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---------HUMILITYSWIM TEACHING SCHEDULE 2013-2014---------

Scroll down this page to view all current learning opportunities.
Drop-in class info, Workshop Registration, event and university offerings are all listed on this page.
All inquiries welcome by email or phone, click here,
or email: info (at) humilityswim (dot) org or call: 415-335-6384

>>Tango-Contact Jam is monthly every THIRD MONDAY, click here for details.
>>FIRST MONDAYS SESSIONS are on hiatus, click here for details.
>>SEMI-PRIVATE CI COACHING SESSIONS, 2-hour sessions for 2-4 partners, are available by appointment for $55.
Scroll down to Workshop Section of this page, use Pulldown menu to select/register for CI Coaching Sessions in SF or Oakland.

DROP-IN CLASSES
Wednesdays May 2012 at Ecstatic Dance
at Sweet's Ballroom, Oakland. 7pm, $15 includes dance til midnight.

FUNDAMENTALS WORKSHOP: CI SQUARE ONE
1-Day Group Intensive and 2 Private Coaching Sessions,
Intensive: Saturday May 26, 10am-3pm. Private Coaching Sessions: June and July by appointment.
INSTRUCTOR: Ali Woolwich Bio
COST: $75 pre-reg, $90 at intensive May 26 walk-up.
REQUIRED: Attendance to Group Intensive Day AND 2 coaching sessions by appointment outside of Workshop time.
LOCATION: Studio Valencia, 455A Valencia @ 16th, SF. Studio Info
DESCRIPTION: CI Square One is a 4-session Fundamentals workshop which demystifies the dance form Contact Improvisation--CI from "square one."
Fundamentals for CI include, rather than specific "steps," the core pathways and subtleties of body awareness required for this 40-year-old contemporary dance form.
CI technique, terminology, and kinesthetic processes for locating/naming/repeating sensation and touch qualities in your own body and your dance partners will be provided, soup-to-nuts.
This workshop is great for 1st time beginners, those who have been "shown a few things" by friends but have never taken a class, those feeling stuck in intermediate classes
due to gaps in training, and those who want a good refresher course to kick-start a more regular practice. This workshop is a great primer for attendance at
larger CI festivals and workshops, installing all the basics including: maintaining rolling point of contact, counterbalance/counterlever, inversions, falling, rides/lifts, taking/giving partners weight with momentum, physical alignment and injury prevention techniques.
Through both physical/dance "trouble-shooting" and discussion we'll comprehensively fill in the gaps resulting from: infrequent attendance at drop-in classes, lack of jam experience,
and rusty-ness due to timegaps out of CI practice. We will focus on developing our ability to "listen" through touch, attention and
shared weight--to find flowing, tuned-in dances, and sustained creative interest.
Each student will get (2) 30-minute one-to-one sessions with the instructor (1 at Studio Valencia, and 1 at SF Tuesday Jam at CounterPULSE, outside of class time)
to address specific dance questions and get some facilitated Jam practice. Students will receive handouts covering some contextual CI history and web-based CI resources.
Jam etiquette and practice will be included in the material as well as strategies to plug into your own regular CI practice, keep in touch with the rich CI performance scene,
and navigate/get the most out of Bay Area CI Jams.
CREDIT CARD REGISTRATION HERE: http://cisquareonemay26workshop.eventbrite.com
-OR- To register by check, make check payable to Humilityswim Dance Media.
On Check Memo Line: write email & phone.
Mail to: 1005 Market St, #411, SF, CA, 94103.
Full payment is due on the first day of all workshops, no refunds.

