The East Coast Contact Improvisation Jam

... and general froo fraw ...

... is four juicy days of dancing among the blossoms and leaves at Claymont Court Estates, West Virginia, around one and a half hour's car ride from the center of Washington, DC, USA.

Welcoming all experience levels, the East Coast Jam includes facilitated warm-ups, open dancing, an evening of performance, two dance spaces, shared lodging, luscious vegetarian meals, sauna, wide vistas, lots of outside spaces to explore. And the people you love dancing with most!

A day at the east coast jam goes something like this: We wake from glorious sleep to eat lovingly prepared breakfast, stroll through the apple orchard to the huge octagonal dance barn. After a facilitated warm-up each morning, we dance, sweat, dance, sweat, dance, sweat, sauna, then stroll back to the magnificent mansion, spread out in the sunshine (but note that it's generally in northern season change, sometimes warm and sometimes cold) on the wide steps or on a blanket spread on the grass eating another sumptuous meal. After lunch we gather on the steps of the mansion for "town meeting," where we collaborate to create the jam, then we dance more, make music, nap, give and get massages, tell stories,

teach a class, take a class, practice, learn, walk, play, move, sing, roll, leap, stretch, wander, cavort, breathe. Offerings might include authentic movement Action Theater, a beginning contact improv class, a moving and drawing structure, a discussion on current issues in the contact community, a yoga class, poetry and chocolate, an outdoor improvisation score... which we do till we're hungry enough for one more delicious meal. Evenings we dance more, sauna more, sing more, move more, play more, schmooze more, laugh more, talk more, walk more, sleep more, and eat peanut butter and honey on rice cakes and drink tea into the wee hours contemplating the important (or not so important) questions of our lives.

Claymont Court Estates

Charles Town, West Virginia

Claymont Court is a 150 year old estate featuring 369 acres of woods, fields, and farmland. Near Harper's Ferry W.Va, it is 60 miles from Washington, DC, yet offers a quiet retreat in which to explore, dance, create and find new inspirations for movement and growth.

Here are directions to Claymont Court.

Fall Jam 2008

Spring Jam 2009

Links to contact improv sites and other things...

[video]

Excerpts from the Spring 2007 East Coast Jam, captured and assembled by videographer and jammer Katherine Pradt - see the full-size view on You Tube?

subtopics:

• Fall Jam 2008
  • Jam Rides Coordination