We are excited to announce the 8th annual Contact Improvisation Dance Festival will take place on Salt Spring Island in 2025 from July 25th to August 3rd 2025.
We will be gathering for 10 days of dance with a medley of classes, jams, silent jams, music jams, authentic relating sessions, performance night, & nature exploration. A place where dance, community, art, nature and self discovery all meet in a space of investigation, a time of play.
OUR FACILITATORS
Intensive by
Eszter Gál
Class Teachers
Sabine Parzer (Austria)
Andrew Harwood (Montreal)
Olivia Shaffer (Vancouver)
Samuel Samways (Brazil)
Nayana Fielkov (SSI)
Ming Tsai (Montreal)
Mike Detweiler (Colorado)
Amy Kingwill (Wyoming)
Hosts
Selena LaBrooy (SSI)
Manuel Rochette (SSI)
Natalie Rousseau (SSI)
Martin Keogh (SSI)
Wonder Phallen (Bellingham)
Cooks
Beatriz Ugalde (Colombia-SSI)
Corinne Donnelly (SSI)
Musicians
Ira Echo (New Orleans)
Matsya (SSI)
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FOOD
All food is included in the tuition.
Our excellent chef Beatriz Ugalde and her multi-handed assistant, Coco, are returning!
We are very proud of the food we serve and we source from local and organic foods as much as possible.
Meals are wholesome, diverse, fresh, yummy and abundant.
We consider your food restrictions.
We care for your health and aim to provide the impossible fart free diet.
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LOCATION
Rhizome Springs
An off grid situation where everyone can camp and live together for the duration of the event.
The views are incredible, the lakes and oceans just a short drive away.
We are presently in terraforming stage. Expect a rugged landscape.
The property is 20 min on a logging road which can be driven by regular cars.
It’s located 25 min from Fulford Ferry terminal and 40 min from Ganges.
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CAMPING, CABINS & AMENITIES
Camping is included in the tuition.
We are on a 40 acre property and there are plenty of camping spots to chose from.
Car camping is also possible.
We have showers and use compostable toilets.
Spirit lake and the ocean are a short distance away and we’ll be making daily trips.
Glamping and Cabins
For an additional cost, we offer on site glamping tents and a geodesic dome.
There are also several rustic cabins to rent at the buddhist centre next door to us.
If interested in any of these options, please contact Selena at info@rhizomesprings.com
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MARKET TABLES
We have some space for you to sell your artful goods.
Bring a small table and your crafts. Set your price and manage them.
It’s a great way to cut your cost while sharing what you make and find beautiful.
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SCHEDULE
From July 25th to August 3rd
Schedule TBA
9am to late evening everyday
Classes, Jams, Performances, Labs, Nature, and other synergistic practices
49% Jam - 49% Classes - 2% Magik
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ARRIVAL
Festival runs from July 25th to August 3rd 2025
There are two arrival days possible depending if you are attending full or part time.
The arrival days are July 24th OR July 30th
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COST
FULL TIME ATTENDANCE COST
$1190 if you are economically constrained, students and underemployed.
$1300 if you are economically balanced, artists, farmers etc..
$1450 if you are economically abundant, happily sustained, supports the art.
In Canadian dollars. Any amount in between is welcomed.
PART TIME ATTENDANCE DETAILS
Attendance of 5 days minimum.
July 25th to 29th
Arrival on the 24th and departure on the 30th in the morning.
If you arrive from the beginning, you can stay as long as you want. See prices below.
30th to August 3rd
Arrival on July 29th in the evening and departure on Aug 4th.
No beginners to the form are to arrive for the portion starting on 30th.
PART TIME ATTENDANCE COST
$710 if you are economically constrained, students and underemployed.
$750 if you are economically balanced, artists, farmers etc..
$790 if you are economically abundant, happily sustained, supports the art.
In Canadian dollars. Any amount in between is welcomed.
Deposit of 300$ upon registration required to save your spot.
Paid by email transfer to ssicontactfestival@gmail.com
International student can use Paypal or Wise at the same address.
We can also take cryptocurrencies, please inquire.
Payment to be completed by July 1st.
Deposit refundable (-$50 admin fee) until June 1st
Non-Refundable after June 1st
In case of cancelation of this gathering, all deposits will be refunded minus $50 for admin fee.
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Come, slide, roll, tumble, leap, pivot, fall, run, rest, reach, touch… be here & book your time off NOW!