CI EXPANSION 201: INTERMEDIATE WORKSHOP
4 Sessions, noon-2pm.
Fall Session: TBA October 2012.
INSTRUCTOR(S): Ali Woolwich Bios
COST: $75 pre-reg, $90 at first class.
$20 Advance deposit holds online price for first day.
Full payment due first day.
REQUIRED: Attendance to all FOUR sessions, plus 1 Jam outside of class.
LOCATION: Studio Valencia, 455A Valencia @ 16th, SF. Studio Info
DESCRIPTION: This is that "CI 201" class you've been hunting for. After a 3-6 months of regular practice with the basics, there's so many more questions to address with one's dance. In this workshop we will increase your CI partnering vocabulary, including how to prepare for, recognize, and get rides, lifts and inversions. This is the "teach you how to fish" class that will enable you to both ask and answer what's challenging you. While adding some technical skill, we will smooth out inexact bumps, unintentional airpockets, and missing tactile understandings of what makes good partnering work, regardless of the skill or style of your partner. We'll introduce Ensembling concepts: entrances and exits into trios and quartets, and improv spatial composition. Finally, we will increase your ability to meet the unknown in the dance and identify your CI style. We will prepare for the unknown with some tools: catching yourself softly, using your bones so "strength" is irrelevant, and allowing momentum. With this "risk-preparedness toolkit" you will gain an expanded range of dances and creative choices to flavor your dances. Each student will get a one-on-one session with the instructor (at CounterPULSE jam, outside of class time) to address their specific questions or challenges.
To Register by Credit Card, before clicking the "PAY NOW" button,
select your event from pulldown menu, and type attendance date in box below:

Humilityswim Workshops

CI Square One: Fundamentals $75.00 USD CI Expansion 201: Intermediate $75.00 USD Workshop Advance Registration Minimum Deposit $20.00 USD Semi-Private 2-Partner Coaching $55.00 USD Project Services monthly $780.00 USD

Type month/year attending:

Email ?s by typing here:

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PAST TEACHING CV...

*Thursdays* in February 2012 at 7th Heaven Yoga, (7th St off Ashby, Berkeley). Thursday Jam Class, 7:30-8:30pm, $10.

*Tuesdays* in December 2011 & January 2012 at CounterPULSE, San Francisco, 1310 Mission @ 9th. 6:30-8:30pm, $12.

*Mondays* in January 2012 at Roco Dance, Fairfax CA. 7-8:30pm, $10.

>>Wednesdays in June 2011: Ecstatic Dance Event at Sweet's Ballroom, Oakland.
INSTRUCTOR: Ali Woolwich Bio
TIME: 7pm
COST: $15 til midnight, via ED website or walkup.
LOCATION: 1933 Broadway, next to 19th St Oakland BART.
DESCRIPTION: Using CI basics to invite dances at Ecstatic.
Increase your spatial awareness, movement choices, and ways to partner while the music cranks.
VENUE INFO: http://ecstaticdance.org/wednesday

>>Thursdays June & July: Thursday Jam's Class Series at 7th Heaven Yoga, Berkeley.
INSTRUCTOR: Ali Woolwich Bio
TIME: 7:30pm
COST: $10 walkup only.
LOCATION: 2820 Seventh Street (15 min walk down Ashby St from Ashby BART)
DESCRIPTION: Effort and Perception in CI
The brain perceives 1 degree of tipping the head the same as a steep degree fall.
It will send a desperate (but inaccurate) message to the torso & limbs:
"brace for impact, you're falling!"
We'll explore other related mental images vs. kinesthetic realities such as:
- What % of effort works (and doesn't) for low-effort rides?
- How do my eyes affect my torso?
- Why do I always do the same thing dancing with partners bigger or smaller than me?
We will examine and debunk effort-related (mis)perceptions to install a wider range of dance responses,
creating a more momentum-ready body and accurate mental image of what's really happening
in your dance at those critical moments of choice and readiness.
VENUE INFO: http://thursdayjam.org

At CounterPULSE December & January.
Tuesdays, 6:30-8pm, $12.
1310 Mission Street at 9th in SF

At Ecstatic Dance Wednesday Dec 22nd.
7-8pm Class is included with doorfee for dance til midnight.
$15.
Oakland Event Center, Grand Ballroom
420 14th St @ Broadway, Oakland.
CI with Music: Invitations, Transitions and Signaling
How do you non-verbally invite a Contact Improvisation (CI) dance when the music is booming? This class will provide you with some gradual transitions in and out of physical touch so that both dance partners can feel their options without a slam or a bobble. Find out how, without words, to use gentle rolling pressure and weighted touch to signal your invitation into mutual negotiation of a dance in duet or groups, in tune with whatever music Ecstatic's DJs throw you.

1-SESSION BEGINNER-INTERMEDIATE CLASS
TIME: noon-2pm
DATE: Sunday, Feb 28.
Immediately followed by on-site one-on-ones with instructor to address your specific questions. (2-3pm.)
(4 onsite slots available, or offsite by appointment included in class fee.)
DESCRIPTION: Use this class for a gentle kick-start to your CI practice
and prep for taking your dances at Jams to the next level for the spring.
COST: $20
LOCATION: Studio Valencia, 455A Valencia @ 16th, SF. Studio Info
RSVP confirm by email or phone required for attendance.

