CI Workshop and Jam with Penny Chivas

Photo Credit: Miriam Nicholls.

Schedule
10.30- 10.45: arrival and own warm-up
10.45 - 13.45: CI workshop with Penny Chivas
13.45 - 14.45: break
14.45 - 17.30: CI jam

A three hours long workshop followed by CI jam. Open to movers of all levels with space and time to dance, reflect and ask questions of the form and ourselves as we navigate what it means to practice Contact Improvisation in 2026.

Beginning with a focus on the details of softening, pouring, expanding and yielding, we will play with the micro and macro movements of our dances. How many types of dances can we be aware of at once, and when are we choosing to follow one over the other? A class based on the fundamentals and from which to grow from into our more expansive ways of moving and sharing weight. Penny will draw upon some of the methodology she has used in inclusive settings to present ways of moving using props not only to feel, but also to see and describe the actions occurring between one or more dancers. We will come together at the beginning of the day to set structure and framework to our practises moving through specific tasks and exercises before entering a short held jam space at the end of the day. Penny is particularly interested to share practices which may well encourage participants to investigate the form in differing ways to differing people.

Penny Chivas (she/her) is a Glasgow-based dance artist and maker
originally from Ngunnawal Country, Australia. Alongside her dance work
spanning performing, making, teaching and involvement in screendance
work, Penny has a long-standing investment in Contact Improvisation. She
has studied with Nancy Stark Smith multiple times who still remains as a
deep source of inspiration for her teaching practices, and has led
Underscores in both Glasgow and London. In 2013, she co-founded
@TheGlasgowJam with Tom Pritchard, an organisation to support the
development of CI in Glasgow including delivering 'New Jammers' in 2014
supported by Creative Scotland mentoring upcoming jam facilitators and
teachers. With a passion to share this work more broadly, Penny has
taught CI for inclusive companies such as EveryBody (Nuremberg),
Danskompaniet Spinn (Sweden) and Indepen-dance (Glasgow), as well as for
the Invisible Centre of Contemporary Dance (Iran), London Contact
Improvisation, Sydney Contact Improvisation, Beijing Contact
Improvisation and dance training courses such as Riveria (Finland), and
the PPY at Sydney Dance Company.

Supported by the National Lottery through Creative Scotland, Penny spent
time studying with Daniel Lepkoff in August 2024

https://penny-chivas.squarespace.com

Photo credit: Brian Hartley