Contact Improvisation 'Class & Jam' with Sole de la Hoz

Contact Improvisation returns to Temenos after a long summer break with Sole de la Hoz leading a 'Class & Jam' session.

Contact Improvisation (CI) is a form of improvised partner dancing that has  been developing internationally since 1972. It involves the exploration of one's body in relationship to others by using the fundamentals of  sharing weight, touch, and movement awareness. It has evolved into a broad global community of social dancing around "jams" characterized by  their welcoming attitude towards newcomers to dance, as well as seasoned  practitioners.

We love hosting Contact Improvisation sessions at Temenos because they are often the most rich and engaging environments for exploring movement. While CI might be intimidating for some, it is actually a beautiful and rich medium of communication where the language of the body takes centre stage and the music takes a back seat. Rather than focusing on finding the rhythm in the music, dancers are encouraged to listen to, first, their own bodies natural rhythm and, second, the rhythm of another dancer. This "listening" is central to guiding an improvised interaction - two bodies finding a non verbal means of communicating and responding to each other. 

The possible interactions that this medium offers can, in our view, be described as a form of physical poetry or living art, such is the creative potency of this movement practice. 

Doors open at 7pm and the class will run from 7.30pm - 9.00pm and will be followed by a 1hr jam with music from Temenos founder FX10K.

Soledad de la Hoz trained at the Rambert School of Ballet and Contemporary Dance. She has performed extensively in opera and theatre productions (ROH, Royal Court Theatre, Glyndebourne, ENO) as well as immersive dance and screen productions, working with notable choreographers such as Aleta Collins, Anna Morrissey, Maxine Doyle, Marie-Gabrielle Rotie, Scarlett Mackmin, Jennifer White and Lisa Welham. In addition to her professional dancing Sole is a trained Thai massage therapist and has a deep love and interest for Contact Improvisation which has an immense positive benefit in her movement practice and well being. She is very happy to continue developing in this field by training and teaching.

While those with absolutely no experience of Contact Improvisation are always welcome please be mindful that CI sessions often involve a significant amount of phsyical contact and if, for any reason, this is something you are uncertain about or uncomfortable with then you may wish to try an introductory class before attending. (Rick Nodine hosts an absolute beginners class on Monday evenings in Tufnell Park which we cannot recommend highly enough, please see his website for details)

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*Please note, no photography is allowed at Temenos sessions without prior permission.