Oakland Ecstatic Dance CI pre-dance Class
every Wednesday in February, 2010.
CLASS: 7-8pm
EVENT: 8-11pm
COST: $15 for Class & Event
LOCATION: Sweet's Ballroom, Oakland, CA
1933 Broadway @ 19th Street
across the street from
19th St Oakland BART Stop.
TEACHER BIO
VENUE INFO: http://ecstaticdance.org/wednesday
DESCRIPTION: Music-friendly CI Fundamentals
Get some strong, simple Contact Improvisation pathways that work
even when the music's blaring and there's a big crowd to navigate.
Play with bodysurfing as a face-safe perpetual ride around the room.
Get 3 ways to share your chest & ribcage in the dance.
Feel how Rolling Point & counterbalance give you dance transitions.
Identify how modulating pressure, proximity, breath, and visual focus
allow you to "listen" through touch for meaty, inspiring dances
in the dance-jam environment.

Oakland Ecstatic Dance CI pre-dance Class
Nov 25, 2009

NOVEMBER CLASS at THURSDAY JAM
Nov 5, 12, and 19, 2009 with Ali Woolwich.
CLASS: 7:30-8:30pm, $8-10 sliding scale
JAM: 8:30-11pm $5-10 sliding scale
7th Heaven Yoga in Berkeley, beautiful studio.
2820 7th St @ Heinz, look for the big "YOGA" signs & arrows.
instructor bio www.thursdayjam.org

DESCRIPTION: Feel Good/Look Good
In this 3-week series we'll Explore and challenge:
1. what feels good in a dance--
rolling point accuracy, partner-to-partner alignment,
inviting-vs.-steering.
AND,
2. what looks good to watchers--
present eyes, center connection, negative space, play.
With each class you'll get a clear physical warm-up,
a couple meaty dances, and some questions to infiltrate
your CI practice. Come dance, question, and dance again.

COUNTERPULSE DROP-IN CLASS SERIES
Tuesdays, 6:30-8pm, $12.
AUG 25, SEPT 1, 8, 15, 22, 29, OCT 6, 13, 20, 27, 2009.
1310 Mission St @ 9th, SF. www.counterpulse.org
DESCRIPTION: This class will offer a weekly grounding in a portion of CI fundamentals--the most universally agreed vocabulary, terms, and pathways--as a jumping off place of shared listening, attention, and specificity through touch/weight/pressure. From there, through scores and Q&A we will reveal and articulate a portable framework for inquiring dancers to increase their range of movement choices and options, and more importantly, to transition from being passive students to active designers of their own continued investigation/improvisation. We will challenge ourselves to answer: mentally and physically, what prepares/makes an interesting/interested flexible dance improviser, and what would push me to be more so?

JULY 2009 ENSEMBLE LAB AT STUDIO VALENCIA
HumilitySwim hosts/facilitates this Ensemble Lab. Group dancing, ensemble awareness and beyond-duet dancing are the starting expectations. Bring your scores, ideas, and experiments, and the group will work through them. We'll work ~3 ideas per session. Strongly established CI Fundamentals skills required.
COST: Sliding Scale $1-5
TIME: 8:30-10:30PM
DATES: July 13, 20, 27, 2009.

2009 21st ANNUAL WEST COAST CONTACT IMPROVISATION FESTIVAL! JULY 2-7, 2009
WCCIF is an annual festival of intensives, classes, individual sessions, performances,
labs and discussions offered as a regional locus for world-wide exchange.
Full Schedule at: www.ci-rf.org

COUNTERPULSE DROP-IN CLASS SERIES
Tuesdays, 6:30-8pm, $12.
AUGUST 5, 12, 19 & 26, 2008.
1310 Mission St @ 9th, SF. www.counterpulse.org
DESCRIPTION: Increase your CI vocabulary while adding some technical skill. Refine your sense of regulating pressure through push, pull, pour and reach. Smooth out bumps, airpockets, and missing tactile understandings for more effective partnering. Increase your ability to meet the unknown in the dance with some tools: catching yourself softly through your own surface and landing gear, using your bones so "strength" is irrelevant to push through your partner, and breaking the "brake habit" to allow/follow momentum. With this "risk-preparedness toolkit" you will gain an expanded range of creative choices including how to recognize and get rides, lifts and inversions.