Registrations and Questions: ssicontactfestival@gmail.com
We value inclusivity & transparency
This event is for all experience levels, genders, sexual orientation, skin colour, ages and other physical differences.
-We acknowledge and are thankful for the lands and waters of Salt Spring Island which have been and continue to be home to Coast Salish First Nations and Metis peoples. We are grateful to the Cowichan Tribes, Saanich Nation, Tsawwassen First Nation, Hul’qumi’num Treaty Group, and the Hwlitsum Claim for this land to be danced on, in utter respect for it’s inhabitant and the ecosystem that nourishes us.
FACILITATORS’S BIOS
Eszter Gal
Eszter Gál is a dancer, choreographer, a certified Skinner Releasing Technique teacher, and an ISMETA registered Somatic Movement Educator (RSME). She has been teaching releasing work and improvisation, including Contact Improvisation for 30 years. She is the program director and one of the teachers of Somatic Dialogues Academy, a 2-year somatic movement educator training program in Budapest. She has been creating her work, performing solo and group improvisation since 1993, and teaching master workshops in International Festivals since 1998. She was the artistic director of the Kontakt Budapest International Improvisation Festival between 2002 and 2015 and co-organized ECITE in 2000 and 2016. Her artistic work and teaching method are greatly influenced by artists like Eva Karczag, Mary Overlie, Yoshiko Chuma, Steve Paxton, Martin Keogh, Mark Tompkins, Nancy Stark Smith, Keith Hennessy, Stephanie Skura, Nita Little, Nina Martin, Benoît Lachambre and Peter Pleyer, who is her most inspirational and encouraging longtime collaborator. In 2020, she joined the Berlin-based Cranky Bodies a/company to research collaborative performance-art making within an international frame and make the artistry ofthe Postmodern dance legacy visible. Currently, she is working on her Ph.D., researching the legacy of Contact Improvisation in Hungary, and analyzing its methodology for performanceart education.
https://www.facebook.com/eszter.gal.33
https://somaticdialogues.eu/en/
Olivia Shaffer
Olivia Shaffer is a professional dance artist based in Vancouver.
She is the Associate Artistic Director of the EDAM Dance Company, where she has practiced Contact Improvisation with pioneer teacher Peter Bingham since 2011 and performed with his company since 2014.
In addition to teaching dance and CI, Olivia is a certified Feldenkrais® Method practitioner.
She teaches regularly at EDAM and in the Department of Theatre & Film at University of BC.
She has taught internationally at Freiburg Contact Festival, CI@50, SFDI, and the University of the Philippines.
www.oliviashaffer.ca
Calling in the periphery
A class that invites participants to explore the nuances of their contact practice. As we bring the periphery into sharper view, we enhance our ability to make refined choices in our dancing. This process fosters a discerning sensitivity of the widening space for decision-making, while also nurturing the subtle dance between freedom and accountability. Drawing on her daily contact practice and Feldenkrais® training, Olivia invites participants to dive into the minutia to heighten the dynamic range of possibilities in their dancing.
Andrew Harwood
Andrew de Lotbinière Harwood (MTL) is an internationally recognized pioneer and master teacher of contact improvisation and real-time composition. He began his dance career in 1975 and for over forty-five years has dedicated himself to the research, education, development, performance and dissemination of contact improvisation and compositional improvisation as sophisticated movement disciplines and performing art forms.He studied and performed with, among many others, Steve Paxton, Nancy Stark Smith and Nita Little, (the founders of contact improvisation) and has danced for the companies of Marie Chouinard, Jean-Pierre Perreault, Jo Lechay and Fulcrum, as well as the dance collectives Discovery Bal, The Echo Case and the Improvisational Movement Fund.Formerly artistic director of AH HA Productions (2000-2014) his work has evolved through ongoing collaborations with many renowned artists (Peter Bingham, Ray Chung, Chris Aiken, Benoît Lachambre, Kirstie Simson, Julyen Hamilton, Lin Snelling, Marc Boivin, Benno Voorham, Lisa Nelson, Jori Snell,)and through various investigations of perceptual awareness, performance, composition, spatial design and installation. Passionate about teaching, he transforms his training in gymnastics, the Alexander Technique, Aikido, release technique, contemporary dance, and various somatic movement practices into a personal language, which he has shared throughout the world since 1976. He has been a guest teacher with the world-renowned companies of Marie Chouinard, O’ Vertigo Danse, Dance Makers, Nyata Nyata, Le Cirque du Soleil and Les Sept Doigts de la Main and has taught at l’École de Danse Contemporaine de Montréal, Concordia University, l’Université du Québec à Montréal, The National Theater School and Impuls Tanz Festival to name a very few places. He was awarded the Canada Council's Jacqueline Lemieux Award in 2000.
