Have you ever been to a contact improv jam that suddenly erupts into silliness? Where dancers transform into animals, speak in tongues, create new worlds? Where the ensemble surfs a wave of collective imagination to become an amoeba, conquering the universe with a barbaric yawp, then dispersing back to the wind? That’s the vibe of joyous theatrics we’re playing with in this jam that fuses theatrical clowning with contact improvisation.
In this experiment in combining two deeply relational and imaginative art forms, we’ll ask:
-How can the clown’s spontaneity, lightness, and loving mischief bring more color and joy to our dancing?
-How can CI’s fluidity and somatic imagination infuse our clowning with more physical dynamism and presence?
-How can the spirit of play and delight create more aliveness and connectivity between us?
All experience levels are welcome with both clowning and CI. We’ll be offering many ways in, leading with curiosity as we let our clowns dance and our dancers clown. There will be a mix of workshops and community-led offerings, experimental performance opportunities, paratheatrical happenings, and an epic clownderscore.
Clowntact improv is a playground for infusing our interactions on the dance floor with clown theatrics, collectively discovering what happens when we truly come out to play. Your registration fee includes a red clown nose!
What is a CoCo Jam?
Community Collaborative Jams are a new and unfolding program concept at Earthdance which launched in early 2022. This new programming thread was driven by the desire for more opportunities to dance CI and to connect with the community in smaller containers. Similar to Seasonal Jams, the CoCo jam has one or more hosts that, rather than always being professional artists with strong facilitation skills, can be dedicated Earthdance community members and upcoming dancers building their leadership skills. Support staff is also more limited compared to our seasonal jams and participants are invited into a higher degree of autonomy and self care. Similarly, the workshop offerings and schedule are also more influenced by the community members themselves and created on a more adhoc basis.
In preparation for attending a CoCo jam, you may want to ask yourself:
What are you currently researching or inspired to offer?
Is there something you hope to lab, share, or play with?
SHARE OUR FACEBOOK INVITE
COCO Jam Details
- An average of 20-40 people will attend this COCO jam and is open to all movement levels & backgrounds.
- We will offer a single day drop-in option on Saturday, March 7th for folks who have been to Earthdance before.
- If you have NOT been to Earthdance, we ask that you only sign up for FULL JAM option. This will allow us to better welcome you and orient you to Earthdance during our Opening Circle on Friday, March 6th at 10am.
- Be ready to co-create! This will be a very self motivated jam, bring your ideas! – We will send out a shared document for folks to fill out who would like to offer something during this co-creation weekend when you register.
Arrival, Onsite Check-In, Opening Circle, and Departures
- Arrival/Check-In: Thursday, March 5th from 4-7pm front of the Farmhouse. Dinner is at 6-7pm
- Opening Circle: Friday, March 6th at 10am. ALL Clowntact Jammers must attend.
- Saturday Drop-In (Only for folks who’ve been to Earthdance before): Arrive Saturday, March 7thth starting 8am. Departure at 10pm day of.
- Final Clean: Sunday, March 8th at 2-3pm. Lunch 1-2pm.
- Departure: All participants will depart after the final group clean at 3pm on Sunday, March 8th.
Our Fees Explained
Earthdance is a Public Charity that relies greatly on ticketing income to fulfill its Artistic, Cultural and Educational mission. We want to make our work available to folks with varying economic realities and offer a sliding scale payment for participation in most of our events. Please take a moment to reflect where you best fit on that scale. We ask everyone to stretch where they are able so that those who cannot may still have access to our events.
As you choose your rate please consider the following factors:
- Your access to income and wealth, as connected to family and partnership(s), past, present and future.
- The historical, systemic impacts of wealth accrual based on culture, race and other marginalized intersections for you and your family.
- The regional ease of your attendance, while some community members can drive to Earthdance, others will need to consider tuition based on their ability to travel longer distances.
PRICING: Sliding Scale
FULL JAM
EARLY BIRD PRICING ends January 5th, 2026
GRATITUDE LODGE
Financially Strained $250.00 to Financially Abundant $850.00
CAMPING
Financially Strained $225.00 to Financially Abundant $800.00
COMMUTER
Financially Strained $225.00 to Financially Abundant $800.00
SATURDAY DAY DROP-IN ONLY
$70 – Financially Strained to $485 – Financially Abundant
BASE PRICING from January 5th – February 26th, 2026
GRATITUDE LODGE
Financially Strained $300.00 to Financially Abundant $900.00
CAMPING
Financially Strained $275.00 to Financially Abundant $850.00
COMMUTER
Financially Strained $275.00 to Financially Abundant $850.00
SATURDAY DAY DROP-IN ONLY
$85 – Financially Strained to $500 – Financially Abundant
LATE BIRD PRICING from February 26th – March 5th, 2026
GRATITUDE LODGE
Financially Strained $350.00 to Financially Abundant $950.00
CAMPING
Financially Strained $325.00 to Financially Abundant $900.00
COMMUTER
Financially Strained $325.00 to Financially Abundant $900.00
SATURDAY DAY DROP-IN ONLY
$100 – Financially Strained to $515 – Financially Abundant
* Registration will END on Wednesday, March 4th *
Equity & Access Tickets
Although we’re not able to offer any full scholarships this year, we’re excited to offer up to 3 FULL JAM Equity & Access Discounts to individuals who feel part of an underrepresented and/or marginalized group in CI and have a relationship with CI. We know that for those who come from marginalized populations showing up to spaces filled with primarily privileged groups can be a challenge, and can feel vulnerable.