2008 20th ANNUAL WEST COAST CONTACT IMPROVISATION FESTIVAL!
JULY 3-8, 2008
WCCIF is an annual festival of intensives, classes, individual sessions, performances, labs and discussions offered by a wide consortium of International CI Teachers. Ali will be co-facilitating a disabled & non-disabled dancer jam session with Erik Ferguson, and pushing the envelope with Lawrenzo Share's Site Specific Performance Workshop.
Full Schedule at: www.ci-rf.org

CI EXPANSION 201: INTERMEDIATE WORKSHOP
3 Sessions, OCT 12, OCT 18, OCT 26, 2009. (co-taught
with Ali Woolwich and Zack Bernstein.)
3 Mondays 8:30-10:30pm,
APR 13-27, 2009.
JUNE 8-22, 2009.
WEEKEND INTENSIVE FORMAT,
April 26, 1-5pm and April 27, 10am-5pm, 2008.

8th STREET STUDIO DROP-IN CLASS SERIES
Ali teaches NOV 3, DEC 1 & 8, 2007, 1:30-3:30PM.
This series is back on track after a 2-year hiatus.
8th Studio is in the SAWTOOTH BUILDING,
2525 8th Street at Dwight Way.
$12-15 sliding scale. Class is followed by Jam.

GUEST TEACHER at JFK Arts and Consciousness Program, Berkeley
for Seth Eisen's Intro to Improvisation and Poetics Class.
OCT 14, 2007, 5:30-7pm.
www.jfku.edu

COUNTERPULSE DROP-IN CLASS SERIES
JULY 10, 17, 24 & 31, 2007.
www.counterpulse.org

COUNTERPULSE DROP-IN CLASS SERIES
JAN 2 & 9, 2007.
COUNTERPULSE DROP-IN CLASS SERIES
SEPT 5-OCT 31, 2006.

QUEER WOMEN'S CONTACT WORKSHOP
This 1-day basics workshop coincides with Gay Pride month.
Our learning of dance skills will be informed
and expanded by our identity and experience as queer women.
No previous dance experience required.
June 10, 2006, 2-5pm
at CounterPULSE
1310 Mission Street at 9th, San Francisco
$20-60 sliding scale, no one turned away for lack of funds
To pre-register, include your name, phone & email to:
humilityswim@gmail.com
415-335-6384
This workshop is co-taught by Ali Woolwich and colleague Mary Ann Brooks, a performance artist, agitator and dancer. She has been dancing, investigating and experimenting with improvisational dance and performance for over ten years. She is currently residing in San Francisco and has taught and danced contact improvisation in New Zealand, Israel, the Netherlands, New York and San Francisco.
www.maryannbrooks.com

WCCIF 2006: SATISFACTION: GETTING, GIVING, DEFINING, REFINING
JULY 1, 3:15PM
This class offers strategies and experiments you can use in jam space and/or choreography to make your dances more satisfying from partner to partner. Define, expand and be surprised by what you think a satisfying dance is. Find suppleness and lightness that feels good. Play with varying speed. Challenge assumptions about difference in size, ability, and strength. Use brief verbal requests to increase trust that will expand the dance (without a dance devolving into a discussion at the edge of the dancefloor). Can you have pleasure and interesting composition? Keep listening and being present while making some demands.www.wccif.com

COUNTERPULSE DROP-IN CLASS SERIES
DEC 6, 2005-JAN 31, 2006.

7 TEACHERS, 7 VIEWS: CONTACT IMPROV IN PERFORMANCE
Wednesdays, OCT 5, 12, 19, 26, & NOV 2,9,16, 2005.
6:30-8:30 PM
CounterPULSE, 1310 Mission Street @9th, SF
1 block from Civic Center Bart
$100/series or $16 drop-in
TEACHERS: JESS CURTIS, ALI WOOLWICH (Oct 12), HEARTBEAT DANCE,
JOHN LEFAN, VITALI KONONOV, JEZ PARUS, SARA SHELTON MANN
This class offers students the opportunity to gain deeper knowledge of contact improvisation skills, moving beyond the basics while gaining exposure to a range of styles and techniques. Each week, a different teacher will lead a class based on their individual use of CI in performance.
INFO/REGISTRATION: (415)626-2060 or info@counterpulse.org.
www.counterpulse.org

WCCIF 2005: WISE ASS
July 2, 3:15 pm
Free your ass (pelvis) and your dance (mind) will follow. Or, how to have a good time doing it upside-down and backwards. Your butt is smarter than you think, after all, it is in the center of things. Experiement with a variety of ways to expand your dance by releasing your pelvis and increasing the sensing power of your dorsal (back) side. Dance skills and life metaphors addressed in this class include: sensing & connecting to what you can't see, and the innovative curiosity of the contrary personality.

