CI best practices

Spirit of the jam

The jam is a celebratory space as well as a learning space. We aim to co-create a space with you that is safe enough to take risks, grapple, and grow. We ask that you contribute to the safety of the jam by communicating and honoring boundaries, repairing ruptures as soon as possible, and being very kind to yourself.

Participant commitment

You being consistently engaged is a huge gift to everyone at the jam. Engagement can take many forms and rhythms, be quiet and loud, slow and fast. As our founder Michal Lahav says in her intro to the Underscore - you're always in! By virtue of being at the jam, you belong.

Organizer commitment

As organizers, we strive to be direct and clear about expectations, cultural norms, ideals vs. realities, and shared responsibilities. We'd rather ruffle a few feathers upfront than to have someone arrive on the island unprepared, surprised, or disoriented beyond their capacity to manage.

To that end, find below excerpts of Contact Improv best practices that have been developed in recent years. A leader in this work is Kathleen Rea at REAson d'etre dance.

Starting and ending dances

By showing up in the dance space, you are giving consent to others to approach you for a dance, while acknowledging your right and responsibility to move away from an undesired connection and express your boundaries.

Starting a dance

Often a dance starts with yourself, aka solo.

Connect with yourself, the floor, and the dance space before connecting with another dancer.

From a place of embodiment, you are welcome to instigate a dance with anyone. You can do so by verbally asking someone to dance or initiating touch and noticing the response.

You have the right to accept or refuse any dance without needing to give a reason or apology.

Ending a Dance

End a dance whenever you want, even if it has only lasted a minute. A dance can be ended by walking or moving away, thanking the other dancer(s) verbally or with a gesture, bowing out, or stating that you are done.

Let someone disengage or end a dance when they want to.

Do not pressure a person into dancing with you.

Practice letting go of each dance experience.

Let go of any expectations for future dances, or what meaning it might have once the dance is over.

Trust that any meaning that may develop from dancing (e.g. becoming friends) does so on its own time, free from expectations that a dance may elicit.

Communicating while dancing

The norms in Contact Improv favor physical communication and body language over verbal communication. While we promote verbal articulation of boundaries in CI, we also offer a few tips for conveying your needs non-verbally:

Unwanted lifts

There are techniques to avoid being lifted, such as spiraling away, tensing muscles, making yourself heavy, or obstructing access. Ask other dancers to teach you, observe, and try things out.

Speak up and tell your dance partner whenever things are moving too fast or feel unsafe. Communication is an investment in the dance. Expect that it takes time to learn each other's comfort zone, adventure zone, and freak-out zone.

Unwanted weight

There are techniques that let you be in control of how much weight is put on you, such as nudging someone back onto their own weight, refraining from offering ledges, only offering very steep ledges.

Directing the dance

There are techniques that redirect a dance away from front-to-front contact if you are feeling uncomfortable with that. This includes putting your arms out in front of you like a barrel, spiraling, moving from standing to floor and back up, etc.

Move to verbal feedback whenever you need. Speak with an organizer or fellow dancer if you have concerns or want to learn more about how to assert your boundaries in CI.

Physical safety

Your eyes should be open most of the time and your senses activated. This helps prevent collisions and injuries.
Self-screen for illness. Don’t dance with a cough, fever, or runny nose.
Cover cuts and open wounds with band-aids.
No jewelry, zippers, buttons, beads, or other things that can scratch the floor or each other.
Stay within your skill levels while gently pushing at edges. This is where the learning (and fun) happens. Strive to meet dance partners at their skill level.
Take responsibility for your own safety. CI can be acrobatic and fast. Improving skills for lifting, weight sharing, and falling safely requires practice and effort.
Keep your hands and feet ready to catch you. Falling is normal and expected, so keep yourself prepared and able to buffer impact.
No drugs or alcohol are allowed in the dance space. Intoxicated participants will be asked to refrain from dancing and may be asked to leave the dance space.
Cultivate awareness of self, others, and the whole room.
Be very kind to your body and soul.

Here is additional wonderful guidance by RDD.

Boundaries and touch

We see consent as essential to emotional safety. We also acknowledge the fluid nature of giving and retracting permission in this high-touch dance form. To improve our chances of feeling witnessed and supported in our exploration of CI, we assert the following guidelines:

By showing up in the dance space, you are giving consent to others to approach you for a dance, while acknowledging your right and responsibility to move away from an undesired connection and express your boundaries.
No non-consensual hugs, pokes, kisses, tickles, caresses, massages, or pats while dancing or passing by someone on or off the dance floor.
Respect personal space off the dance floor; even though you may have shared physical intimacy on the dance floor, understand that has no personal implications.
Notice whether a person you are approaching can see you and has the ability to move away. Our best interactions are the ones that are freely chosen.
Trust strong, repeated messages that your body sends you about interactions. If something feels wonderful, yay! If interactions feel "off" - whether you did something potentially harmful or experienced harm - it is important to address.
If you experience unwanted sexual advances and need support, we, the organizers, will support you.
Ask in the moment or later to clarify if something you did felt invasive, dangerous, overly familiar, or otherwise inappropriate to the other person. Make it easy for them to assert their preferences and state any boundary-crossing. Thank them for their vulnerability if they tell you that you crossed a line with them. Ask about and listen to the impact it had on them. Don't rush to move to repair before fully understanding the impact.

Body work

Consent is necessary before giving body work. If you are unclear whether you are receiving non-verbal consent, ask direct questions and state any contradictions you notice (e.g. agreeing but moving away).

Sensuality and sexuality

Contact Improvisation can only be a wonderful safe exploration of sensuality if we are all committed to keeping it free of sexual behavior.

There are many evolutions and "side quests" originating from Contact Improv as taught by Steve Paxton and Nancy Stark Smith. While adjacent practices have their place, JOI is solely engaged with the source material of CI and will not be exploring “Touch and Play” or any neo tantric practices.

Explicit sexuality, which can be a wonderful aspect of life and welcome at sexuality-themed dance events, is not what we are up to at JOI. By "explicit sexuality" we refer to intentionally touching erogenous zones to stimulate. These areas might receive unintentional "sweep by" touch as part of the rolling point of contact but JOI asks you not to linger, purposefully touch, or stimulate these zones.

If you come with a partner refrain from romantic and sexual touch on the dance floor.

Respecting the dance space

Enjoy the beautiful floors and natural light! We love the dance space and hope you will too. To take care of the space, please heed the following:

No jewelry, zippers, buttons, beads, or anything that can scratch the floor or each other.

No shoes in the dance space to save the lovely maple floor.

Keep personal belongings in one area to maximize room for dancing and play.

Photos are to be taken with consent and by dedicated photographers only.

Phones, laptops, and any non-essential electronics should be used outside the dance space.

No strong scents or perfume since they can cause vertigo, headaches, nausea, fainting, etc. for some folks. You can neutralize scents with baking soda.

For further inspiration, check out the Vancouver, BC, best practices page or the Salt Spring CI Ethos page.

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