About this Event
Leaning into Contact is a gentle, foundational 5-week introduction to contact improvisation, designed for people who want time, space, and support as they explore movement with others.
This series is especially for those who are new to contact improv, new to consensual touch in movement spaces, or anyone who benefits from a slower, more intentional entry into shared dancing.
Rather than focusing on skills or contact improv movement options, here we focus on building comfort, trust, and awareness in the body - both individually and in relation to others. You’ll be guided step by step into the basics of contact, with a strong emphasis on choice, consent, and integration.
Across the 5 weeks, we will explore:
- Arriving in your body and the space with grounding and awareness
- Building comfort with proximity, presence, and gentle connection
- Learning how to initiate, pause, and exit contact clearly and respectfully
- Learning how to listen to ourselves, pause and take breaks
- Introducing simple weight sharing in a supported and gradual way
- Practicing consent and boundary navigation in real-time movement
- Slowing down enough to notice sensations, emotions, and patterns as they arise
- Meeting gentle challenges with compassion and community
You are always encouraged to move at your own pace, take breaks when needed, and choose what feels right for your body.
Journaling is part of this practice. We invite you to bring a notebook each week to support reflection, integration, and personal awareness between sessions.
This series is designed as a spacious entry point into contact improvisation, one that prioritizes nervous system awareness, clarity of consent, and a deep respect for individual readiness. It is not about doing it “right.” It is about learning how to listen, to yourself, to others, and to what feels true in the moment. If you’ve been curious about contact improv but wanted a slower, more supported way in, this space is for you.
✨ Series details:
- Mondays on June 8, June 15, June 22, June 29 and July 6
- 7-9:30 pm in Kensington Market
✨ Bonus for all participants:
- Social time after each class: we will head out for food after each class, and highly encourage you to join for that (even if you just come for conversation and not food), so you can get to know the group and be part/contribute to a sense of community. This is part of Colours in Contact's DNA and helps contribute to more ease, learning and growth for everyone :-)
- Free access to one jam per week throughout the series (6:30-9 pm on Wednesdays at 805 Dovercourt Rd or 3-5 pm on Sundays in Trinity Bellwoods Park)
- Connection to a wonderful and supportive community of movers
We encourage you to join a future series if you expect to miss more than one class, as consistent attendance is important for building comfort with the dance and for the group.
If you’re curious about contact improv and want to see what it looks like, what our community is like, or learn more about us, check out our Instagram and Facebook at @coloursincontact.
Advanced registration required for this series; no drop-ins. You will receive an introductory email within a couple days of the first class.
*** Feel free to send payment of $175 through etransfer to [email protected].
Please note that refunds are not available once the series has begun.
We can’t wait to move with you!
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This is the first level in a 4-part Colours in Contact progression series, corresponding to the Colours in Contact progression framework (see pictures attached) and designed to support people at different stages of their contact improvisation journey. Each level meets dancers where they are, and offers a different balance of structure, skill-building, and exploration. Rather than treating contact improv as a single entry point, this progression recognizes that people arrive with different levels of readiness, curiosity, and experience.
The four levels are:
🌱 Level 1: Leaning into Contact
(Corresponds to Connector Level)
A slow, supportive entry point focused on safety, consent, comfort with touch, and foundational awareness in shared space.
🌱 Level 2: Contact Improv Foundations
(Corresponds to Connector–Learner Levels)
A more structured introduction to core principles of contact improv, including weight-sharing, points of contact, and foundational options in standing, on the ground and in lifts.
🌱 Level 3: Contact Improv Skill Expansion
(Corresponds to Learner–Tinkerer Levels)
A space to deepen skills, expand responsiveness, and explore slightly more complex movement pathways, transitions, and shared decision-making.
🌱 Level 4: Contact Improv Play, Creativity & Freedom
(Corresponds to Tinkerer Level)
An open, playful space focused on creativity, flow, improvisational freedom, and personal expression within contact improv.
This framework is designed as a progression, not a hierarchy. Each level is complete in itself, and participants are invited to enter at the point that best supports their current experience and needs.
Together, these levels create a pathway from grounded entry into contact, toward greater skill, confidence, and ultimately, creative freedom in movement.
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About the Facilitators:
Emma and Pablo co-founded Colours in Contact in 2023 with a shared vision: to build a warm, culturally diverse, beginner-friendly contact improv space in Toronto where people can move, explore, and express themselves freely.
Emma grew up dancing, spending many years in ballet before falling in love with the freedom, play, and expressive possibilities of contact improv. She’s passionate about bringing people together, creating supportive spaces, and helping movers grow in confidence and creativity.
Pablo, a Toronto-born mover with Guatemalan roots, brings a rich background in contact improv, muay thai, tai chi, yoga, partner dance, and authentic movement. His teaching is grounded in curiosity, play, and care, inviting dancers to explore what movement, support, and expression can mean for them.
Together, they cultivate classes and jams that are beginner-friendly, inclusive, and rooted in the belief that everyone has a creative, expressive body waiting to be discovered.
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About Contact Improv:
Contact Improvisation (CI) is a partner/solo/group-improvised dance style developed in 1972 by Steve Paxton and Nancy Stark Smith, heavily influenced by Aikido and Modern dance. Due to the open-ended nature of the dance, each new dancer can add to this pot of creativity. This has lead to various influences weaving in and out of the form. Some of those influences include but are not limited to Tango, Zen, Zouk, Contemporary, Ballet, Hip Hop, Qi Gong, Capoeira, Ballroom, Salsa and the list goes on. This is the beauty of CI: it can offer such an open fertile ground for exploration in expression and movement. Your voice in this dance is what will drive the creative freedom possible at Colours in Contact.
Event Venue & Nearby Stays
Kensington Studio, 205 Augusta Ave, Toronto, Canada
CAD 187.71