8TH ST STUDIO DROP-IN CLASS SERIES
Ali will teach the Jan 22 & 29th 2005 sessions.
Saturdays, 1:30-3:30pm, 2525 8th St, Berkeley
$12-15 sliding scale per class
All levels, beginners welcome.
Series info at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SFBACI

TEMESCAL ARTS CENTER CI CLASS SERIES
THURSDAYS, 6:30-8pm
LOCATION: 511 48th Street @ Telegraph, Oakland
(a 5-minute bikeride from Macarthur BART)
COST: $15 drop-in. All levels, beginners welcome.
JAM 8-10pm for just $2 bucks!
INFO: (510)601-9863 or
www.hilarybryan.com/ContactSeries.htm
MAY 4-25, 2006 Class Description: SMOOTHING OUT YOUR DANCE
Got bumps, fit & starts, or blank spots (ie, what do I do now? moments) in your dance? Demystify 'em, smooth 'em out and get more flow going in your dance. Learn simple ways to take weight and find rides without stopping your momentum. Get tips for letting go, tapping into your curiosity and find GLEE in your dancing!
MAY 26-JUNE 23, 2005 Class Description: FREE FALLING, SOFT SHOVING
Falling: replace fear and unfamiliarity of the falling sensation with easeful options to use to recover, respond and reorient as falling is happening. Safely increase your confidence for catching yourself while increasing your ability to share your fall and recycle its momentum with your dance partners. Shoving: explore negotiating pressure with partners rather than bowling them over or going limp. Find gliding rides and surprising lifts that have a satisfying oomph with almost zero muscle-effort, regardless of size or gender.

ESSENTIAL CONTACT IMPROVISATION SERIES
7 Teachers, 7 Points of View, 7 Weeks, no Drop-ins.
Wednesdays, 7-10pm, JAN 26-MAR 9, 2005.
ERNIE ADAMS, BRENTON CHENG, RAY CHUNG, JO KREITER,
JOHN LeFAN, SCOTT WELLS, ALI WOOLWICH (Feb 23rd)
All levels and abilities welcome. Class size limited.
$175
Pre-Registration: johnlefan@aol.com -or- 415-861-4330
Contact Improvisation began it�s development as a movement art form thirty two years ago. CI has interacted with and influenced theater, modern dance, healing arts, ballet and many other fields.
Has the form changed? What is essential to Contact Improvisation? What are the possibilities?
A chance for beginners to get a great start and for experienced dancers to deepen their experience.
A different teacher of CI will teach on 7 different Wednesdays. In the first half of the class the teacher will teach what they believe to be the essentials of Contact Improvisation. In the second half of the class the teacher will explore the directions they have taken Contact Improvisation. This workshop should not be looked at as "advanced" or "beginning". It is about "essentials" and "variations."

FUNDAMENTALS WORKSHOP: CI SQUARE ONE at Studio Valencia:
3 SUNDAYS, noon-3pm.
JAN 16-30, 2011.
MAY 9-23, 2010.
3 MONDAYS, 8:30-10:30pm
SEPT 14-28, 2009
MAY 11-25, 2009
MAR 16-30, 2009
4 THURSDAYS, 7-9pm
SEP 21-OCT 12, 2006
4 MONDAYS, 8-10pm
JUN 5-26, 2006
APR 3-24, 2006
JAN 27-FEB 13, 2006
SEP 19-OCT 10, 2005
JUN 6-27, 2005
OCT 4-25 2004

SEPT 14 2004 GUEST CLASS AT CITY COLLEGE OF SAN FRANCISCO
Director Ali Woolwich and Company Dancer Yayoi Nagano will be teaching a CI class to the CCSF Dance Program's Dance Composition Class September 14, 9-11AM at the Main (Phelan) Campus North Gym. You are invited to observe the class at no charge (both learn about CCSF Dance Program, and see HS' approach to CI!)

full CV of 1995-2004 available on request.