November 20, Friday
15:00-17:00 Teachers’ meeting
17:00-17:40 Registration
17:40-18:00 Opening circle
18:00-20:00 Class
20:00-21:00 JAM

November 21, Saturday
10:00-10:30 Morning circle
10:30-13:00 Class
Lunch break (13:00-14:00)
14:00-16:30  Class
Dinner break (16:30-18:00)
18:00-19:00 Performance
19:00-21:00 JAM

November 22, Sunday
10:30-13:00 Class
Lunch break (13:00-14:00)
14:00-17:00 Closing circle & JAM
17:00-18:00 Cleaning party!

Balance
We are exploring our own balancing action in dancing. The idea is to find what it is to know and feel balancing reactions in our bodies. Leaning to gravity and finding my own center of mass are some topics in a class. Balancing is quite subtle phenomenon in dancing and it have great learning possibilities. I try to keep class open for different kinds of exploration and for ideas coming from all.
by Ville Johansson (Finland)
I am living and dancing in Helsinki, Finland. I have been curious in physical aspects in contact improvisation for some years. I think this been helping me to find new ways to move and expand my dancing to certain directions. Sometimes I am performing improvisation and contact improvisation. But this area is very much under research.
Details of Torso

Physically there is a huge movement potential in the torso. Spirals, curves and arches, different tonus and directions. Exploring this potential, we can extend our range of movement and enrich our dance. And above all detailed and sensitive torso brings new quality to the dance of contact improvisation.
As well, there is a big potential of expression in the torso. What do I tell with my torso to myself, to my partner, to the audience?
I can read all the details of my partner’s torso by watching or by touching. Being attentive to my partner torso I have a chance to understand his intentions, suggestions and reactions on different levels - physical, sensory or emotional. This understanding is one of the keys to improvised dance…
I imagine us being detailed and deep in our exploration, as well as playful and light and inspired.
And probably there will be the desire to perform some of this material at the festival performance evening…
I am happy to share in this class my understanding of the material, which I know from Steve Batts (teacher and choreographer from the UK). I find it very inspiring and useful.

by Maria Grudskaya (Russia)
Masha is a dancer, teacher and organizer from Moscow, Russia. She teaches CI in Moscow, in other cities of Russia and abroad.
Masha has studied contact improvisation with Steve Batts (Ireland), Joerg Hassman (Germany), Ezter Gal (Hungary), Angela Doni (Russia), Martin Keogh (USA), Karl Frost (USA), Peter Bingham (GB) and many others. She is a participant of ECITE (European CI teacher exchange 2006, 2007).
She performs regularly with a contemporary dance theatre and takes part in different projects as an independent artist. Since 2007 she has been experimenting with teaching CI to children.
“When I dance and teach, it feels like I am constantly opening new doors, finding new details and meanings. I love to see myself and other people enjoying the taste of movement. I am happy to have a group of friends with whom we dance, perform, teach and learn together and make the big Moscow contact festival every year!”

Eyes Wide Open

Can your eyes dance contact?

Can you see when you dance?
… yourself, your skin, your bones…
… your shape, colour, texture…
… your partner, his skin, his bones…
… his shape, colour, texture…
… the space…the context…the universe…

See what you need and see what you don’t need.
See everything.
And see how what you see is seen through your dance.

See how what your eyes see changes your dance…
… changes your touch…
… changes your contact…

by Aleksandra Ścibor (Poland)
Dancer, performer, dance teacher and interpreter/translator. Graduate of the School of English (Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań, specialization: conference interpreting) and Postgraduate Studies for Culture Managers (School of Economics, Warsaw).

In 2005 Ola joined Alter Dance Theatre. It was Kama Jankowska and Witold Jurewicz that introduced her to dance. She has trained with, among others, Georg Blaschke, Nigel Charnock, Ray Chung, Gal Eszter, Juha Pekka-Marsalo, Arkadi Zaides and David Zambrano.

Ola practices contemporary dance, improvisation, CI, authentic movement and physical dance. She explores translation process of the technical language of dance and co-creates www.contactimprovisation.eu :)

Information

Fee: Cost of the festival - 50 EUR (40 EUR by payment* before 9th of November, 30 EUR by payment* before 22nd of October).
* unrefundable deposit of 10 EUR
Venue: Space in Vilnius city centre, will be announced later.
Lodging: We will try to organize sleeping in the studio or in our homes, so bring your own sleeping bags!
Food: We will provide only water and some snacks. There will be longer breaks for “hunting” in the supermarket, making a picnic in the studio or going to eat in a cafe.
Travel tips: You can get a cheap flight (Air Baltic, SAS, LOT…) or bus tickets (Ecolines, Eurolines) directly to Vilnius, if you buy in advance. You can also take a boat to Klaipeda (from Germany, Sweden, Poland: http://www.balttours.lt/?en=1130153087), or take a flight or boat to Riga (Latvia) and then take a bus to Vilnius (approx. 5-6 hours). There are also train options from some countries.  
Please, help us to spread the word and support our small, but sincere steps into contact world!
We hope to dance with you soon!

CONTACT by
PHONE: +370 613 57997, +370 614 37287
EMAIL: improv_lt (at) yahoo.com