Martin Keogh
Martin Keogh has been performing and teaching Contact Improvisation for over four decades. After attending the Interlochen Arts Academy and Stanford University, Martin spent time traveling to monasteries in Japan and Korea and was a dharma teacher and director of the Empty Gate Zen Center in Berkeley, California. He is one of the original members of the Motivity Dance Company, which specializes in aerial dancing on low level trapezes. Martin founded The Dancing Ground, an organization that produces conferences on gender, race and mythology. He worked as consultant and teacher with Touchdown Dance USA, an organization that teaches C.I. to the blind.
For his contribution to the development of Contact Improvisation Martin is a Fulbright Senior Specialist and listed in Who’s Who in the World. He has taught in 32 countries on six continents. He is author of, Dancing Deeper Still: The Practice of Contact Improvisation, As Much Time as it Takes: A Guide to Healthy Grieving, and the anthology, Hope Beneath Our Feet: Restoring Our Place in the Natural World. Martin lives with his family by the Salish sea in British Columbia, Canada.
https://martinkeogh.com/
Sabine Parzer
Sabine Parzer is head and founder of the Holistic Dance Institute (founded 2010). In 2012 she also created the Contact Festival Austria, which she has been the artistic director of until 2017. Her professional experience spans 30 years of teaching, performing, choreographing and researching in the USA, Europe, Russia, Israel and Brazil.
Sabine has a Bachelor of Arts from Columbia College Chicago in Modern Dance, and an education in Systemische und Integrative Bewegungslehre® (an extended Feldenkrais® Training). The in depth practice of Contact Improvisation and Authentic Movement begins 1997. Ongoing trainings since 1995 in Kleintechnique, ZenBodytherapy®, Yoga, White Crane Silat, Rosen Method®, Kashmirian Massage, Psychotherapy and family constellations a.o. She is currently studying Visionary Cranialsacral Work with Hugh Milne.
Sabine is a dancer, choreographer, dance-pedagogue, bodyworker, organizer and business owner. In her institute dancers, artists, bodyworkers, social pedagogues and psychotherapists are trained in Holistic Dance Teachers Trainings, Advanced Teachers Trainings, Retreats and open workshops. She teaches regularly at international dance festivals such as Impulstanz Vienna, Tanzfabrik Berlin, Tanzquartier Wien, Potsdamer Tanztage and has taught intensives at many contact festivals such as Israeli Contact Festival, Moscow Contact Festival, Kontakt Budapest, Contact in Rio de Janeiro, Osterimprofestival Göttingen, Ibiza Contact Festival and more.
Her choreographies and improvisational scores have been performed since 1990 in New York City, San Francisco, Chicago, Berlin, Moscow, Vienna, amongst other cities. Between 1999 and 2013 she also worked as dance therapist at a rehabilitation center for people after work and traffic accidents. She is a mother of two children
https://www.holistic-dance.at
Samuel Samways
Brazilian performing artist with 15 years of experience in partner dancing.
His research extends to acrobatic movements, floorwork, capoeira, contemporary dance, contact improvisation and the fusion of Latin American social dances, with an emphasis in Brazilian Zouk, Tango, Forró and Samba de Gafieira. He is the creator of Mutual Leading, an improvisational technique that challenges the hierarchical structures traditionally associated with gender roles in social dance. Samuel is the director of Terceira Margem, an art collective interested in the intersection between dance, theater and circus. He is also the creator of the dance festival MONSTRA – Festival de Dança de Salão Contemporânea.
Infinite Fow - Floating Through Time
Through capoeira movements and contemporary dance floorwork, participants in this class will learn how to increase the efficiency of their movement on the floor in order to find that state of presence so desired in performing arts, a dance without collapses, a stable and continuous flow that seems effortless.
Nayana Fielkov
Nayana Fielkov is a critically acclaimed performing artist dedicated to the work of play. She is deeply invested in the study and practice of movement and contact improvisation as well as the art of theatre and clown. She has been practicing and teaching for over two decades, and brings a rich container filled with many influences from her wide studies.
https://www.nayanafielkov.ca/
Wide Eyed
Perception and creation.
