Spiral & Root: Professional CI Training 2026

Welcome to Spiral & Root: Earthdance’s Professional Contact Improvisation Training. For those who are longing for a deep and durational dive into CI research, pedagogy, and professional training, you’re invited to gather with us for three weeks from January 8th through 29th, 2026. 

With eight teachers from Europe and North America representing some of the highest quality of CI instruction available, this one-of-a kind professional training promises to deliver a container for the continuation of targeted and passionate CI research. 

Featuring:

Who is this for?

Spiral & Root is a place of meeting and dialogue between elders and newer generations of dancers, facilitating the continued development and evolution of CI. In addition to developing and refining the necessary technical skills for practicing and facilitating CI, this training will likewise focus on career development and for those who wish to further their professional tools, networks, and offerings. This intensive is especially valuable for those who wish to further integrate CI training and research into their careers and practices of community building. Further, there will also be opportunities for dialogue and inquiry around the original values and intentions of CI.

The Venue

As the oldest intentional community founded on Contact Improv, it’s only natural that Earthdance has long been host to some of the most comprehensive and rigorous trainings for teachers and dedicated practitioners of CI. Since its founding in 1986, Earthdance has been committed to a spirit of improvisation and heart-centered community through CI-informed movement practices and research. As CI and notions of community have evolved and developed further, Earthdance has likewise adapted and integrated the changes that have cohered, playing host to countless jams and trainings that further progress the dance form.

Program:

Diversity, resources, and access

Questions of diversity, access, and how to best spread out limited resources are already alive and well amongst us. We hope to strike a healthy balance between acknowledging that this training is happening in the U.S. and will be coloured by U.S. politics and frameworks. However, as this is an international training with students and teachers from around the world, we also don’t want to reproduce U.S. cultural hegemony by centering U.S. political themes, strategies, and framings. We wish to create space for the diversity of cultures, languages, and positionalities which will be present throughout the three weeks. Students, teachers, and organizers will have various levels of proficiency with English, and we aim to take into consideration that everyone won’t have the same fluency, and therefore find various ways to communicate and negotiate beyond language and comprehension barriers.

As part of our desire to address the need for a variety of diversities, we will be opening up applications for three half-scholarships ($1,170 value) to assist in making the training more financially accessible. Please reach out to us via email if you would like to apply for one of the three scholarships.

Applying to Participate

In order to participate in Spiral and Root, we require all participants to have a certain degree of skill and experience with Contact Improv in order to ensure that everyone has the capacity to fully take part and reasonably integrate the material. Therefore, this training is for INTERMEDIATE to ADVANCED practitioners of Contact Improv. If you are at a beginner level, then this particular training will not be suitable for you. There is a certain level of technique, skill, and experience that will be required in order to fully participate and keep up with the classes, and your peers. In order to assess if this is the right time for you to participate, we require all participants to fill out this form before registering. After doing so, we will respond with an invitation and registration link. If you are unsure of where your own experience and skill level falls on the spectrum, please feel free to reach out to us via email with your questions and concerns and we’ll do our best to support you in figuring whether this training is for you or not.

The Venue:

Earthdance has two main buildings, the Farmhouse and the Gratitude Lodge. The Farmhouse includes two large dance studios, a commercial kitchen, a library, a community closet, and a bodywork room. The Gratitude Lodge is the main lodging facility, connected to the Farmhouse by a short wooded trail that is approximately a three-minute walk between buildings. The lodge is three stories tall and includes large and small rooms featuring dormitory-style bunk beds (twin & double size mattresses). Guests sleep in shared spaces, and the amount of other sleepers in the room depends on the size of the room. Some rooms have 4-6 sleepers, while others have 9-13 sleepers. Beds are available on a first come first serve basis. The rooms are not divided amongst genders, unless requested by guests. Each participant is allotted one dresser drawer for their belongings, otherwise their belongings can stay in their suitcases.

Together In Community:

Earthdance is a community-oriented and supported organization, and part of the participation in this program includes everyone being invited to help with upkeep of the space. Each participant will contribute 2 work shifts per week (typically meal cleans) throughout the event, and help out with an all-house clean at the end of each week. Each work shift is approximately 1.5 hours long, and is led by an Earthdance community member. Along with helping care for the space and lowering the costs of the training, these community-care shifts 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!

Pricing

Earthdance is using a sliding-scale tiered payment system for participation in this event.

What this means:

There are 30 regular spots available in total, with five tickets reserved for each of the six pricing tiers. The tier you choose is dependent upon your personal and financial situation (sliding scale). Please take a moment to reflect as you decide on where you best fit. Your level of contribution is self-selected and does not need to be advocated for. However, we invite you to remember this contribution is currency, and we ask that you stretch where you are able so that those who cannot stretch as far financially may also have the possibility of attending the training. As you choose your rate please consider the following factors:

• Your access to education, income, and wealth, as connected to family and partnership – both currently and anticipated in the future.
• The historical and systemic impacts of wealth accrual based on nationality, race, and other factors which have influenced you and your family’s access to resources.
• The regional ease of your attendance – while some community members can drive to Earthdance, others will need to consider tuition costs based on their financial ability to travel longer distances.
• Earthdance is a non-profit community and rental-funded organization which recently, historically and uniquely through the Covid-19 pandemic, has struggled to remain finanicially viable.

Six Tiers:

• $2,450 – 5 tickets remaining
• $2,650 – 5 tickets remaining
• $2,850 – 5 tickets remaining
• $3,050 – 5 tickets remaining
• $3,250 – 5 tickets remaining
• $3,450 – 5 tickets remaining