Touch and Move: Improvising Contact, creating Community

This is a class for GBTQ men* with all levels of experience, from total newbies to advanced.

We meet and begin by checking in with each other, followed by a guided exploration moving from somatic practice to contact dance improvisation. This all culminates in opening the space for the free flow of dancing and explorations in duos, trios and as a group.

Bodywork will help us to warm down at the end and integrate what we experienced. Dance is our way to create a space for exploration: what happens when queer men’s bodies meet and get in touch without any expectations and intentions?

In Contact Improvisation, touch is the source of finding dance movements. It helps you to be open to the here and now, to surprises, to letting go of performing roles, meeting expectations, and following scripts. Any movement can be part of this dance, no matter how simple – we literally move any way we feel.

This creates a conversation without words, simply through our moving bodies. Feeling ourselves by sensing others can create nourishing bonds of community as much as it liberates us. We emphasise consensus, respect, diversity of people and energies, listening, and a non-judgmental space.

Ralf Jaroschinski was born in Southern Germany and grew up in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.  He trained to become a dancer in Hannover, Germany, and New York, USA.  He works as a dancer, choreographer and dance instructor since over 30 years.  Since 2002, he focuses on contact improvisation and facilitates this technique in the Americas, Europe, Asia, and Australia.  He has worked with queer groups in Germany, the Netherlands, the UK, Spain, the US and Peru.