Tal and Olive will be offering a CI morning lab throughout the weekend that is designed for movers who crave a richer, more integrated connection to their dancing.
In this season of harvest, we’ll explore gratitude through the body: how we offer and receive weight, how we say “thank you” with timing, tone, and touch, and how we fine tune relaxation as a form of gifting the body spaciousness and acceptance.
Contact Improvisation Morning Lab: Gathering support, reciprocity, and enoughness.
Blending foundational elements of Contact Improvisation, floor-based somatic practice, and expressive solo exploration, this Lab, opens a space for cultivating both skill and freedom, nuance and boldness in how you move — with others and with yourself.
This morning lab is happening inside of a CoCo jam container, which stands for COmmunity COllaboration. Our intention is that the morning lab will inspire the participant’s own research and curiosities, and that these curiosities can be explored throughout the jam through offerings made by the participants themselves. Through solo, duet, and group scores we’ll cultivate presence, and hone on our improvisational intelligence.
Open to all levels; come curious. Expect warm-ups, clear partnering pathways, improvisation, and a reflective closing ritual. You’ll leave with a fuller toolkit for deeper informed CI research and Lab ideas/offerings for the rest weekend.
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?
COCO Jam Details
- An average of 40-60 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, November 29th for folks who have been to Earthdance before.
- If you have NOT been to Earthdance, we ask that you only sign up for either Thanksgiving Day, the full jam or Friday through Sunday option. This will allow us to better welcome you and orient you to Earthdance during our Opening Circle on Friday, November 28th at 10am.
- If you are planning to attend Thanksgiving Potluck dinner, and you have registered, we will send out a shared document for folks to coordinate dishes to bring. We will start dinner at 5pm.
- 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.
- Thanksgiving Potluck: Arrival/Check-In on Thursday, November 27th from 4-7pm front of the Farmhouse. Potluck is at 6-7pm (there will be a spreadsheet to add your dish you will bring)
- Opening Circle: Friday, November 28th at 10am. Newcomers must attend.
- Friday-Sunday Jam: Arrival/Check-In on Friday, November 28th from 8-10am front of the Farmhouse.
- Saturday Drop-In (Only for folks who’ve been to Earthdance before): Arrive Saturday, November 29th starting 8am. Departure at 10pm day of.
- Final Clean: Sunday, November 30th at 2-3pm. Lunch 1-2pm.
- Departure: All participants will depart after the final group clean at 3pm on Sunday, November 30th.
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: Thursday – Sunday
GRATITUDE LODGE
$300 – Financially Strained to $700 – Financially Abundant
CAMPING
$275 – Financially Strained to $675 – Financially Abundant
COMMUTER
$250 – Financially Strained to $650 – Financially Abundant
PARTIAL JAM: Friday – Sunday
GRATITUDE LODGE
$250 – Financially Strained to $650 – Financially Abundant
CAMPING
$225 – Financially Strained to $625 – Financially Abundant
COMMUTER
$200 – Financially Strained to $600 – Financially Abundant
THURSDAY EVENING DROP-IN ONLY
$35 – Financially Strained to $400 – Financially Abundant
SATURDAY DAY DROP-IN ONLY
$85 – Financially Strained to $500 – Financially Abundant
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 November 20th.
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 (November 13th) before the event less a $75 processing fee.
No refunds available less than 14 days (November 13th) 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
Olive Frank
Olive Frank lives in reverence to the gravitational pull that keeps us all on the same Earth. Olive studies Structural Integration, the Axis syllabus, and Contact Improvisation, and enjoys co-creating dances that helps them experience gravity in new and playful ways. They have studied CI in numerous wonderful containers including Spiral and Root at Earthdance, Leviathan in Lasqueti, and Mission Improvable in Buffalo NY. They have been a regular attendee at most CI jams at Earthdance for the past several years, learning from each dance that they have the opportunity to experience. Olive is currently perusing a Doctorate in Occupational Therapy at Western New England University.
Tal Shibi
Tal Shibi is an improviser, choreographer, educator, and healing arts practitioner. His practice bridges performance, Contact Improvisation, and somatic research; often weaving dance, voice, and storytelling into moments of embodied presence. With roots in Shiatsu and Watsu therapy modalities and an MFA in Dance from Bennington College, Tal creates workshops and performances that invite playfullness, awareness, and poetic spontaneity while exploring themes of embodied art, ritual, and the raw terrain of being seen.