Apply HERE! Due February 26th.
Earthdance makes efforts to support Equity & Access at all its events, and we do this through:
- Reduced price Equity & Access tickets for folks who find our normal tickets to be a barrier. Participants self-identifying as being underrepresented and/or marginalized in CI are prioritized when allocating these tickets.
- An Accountability, Safety and Care (ASC) team that supports the processing of difficult situations that might come up in relation to consent, identity and other relational issues.
- Support from a BIPOC Team at our seasonal jams that hosts meals and supports offerings and affinity spaces based on BIPOC participants’ desires.
Housing Options
Gratitude Lodge
Includes a bed in the Gratitude Lodge, event offerings, sauna & quarry access, and food during the event.
The Gratitude Lodge (a.k.a. the Earthdance dorm) is the main lodging facility, connected to the Farmhouse by a short wooded trail. The lodge includes large and small rooms featuring dormitory-style bunks and beds (twin & queen size) and is included in the base cost. Beds are available on a first come basis.
Camping
Includes a spot to camp at Earthdance, event offerings, sauna & quarry access, and food during the event.
Commuter
You will have access to the event offerings, sauna & quarry access, and food.
Commuter Health Care: We ask that you please use caution when commuting and limit, if possible, to just commuting to and from your home and Earthdance, staying away from large crowds to maintain the health and well being of the other event participants.
Nine Mountain is NOT available.
Cancellation Policy
Refund available up to 14 days (February 19th) before the event less a $75 processing fee.
No refunds available less than 14 days (February 19th) from the start of the event.
Partial refunds might be given if a cancellation takes place under extenuating circumstances (e.g. a death of a 1st or 2nd degree family member, serious non-preventable illness or accident requiring hospitalization). Refunds in such cases remain at the discretion of the local organizers and will be decided on a case to case basis according to the timing of the cancellation and other factors. We do not offer refunds if you catch a cold, the flu or COVID after the cancellation date.
Health Precautions
No specific requirements on vaccination status are needed to attend this event. Please take adequate measures to limit your exposure in the days before arriving. If you are feeling sick, or have a known close exposure to someone with COVID in the past 5 days, please sit this one out to keep the community well.
COMMUTERS: We ask that you please use caution when commuting and limit, if possible, to just commuting to and from your home and Earthdance, staying away from large crowds to maintain the health and well being of the other participants.
Participant Community Support
Earthdance runs as a community, thus part of the participation is that all individuals contribute to 1-2 work shifts (typically meal cleans) throughout the event and participate in a final house clean on the last day of the event. These are great ways to connect more with your fellow participants and Earthdance staff, and to feel more at home in the Earthdance buildings & grounds. Your contributions to this collective caring of this space are invaluable!
Earthdance’s buildings are ADA accessible. More info here.
HOST BIOS
Josh Luckens
Josh Luckens is a Boston-based educator, theatre artist, and creative community builder.
He dove headfirst into improvisation practices including contact improv as a student at Vassar College. CI has been an unfolding through-line in his life since then, opening up new ways to connect, interact, and experience joy.
He discovered theatrical clowning while doing his masters degree in theatre education at Emerson College, and deepened his clowning practice as a Fulbright fellow in Colombia, where he studied with clowns from across Latin America and Europe. The clown consciousness he cultivates is infused with playful curiosity, innocent wonder, and radical amazement.
Josh is delighted to return to Earthdance, a place that has been meaningful across many different chapters of his life, to open up this space for collaborative creation and reconnection with the magic that arises when we are truly present with one another.
Tom Cryan
Tom Cryan is a clown and actor performing in theater, film, television, and underground clown shows in New York and Vancouver, BC. He also facilitates workshops in clown and psychophysical performance.
He has had the privilege to train with incredible teachers in the Grotowski and Pochinko lineages, including David MacMurray Smith, among others. Tom has embraced a principle-centered, process-based, experimental approach to clowning and facilitation, with a focus on freeing the creative spirit, encouraging intuition, and the recognition that we all have the clown nature and an inner ring master.
Tom began training in Contact Improvisation through a scholarship program at EDAM in Vancouver. He has continued his practice with teachers in New York and has been practicing CI as an extension of his clown practice.
He is very grateful to have the opportunity to share, inquire and play together in community.
Sarah Zucchero
Sarah sees contact improv as a way to embrace human potential. She loves how it develops a highly tuned body and a collaborative response to problem solving and discovery. Sarah sees clown as a similar gateway into the unknown with the added flavors that the clown is honest and is often subverting limiting structures through the joy of play. She loves how the clown leans into failure and unifies us through our shared innocence. TOGETHER, Sarah imagines the dancing clown as a porous organism that blurs the lines between self and other by curiously investigating everything that connects us, perhaps elaborating on it, perhaps encountering the absurdity that lies within and between, and enjoying the whole festival that is made of it along the way.
Sarah currently lives in New York City and teaches CI and performs often there. She has also recently taught at wcciJAM, Montreal Annual Jam, and Earthdance. Outside of dancing and clowning and art making, Sarah is a hypnotist! Check out sarahzucchero.com for more info.