 - 11:30am at Madrona Mindbody $15
Continuing Contact Class 2 - 6pm at Madrona Mindbody $75
A la carte costs, register for each event separately. Come to one, more, or all!
A contribution will be requested for camping at The Songhouse Sanctuary ($15-20/night) and private arrangements will be made with various homestay hosts.
Please register in advance for the Underscore and Continuing Contact Class. Space limitations will apply for these two event only, so please contact Mia at movinggrace@gmail.com before sending payment.
Looking forward to a wildishing weekend together!
GLOBAL UNDERSCORE 2024!
SATURDAY JUNE 22ND
We join the rest of the world at 8am PST... ending at noon!
Potluck Lunch & Linger
https://globalunderscore.com/harvest/
Global Underscore (GUS) centers around a yearly event in which the Underscore is practiced simultaneously for a 4-hour period by people all over the world near the summer solstice (northern hemisphere). Typically, 70+ sites participate in GUS.
THE UNDERSCORE
The Underscore is a long-form dance improvisation structure developed by Nancy Stark Smith. It has been evolving since 1990 and is practiced all over the globe.
The Underscore is a vehicle for incorporating Contact Improvisation into a broader arena of improvisational dance practice; for developing greater ease dancing in spherical space—alone and with others; and for integrating kinesthetic and compositional concerns while improvising. It allows for a full spectrum of energetic and physical expressions, embodying a range of forms and changing states. Its practice is familiar yet unpredictable.
The practice—usually 3 to 4 hours in length—progresses through a broad range of dynamic states, including long periods of very small, private, and quiet internal activity and other times of higher energy and interactive dancing.
(taken from Nancystarksmith.com)
We begin with a “Talk-Through” of the Underscore, which often takes about an hour, before dancing the Underscore. The Underscore is generally not led with verbal cues; the idea is that people “know” it already and are coming together to share the practice. Participants come on time and stay for the duration of the event.
Near the beginning and at the end of the Global Underscore practice, dancers at each site do the Stand/Small Dance (a focus on standing developed by Steve Paxton) together facing the next site around the globe, making an energetic line that spirals around the earth. These are called the Facings.
SATURDAY JUNE 22ND
We join the rest of the world at 8am PST... ending at noon!
Potluck Lunch & Linger
https://globalunderscore.com/harvest/
Global Underscore (GUS) centers around a yearly event in which the Underscore is practiced simultaneously for a 4-hour period by people all over the world near the summer solstice (northern hemisphere). Typically, 70+ sites participate in GUS.
THE UNDERSCORE
The Underscore is a long-form dance improvisation structure developed by Nancy Stark Smith. It has been evolving since 1990 and is practiced all over the globe.
The Underscore is a vehicle for incorporating Contact Improvisation into a broader arena of improvisational dance practice; for developing greater ease dancing in spherical space—alone and with others; and for integrating kinesthetic and compositional concerns while improvising. It allows for a full spectrum of energetic and physical expressions, embodying a range of forms and changing states. Its practice is familiar yet unpredictable.
The practice—usually 3 to 4 hours in length—progresses through a broad range of dynamic states, including long periods of very small, private, and quiet internal activity and other times of higher energy and interactive dancing.
(taken from Nancystarksmith.com)
We begin with a “Talk-Through” of the Underscore, which often takes about an hour, before dancing the Underscore. The Underscore is generally not led with verbal cues; the idea is that people “know” it already and are coming together to share the practice. Participants come on time and stay for the duration of the event.
Near the beginning and at the end of the Global Underscore practice, dancers at each site do the Stand/Small Dance (a focus on standing developed by Steve Paxton) together facing the next site around the globe, making an energetic line that spirals around the earth. These are called the Facings.
FASCINATING FOUNDATIONS IN CONTACT IMPROVISATION WEEKEND
IN LEAVENWORTH JULY 12 - 14
IN LEAVENWORTH JULY 12 - 14
Mia also offers private sessions in Contact Improvisation skill building,
as well as Somatic Healing Process Work.
Please contact her for more information.
as well as Somatic Healing Process Work.
Please contact her for more information.
Coming Soon...
NEW FOUNDATIONS SERIES Winter 2025
ONGOING CONTACT LAB & JAM NIGHT for CI Practitioners
VISIT THIS PAGE AGAIN... MORE RESOURCES AND WRITING COMING SOON!