Castlemaine Contact Improv Class
Schedule
Sun Aug 31 2025 at 12:30 am to 03:30 am
UTC+10:00Location
35 Etty St, Castlemaine VIC 3450, Australia | Castlemaine, VI
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10.30am - 12.30pm class $2012.30pm - 1.30pm jam $5
$25 for both!
Payment: Cash on the day preferred. Bank transfer also possible.
Class Description
Exploring beyond habitual territories / modes of dance.
Do you mostly land feet first?
CI offers great possibility to experience movement outside your own habitual modes, either direct from other bodies or from the randomness introduced by improvisation, gravity and momentum! These conversations with other bodies help you explore your own modes and expand them. In this workshop we will explore new territories through structured partner work. These defined pathways allow you to experience unfamiliar territory in safe, repeatable ways. These particular pathways seldom appear in dancing but the experience can open you to new territory. This short workshop will move quickly through this material, there won’t be time to hone these skills but I hope the introduction will indicate possibilities that will filter into your dance. Feel free to opt out at any level and focus on the foundations covered, I can offer guidance.
Bio
Tim Preston
I have been dancing, running jams and teaching contact on and off for over 40 years — out of all the random things I’ve done in life, contact has been one of the consistent threads, such is the richness of the form. I’ve spent a great deal of time dancing and thinking about elements of contact and how to introduce new territories and understanding to others. I co-opt concepts and language from: physics, anatomy, Aikido and dance and try to distil them into simple exercises to highlight an experience, mode or approach. The opportunity to experiment with these ideas and their expression in teaching has helped me understand and refine ways to present concepts through a progression of linked exercises.
I was introduced to contact by Nannette Hassall at the VCA who brought back her experiences from the US in the 70’s. I worked with Dance Exchange where contact informed the duet work — we had company classes with Hellen Clarke-Lapin who became my main contact teacher and mentor. I have been fortunate to do workshops with Steve Paxton, Nancy Stark-Smith and Lisa Nelson. I took over the Sydney jam in Woolloomooloo from Hellen, then later in Melbourne ran a jam and performed CI at Al Wonders studio in Cubit St. I helped set up a jam in Perth and on return to Melbourne I ran jams and classes at the Gasworks and Dance House. Important people from my early days include: Ian Ferguson and Llewelyn Wishheart who I worked with on performance projects. I danced with Rinsky Ginsburg and Daryl Pelitzer who where early teachers of contact. Llewelyn and Wendy Smith were regulars at my last jam and classes in Melbourne, they became founding members, along with Martin Hughes, of State of Flux and set up the long running jam in Melbourne. Many years later I returned to contact, regularly traveling to the Melbourne jam and for a few years ran a jam and classes in Castlemaine.
The Castlemaine Contact Collective acknowledges that this class will be held on unceded Djaara country.
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Where is it happening?
35 Etty St, Castlemaine VIC 3450, Australia, 35 Etty St, Castlemaine VIC 3450, Australia, CastlemaineEvent Location & Nearby Stays:
