Thursday CI Class this week with Tamar Gutherz

[Jenny Sawyer]

Hey Contacters,

This Thursday is our last CI event before we take a break for the holidays!

Our first January event will be a jam on Sunday January 11th, 2026 from 4:30-6:30pm. Keep your eyes peeled for more details in the new year.

Everyone have a safe & warm Hanukkah, Christmas & New Year's! <3

This Week:

Thursday 12/18: CI Class taught by Tamar Gutherz 6:30-8:30pm at Headlong/Mascher Space (mask optional)

• $10-25 sliding scale ($15 suggested), cash or Venmo. Pre-registration not required.
• Studio is located at 1170 S. Broad St. Please ring the "Rear Studio" buzzer to be let into the building! 

Teacher Bio:

Tamar Gutherz is originally from Lynchburg, VA and has a BFA in Modern Dance Performance from University of the Arts.  She currently teaches Gyrokinesis, Modern Dance and Contact Improvisation and works as a freelance performance artist in the Philadelphia area. 

Theme of Classes this month:

Resilience — the ability to bounce back from adversity or challenges.  The ability of a substance or object to spring back into shape, elasticity.  The ability to recover from, or adjust easily to change.  The capacity of a body to return to its original size and shape after experiencing compressive stress.

We will approach Contact Improvisation as a tool for increasing resilience and deepening our whole-body listening.  We will practice sharing centers and explore what it means to “network” in a physical way, using everything that exists in the space as fuel and using each other for support and inspiration.   Malleable bodies in dialogue with gravity—shape shifting, shifting weight, shifting attention.  Each body with its own unique abilities and curiosities—what happens when two forces of nature collide?  Or three or four or five?  We will engage with questions of independence & interdependence and enjoy the power of our imagination to change our quality of experience.

January Events:

          Jams:  

                - Sunday Jan. 11 from 4:30-6:30pm 

                - Sunday Jan. 18 from 4-6pm 

          Classes:  

                - Thursday Jan. 22 from 6:30-8:30pm (Teacher: Liam Schaffer)

                - Thursday Jan. 29 from 6:30-8:30pm (Teacher: Leah Stein)
          Class & Jam Combos:  

                - Sunday Jan. 25 from 3-6pm (Teacher: Miryam Coppersmith)

                - Sunday Feb. 1 from 3-6pm (Teacher: Leah Stein)

**All events held at Headlong/Mascher Space (1170 S. Broad St.)

Other Upcoming CI Events:

• The Underscore will be hosted by Loren Groenendaal on Saturday January 24th, 4-6pm at Headlong/Mascher Space. This is a very fun and rewarding focused jam which has a bit more structure than a regular jam. If you have not participated in an Underscore before it usually requires a talk through to understand the structure ahead of time. For more information and to register please contact lorengro...@gmail.com

Hope to see you soon!

The CI Philly team (Jenny, Derek, Jamie, Miryam, & Liam)

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Jenny Sawyer

jroes...@gmail.com