Through ensemble games, scores and exercises, we will place and track attention. We will both create and allow the emergent architecture of space. We will support movement with sonic composition. Through tuning perception, being responsive, supportive, clarifying choices, and following impulses, we will build performative artful dances together!! This class is based on the work of Nina Martin and others of "ensemble thinking", along with the work of Ruth Zaporah of "Action Theatre"
Ming Tsai
Ming Tsai is a dancer and a multidisciplinary artist living in Montreal. He was first introduced to Contact Improvisation(CI) in 2018.
He started facilitating CI jams in Montreal in 2021, and began offering CI classes in 2022. He has recently taught in California Contact Improv Teacher Exchange, and Georgia Silence Jam.
He also held the role of Host and taught at the Falling Leave Jam at Earthdance. He hopes to provide fundamental tools for the curious of the form to explore, play, and dance in jams around the world.
Silent Spiral
Spiral is a curve that moves closer or further away from a central axis as it revolves around it. It's a fundamental skill to traverse effortlessly in space and in Contact Improvisation. We will explore four different spiral rolls and the elongated properties of this physical force, followed by the application of spirals in Contact Improvisation, from horizontal surfing to vertical flying. This workshop will be guided in silence, inviting us to turn off verbal exchanges and attune ourselves to gravity and our senses.
Selena La Brooy
Selena La Brooy, is also known affectionately as ‘Selena BoBeena’. Over the last 20+ years she has pursued study of various yoga lineages, Laban developmental movement patterning, BMC, Feldenkrais, the Axis Syllabus, breathwork, vipassana and circus arts which colour the lens of her inquiry of the form of Contact Improvisation.
She is an anatomy nerd, certified rolfer and somatic movement integration practitioner which inform her approach to teaching contact improvisation. Some of her most influential teachers have been Martin Keogh, Kira Kirsch, Frey Faust, Andrew Harwood, Anjelika Doniy, Karl Frost, Alicia Grayson, Nita Little, Ida Rolf, Hubert Godard and Monica Caspari. She is most passionate about ways to make contact improvisation accessible to all bodies by empowering choice, inviting deep listening and inspiring perpetual curiosity into what else is possible. She is currently inspired by the weightless possibilities of aquatic movement, the merging of energetic with physical awareness of Qigong and the movement patterns of Capoeira.
She is a core member of the Salt Spring Island Contact Improvisation community, Salt Spring Island Contact Improvisation Festival and the founder of Rhizome Springs, the land of living inquiry: an off-grid exploratorium hosting multi-day retreats for somatic and creative research on the unceded terrtories of the Hul’Q’Umi’Num and Sencoten speaking people.
Manuel Rochette
Manuel Rochette is a dancer, facilitator, and host of Salt Spring Island Contact Improvisation Festival in Canada. With nearly 20 years of experience with the form of Contact Improvisation, his personal studies got him closer to teachers such as Martin Keogh, Angelika Doniy, Alicia Grayson, Ray Chung, Scott Wells, Vega Luukkonen, Kira Kirsch, Paul Singh, Andrew Harwood and more. His facilitation approach is at the nexus point where skills, states, play and spontaneous composition merge.
His dancing style aims at creating ever-changing pathways, opening to novelty, modulating patterns, and the use of momentum and release to ease into authentic movements. Curiosities of the moment: Accessing poly-centricity, how to increase availability & generosity with the body, opening the backspace, falling together, and continuity of movement.
He has explored and facilitated CI on many continents and communities, harvesting gems from them all. As an avid jammer while he continues to deepen the practice in classes and workshops. Manuel is also a DJ and a gardener from which he sources inspirations and metaphors.
Mike Detweiler
Mike Detweiler has been exploring CI the past 15 years, and training martial arts the past 20 years.
Mike currently studies Aikido and Jujitsu, and teaches Judo and Tai Chi weekly. He has taught CI around North America.
Mike is always searching for ways to move more efficiently and effortlessly, whether in the trials of competitive grappling or the partner acrobatics of Contact Improvisation.
One Body (CI and Connection)
Contact Improv has so many possibilities for expression and investigation. In this workshop we will look deeply into one powerful element of the dance: our dance partner. In few other forms do we have such potential to use our dance partner to augment our shared movement. We will explore what it is to have connection with our dance partner; to dance in a way that we become one body, two dancers. We will see how this enhances movement pathways, allows deeper improvisation, and facilitates effortless acrobatics.
