This is an advanced level workshop for dancers who are committed to expanding their knowledge and practice of Contact Improvisation. Our focus will be to deepen our skills while connecting our perceptual awareness with our poetic imagination. We believe that emotional presence and clarity are essential to create a supportive environment for this kind of exploration.

We use a variety of approaches including skill work, perceptual tuning, open dancing, and imaginative practices designed to teach students how to engage more fully with their partners.

We define advanced contact as the development of a highly refined sensory and movement practice which makes possible passionate, safe, committed dancing. This is different than simply being able to execute physical skills. It means being able to open oneself to what is happening and courageously exploring new ways of dancing.

It takes courage not to fall into habitual ways of dancing and perceiving. To be free within the dancing we need to some times say no to our impulse. This means caring for ourselves and the dance.

Contact is more than a physical practice. It is the continual joint exploration of that permeable boundary between the real and the imaginary—the laws of physics combined with the curiosity and playfulness of our hearts and minds.

Advanced level in CI required -- This means being able to fall safely from any level, take weight, follow the point of contact, move upside down, and being comfortable with disorientation. Also, being able to modulate the physical tone of your body in relation to your partner and the demands of the dancing. Finally, it means being committed to being emotionally clear and present while practicing contact, accepting responsibility for your own safety. Typically dancers take CI classes steadily for at least 3 years before they begin to move proficiently at an advanced level of practice. It is important for the congruency and safety of the group that all those who apply for this workshop are truly confident at this level of practice.Contact us if you have any questions about whether this workshop is the right level for you.

We anticipate that registration for the Workshop will fill very quickly. We are limiting the workshop to 26 dancers (that is all that the space can comfortably accommodate.)

Online registration opens Sunday February 14, 2010, at noon (12:00pm) MST (mountain standard time, USA)
1. Register online for the Workshop (and optionally the Jam), including $100 deposit minimum online (see NOTE below).
2. Registration for the 2010 workshop is on a first-come basis, with a LOTTERY which will be done by REGION (among those with an advanced level of experience), to ensure geographic diversity of workshop registrants. **Please also read the note below regarding the “level” of the workshop.**
3. You will be notified by email by 2/18 whether you are have a confirmed space in the workshop, if you are on the wait list, or if your name did not get drawn in the lottery. (If your name was not drawn, you will be refunded your deposit, or [if you are going to the jam] you can use the deposit money toward your jam balance.)
4. If you are on the “wait list”, you can stay on the wait list to see if a space opens up, or you can receive a refund immediately (and thus be taken off the wait list). If you are on the "wait list" for the workshop and a space opens up , we will notify you by email and/or phone and you will have 72 hours to let us know whether you plan on attending or not. If you decline to attend or we do not hear from you after 72 hours, we will ask the next person on the "wait list.
5. When the workshop and wait list are full, we will close online registration for the workshop, and post that registration is FULL here on this website.

*GEOGRAPHIC DIVERSITY: We as organizers desire to have a geographically disperse group for Chris & Angie’s 5-day CI workshop. We will confirm registrations based in order of registrations received from the various areas of the country. The Boulder community is historically the biggest group represented at the Moab Jam, but we want to ensure spaces from dancers from other parts of the country.

**WORKSHOP EXPERIENCE LEVEL: Please note that this is an advanced-level workshop. If you have questions about whether your experience and skills are appropriate for this workshop please contact us BEFORE the registration date. If the organizers have a question about whether this is the right workshop for you, they will contact you after you register, but this step delays the registration confirmations for everyone…please contact us if you need any further information.

NOTE: If you anticipate being unable to pay your deposit online on the registration date, please contact us (before registration opens) to make other arrangements.

CANCELLATIONS: For those who pay in full and are accepted into the Workshop and cancel before the event, all of your money, less the deposit amount ($100) will be returned. All deposits are non-refundable unless you are on the wait-list (see above).

Sorry, all Workshop Works-Study positions have been filled. Thanks!

DANCING: The Workshop will be held indoors at the Moab Arts and Recreation Center (MARC)(show me on a map), a beautifully renovated church with nice hardwood floors, high ceilings and tall windows that let in the bright desert sunshine.

CAMPING: The Workshop participants are all invited to stay together and car camp at either Up the Creek Campground (in downtown Moab, 4 blocks from the MARC) or Ken's Lake (20 minute drive from the MARC.) It's OK if you don't have a car because we'll car-pool as much as we can. A bike is handy if you stay at Up the Creek Campground. Bikes can be rented in Moab.

Campsite fees are NOT included in the Workshop price. See the Logistics page for campsite costs, location, and how to make reservations.
IMPORTANT: Up the Creek Campground takes reservations and sells out months in advance around Memorial Day weekend. Ken's Lake Campground takes NO reservations and we'll have a work-study person who will be present to hold a few campsites for those who want to camp there, so be sure to let us know (on the registration form) if you think you'll be staying there. For both campgrounds, Workshop and Jam participants are highly encouraged to share campground sites and tents with other dancers. Work-study will help coordinate where everyone is staying.

HOTELS, MOTELS, HOSTELS, BED & BREAKFASTS, CONDOS: If you'd rather not camp, there are other accommodations within just a few blocks of the MARC in Moab. See the Logistics page for LOTS of information.

The workshop begins Saturday afternoon, May 22. We suggest arrival on Friday evening May 21. There will be 5-7 hours of classes daily. (We will post a detailed schedule on the website before the event.) The workshop will end with an evening class on Wednesday May 26

If you're coming to the Workshop from out of state, consider making the trip an even longer vacation and join us for the Jam after the Workshop.