Last week of CI Events in November

[Jenny Sawyer]

Hi CI Philly, 

This week we will have a CI jam warm-up focused on spirals for Fibonacci Day and the third of a three-part class series with Nicole Bindler focused on Contact Improvisation & Body-Mind Centering®! 

Next week there will be no events since it is the week of Thanksgiving and many people are traveling.

This week:

Thursday 11/20: Contact Improvisation & Body-Mind Centering® class with Nicole Bindler at Headlong/Mascher Space 6:30-8:30pm (mask optional)

• $10-25 sliding scale ($15 suggested), cash or Venmo. Pre-registration not required.
• A three-class series (11/6, 11/13, 11/20)
• Studio is located at 1170 S. Broad St. Please ring the "Rear Studio" buzzer to be let into the building! 

Contact Improvisation & Body-Mind Centering® - These classes will explore several body systems: fascia, muscle, bone, and organs through the practice of contact improvisation. Deepening into these systems offers opportunities in partner dancing for more of a sense of depth, self knowledge, alignment, coordination, and clarity as we move in and out of contact. We will experiment with the principles and qualities of these body systems, celebrate their interrelatedness within us, and unwind extraneous tension and holding. We will embrace our body-histories, imperfections, and idiosyncrasies; learn from the knowledge our bodies hold; and become better acquainted with ourselves and each other through moving together.

Nicole Bindler - dance-maker, Body-Mind Centering® practitioner, writer, and activist–has practiced contact improvisation since 1997. She is a registered Master Somatic Movement Therapist through The International Somatic Movement Education and Therapy Association. Her work has been supported by numerous grants and fellowships, and presented on four continents. Recent projects include curating an evening of Palestinian dance films; somatic research on the embryology of the genitalia from a non-binary perspective; a workshop on neuroqueering embodiment; co-producing the Consent Culture in Contact Improvisation Symposium at Earthdance; and a solo dance, The Case for Invagination, in which her scars speak candidly about trauma and desire. Notable performance projects have included touring as a choreographer with the Bethlehem-Based Palestinian company, Diyar Theatre; a Pew-funded performance residency in Japan including Butoh training with Yoshito Ohno; and performing Deborah Hay's I Think Not at Unidad De Vinculación Artística in Mexico City. In 2026 she will be restaging her ensemble work, Blood, Sea at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. She is co-editing a book, Gathering Sparks: Jewish Arts and Somatics that will be published by punctum books. nicolebindler.com

Sunday 11/23: CI Jam at Headlong/Mascher Space 4-6pm (mask optional)

In honor of Fibonacci Day, Loren Groenendaal will be offering a special spiral focused warm-up!

• Facilitated by Loren Groenendaal and Jenny Sawyer. 
• Jams begin with an opening circle followed by a facilitated warm-up, which leads into an extended period of open dancing and ends with a closing circle.
• $10-20 sliding scale ($15 suggested), cash or Venmo (no one turned away for lack of funds). Pre-registration not required.
• Studio is located at 1170 S. Broad St. Please ring the "Rear Studio" buzzer to be let into the building! 

Other Upcoming CI Events:

• Saturday 11/22: The Underscore from 4-6pm at Headlong/Mascher Space. Hosted by Loren Groenendaal and followed by a special community potluck this month!! 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

There will be no CI events the week of Thanksgiving (November 24 - 30, 2025)

Current Mask Policy: The first CI Jam of the month is mask required and all subsequent jams are mask optional. Neither option meets the needs of everyone in our community and so we offer both. We are currently leaving the mask policy for classes up to the teacher's discretion. We are consistently considering what is best for our community in regard to masking and those needs tend to be in constant flux. So as always, stay tuned.

Hope to see you soon!

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

--

Jenny Sawyer

jroes...@gmail.com