Natalie Rousseau
I am a Somatic Inquiry practitioner and mindfulness teacher, guiding others in deepening their relationship with themselves, their bodies, and the living world. My work is rooted in an animist framework, honouring the wisdom of the natural world, the cosmos, and our other-than-human kin. I come to this work through a 25-year journey as a yoga and meditation teacher and I identify as an endless student. I am continually drawn to the ways we can cultivate presence, resilience, and connection.
https://www.natalierousseau.com/
Tending the Dance: Conversations on Relationship & Resilience
Contact improvisation is more than movement—it is a relational practice that invites us to navigate themes of belonging, consent, and sexuality, often in subtle and implicit ways. In three facilitated conversations, we will come together as a community to explore these dimensions of our dance, practicing both listening and sharing to deepen awareness, safety, and connection. Complementing these conversations, Somatic Presence offers a short, interactive workshop on nervous system regulation and self-care, providing practical tools to support resilience and attunement throughout the festival. These offerings are an opportunity to cultivate greater self-awareness and personal agency in choice-making, allowing for deeper trust, freedom, and creativity in movement.
Amy Kingwill
Amy “Ray” Kingwill is a lover of movement. She feels the most herself on a wood floor; seeking joy, silliness and pleasure in every roll and lift. Since 2002, Contact Improvisation as a form and social experiment has confounded, frustrated, and inspired her to keep moving and learning. After many years in the San Francisco Bay Area, she somehow finds herself living amongst the Rocky Mountains in Wyoming, but thankfully still dances almost every day, and is enjoying traveling to seek out juicy CI dances whenever and wherever possible.
She holds a BFA in Modern Dance from the University of Utah, is a comprehensively certified Body Arts and Science International (BASI) Pilates Instructor, and ACA certified Corrective Exercise Specialist among many other certifications and accolades of equally great and so little importance. https://movewithcuriosity.com/
Sustaining Healthy Bodies for the Long Run
Dance is a journey—one that stretches across a lifetime, if we’re fortunate. Some of us begin our dance as children, while others stumble upon its magic as adults. But once the passion for movement takes root, it's often only the limitations of injury—sometimes several—that cause us to step away from the dance floor. We’ll explore the paths our bodies take and the places where tension and possible injury may arise. We'll take time to explore the principles of sound body mechanics, recognizing key areas to safeguard along the way. We'll examine common and less common injuries that come with being a movement-driven human, and discuss how to address them, so we can return to our dance quickly and safely.
Wonder Phallen
Wonder Phallen began exploring movement in 2001, dedicating time to improvisational dance and hip hop. Between 2004-2009, they trained extensively in martial arts, which informs their work as a dancer. In 2011, they started social dancing, deepening their understanding of connection, rhythm, floor craft, and consent-based practices. In 2012, Wonder studied dance at Western Washington University (WWU). In 2015 they discovered Contact Improvisation (CI) at WWU. After graduating they focus on facilitating and collaborating in spaces that emphasize authenticity, movement skills, mindfulness, play, somatics, partner dance and CI principles. They continue researching and sharing their life work.
OUR CHEF: Beatriz Ugalde
and her assistant Corinne Donnelly
Empowering Connection To Food and Body
Hola I am Beatriz and you can call me "Bea". I am a Certified Holistic Nutritionist and
Certified Culinary Expert, a Holistic health coach, avid home cook, a mother of two beautiful human beings, a dancer per nature, and live life to the fullest, being present in every moment. I have been inspired by my community to make tasty and whole food meals. I am proud to cook with the best quality ingredients, incorporating herbs and superfoods that help us to boost, cleanse, and energize our bodies for more than 10 years. My intention is to make nutritious, delicious and mostly organic foods that are accessible for you. I specialize in creating conscious, thoughtful meals for you to feel much greater than what you already are feeling. I make sure the food is made with laughter, love, creativity, and fun to ensure the best results!
Our Musician: Ira Echo
Ira is a composer and improviser of music for dance performance and social dance. ira makes music that accompanies the natural dynamic and energetic flow of dancers meeting one another in creative spontaneous physical dialogue. Their violin and musical talents have lent sonic support to many contact improv festivals and contemporary dance performances around the world
When not making music for dance Ira can be found building trails and dancing in the woods or in New Orleans playing jazz in the club or with the floating barge circus Flotsam performing from town to town.
