Scene map
Teachers, Facilitators, Organizers
Kraków
Agata Romankiewicz
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Wrocław
Agnieszka Rybak
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Gdańsk / Tricity
Aleksandra Rud
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Alesia Seraya
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Warsaw
Andrzej Woźniak
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Warsaw
Angelika Mizińska
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Olsztyn
Becia Kulgajuk
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Kraków
Damian Oterman
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Kraków
Dawid Swoboda
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Wrocław
Dorota Kamecka
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Kraków
Edward Rey
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Katowice
Ewelina Cieśla
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Filip Wencki
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Gosia Żurawska
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Hanna Jurczak
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Kraków
Iwona Olszowska
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Iza Maksymowicz
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Jagoda Kiczyńska
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Kraków
Karol Swoboda
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Klara Łucznik
Details →Toruń
Krzysiek Skibicki
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Kraków
Łukasz Siemieniec
Details →Katowice
Marcin Jóźwik
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Marta Jakimicha
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Marta Milewska
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Michał Czarnecki
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Warsaw
Michał Ratajski
Details →Toruń
Monika Kochowicz
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Natalia Charitonow
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Kraków
Paweł Konior
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Poznań
Paweł Kubiak
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Kraków
Paweł Śliz
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Sebastian Flegiel
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Szczecin
Sebastian Zemankiewicz
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Warsaw
Tomasz Domański
Details →Warsaw
Zuzanna Bukowski
Details →improwizacjakontaktowa.pl
Suggest a correctionYou've been swimming in gravity since the day you were born. Every cell knows where down is. Easily forgotten. Your mass and the earth's mass calling to each other.
— Steve Paxton, GravityEvents
June 2026
July 2026
September 2026
Recurring & seasonal
About CI
What it is
Contact improvisation (CI) is a dance around a shared point of touch. Two people give each other weight, roll, support and fall — answering each other as they go, with no set steps.
Instead of leading, what matters is listening with the body: you track where your weights meet and answer what comes. You can dance as a pair, in a group, or solo.
- The point of contact. The dance happens where bodies meet — and that point keeps travelling.
- Sharing weight. You learn to give and receive weight, rather than carrying your partner.
- Reflexes and falling. Disorientation, rolling and soft landings are part of the form, not a mistake.
- Ongoing consent. At any moment you can change the intensity, pause, or leave the dance.
There's no single, official definition of CI. Unlike most of what surrounds us today, it has no centre — many voices, approaches, opinions. And that's a good thing.
Before your first jam
A jam is an open, informal gathering to dance — no class, no teacher, no set steps. People come simply to dance contact improvisation: you join and leave dances whenever you like, solo, in pairs or in a group.
- Come sober and rested. CI rests on awareness — substances and fatigue dull the listening that everything here starts from.
- Comfortable clothes and water. Long sleeves and trousers ease the slide; people dance barefoot or in socks. Bring an extra layer.
- Consent is ongoing. A “yes” to one moment isn't a “yes” to the next — you can always change the intensity, pause, or end a dance.
- Watching is taking part too. Sitting at the side and watching is a full way of being at the jam, not a break.
- Start small. A beginners' class plus a guided jam will teach you more than jumping straight into a big, open jam.
The best first step is a beginners' class plus a guided jam.
About CI · deeper
Roots
CI has no single founder and no manual. It began with Steve Paxton's 1972 experiment and has been passed from body to body for half a century. Below: a timeline and source recordings — see and hear where it came from.
- 1972
Magnesium
Steve Paxton tworzy w Oberlin College dwudziestominutową etiudę dla dwunastu tancerzy na matach gimnastycznych — skoki, zderzenia, padanie i chwytanie. Tu zaczyna się to, co później nazwą kontaktem.
- czerwiec 1972
Pierwsze „Contact Improvisation”
W John Weber Gallery w Nowym Jorku Paxton z grupą tancerzy pokazuje praktykę pod nazwą, która zostaje do dziś.
- 1973
Trasa „You Come, We'll Show You What We Do”
Paxton, Nancy Stark Smith, Nita Little i Curt Siddall wiozą formę na zachodnie wybrzeże — warsztaty i wspólne dżemy zamiast zamkniętej choreografii.
- 1975
Contact Quarterly
Nancy Stark Smith i Lisa Nelson zakładają pismo, które przez dekady zbiera głos, pamięć i teksty tej praktyki.
- Small Dance
„The Stand”
Paxton sprowadza taniec do podstawy: nieruchome stanie i nasłuchiwanie mikroruchów, którymi ciało nieustannie pilnuje równowagi. Punkt wyjścia niemal każdej lekcji.
- 2008
Material for the Spine
Paxton publikuje obszerne studium ruchu kręgosłupa i ciężaru — cyfrową mapę tego, co dzieje się pod powierzchnią tańca.
- 2024
Steve Paxton (1939–2024)
Twórca odchodzi, a praktyka zostaje — od pół wieku bez jednego właściciela, niesiona przez kolejne ciała, sceny i dżemy.
Watch and listen
Sources and more