Connection, Presence & Skills

3 day contact improvisation workshop.

*Contact Improvisation* is a playful and creative way of moving with another person. It’s a dance without steps—using a touch and listening to each other’s movement as the instruments to establish communication. Two people play with balance, support each other, and explore how their bodies can move together. It encourages mindful presence in dance. It’s open to everyone, no dance experience or prior physical training required—just curiosity and a willingness to explore.

Exercises to develop movement awareness: solo & with partner.
Floor-work / solo movement exploration.
Communication through the dance.
Essential contact improvisation skills.
Exercises  to boost creativity.
Introduction to soft partner flying in contact improvisation.

In this workshop, we will start by developing awareness through solo and partner movement.

We will learn tools that help us understand and connect with our dance partners without using words.

We will explore essential skills of Contact Improvisation in a way that can be adapted to different levels, so both complete beginners and advanced dancers will find it interesting and accessible.

We will also learn how to move more efficiently on our own, helping us feel more confident in partner work. For this part, we’ll take inspiration from contemporary dance floorwork, movement culture, and somatic disciplines.

At the end, we’ll try some soft partner acrobatics. In this section, we’ll learn how to use our body structure in the most efficient way, so even beginner dancers can practice it safely.

Ivan Gurianov - facilitator of contact improvisation since 2018, teacher & co-organiser of international Contact Improvisation programs, performer, multidisciplinary artist.
As a child Ivan practiced acrobatics & football.
From 2005 was practicing yoga & meditation. At the same time, Ivan started to learn different schools of western and eastern philosophy and spiritual teachings. Since 2007 to 2009 studied martial arts. Ivan has been trained in different modern dance styles: butoh, hip-hop, popping, house, jazz funk, contemporary dance, tango.
Other movement practices that he studied: Ideokinesis, Axis Syllabus & Movement Culture, Flow Arts & Physical Theatre.
Ivan has been facilitating Contact Improvisation in Russia, India, Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, China & South Korea.