Updated: 2025-06-26 03:14 EDT
Updated: 2025-06-26 03:14 EDT
Ottawa/Gatineau/Hull
This page is for the community-owned, community-run CI organization in Ottawa.
Our community jams and events are accessible and organized by volunteers. As a non-profit, all proceeds from our events stay in the CI community. We invite people who share the mission and values of the group to volunteer to help organize and run our community events by becoming participants in the consensus organizing collective. For more information, send us email: Ian! Allen idallen@idallen.ca
Many Contact Improvisation Dance groups world-wide have been studying the safety and comfort level of of their dance spaces. Approaches range from the "Safer (brave) Space" work of Michele Beaulieux, to the de-CIDE Consent work of Daniel Hayes and the Touch and Play community. The document A Compendium of Contact Improvisation Jam Guidelines and related material from around the world contains a dozen pages (single-spaced!) of links to hundreds of pages of guidelines and articles related to consent in Contact Improvisation and elsewhere. Not all CI events have the same rules and guidelines; consider attending the events whose rules match your own level of comfort.
Our Ottawa CI community safety and comfort guidelines are a work in progress. We have not read the above hundreds of pages of other CI guidelines. We are aware of the months of work done by dozens of people at the Chicago Contact Improvisation Jam, and know that we don't currently have the resources needed to produce similar work. Below is a broad framework for what we promote at our CI jams:
COVID-19 Protocols
The COVID-19 "coronavirus" pandemic is not over. The COVID-19 pandemic continues to injure and kill people in the Ottawa area, especially older and immunocompromised people. Truthdig notes "Covid-19 infections continue to outnumber flu cases and lead to more hospitalization and death than the flu." The Ottawa wastewater COVID-19 viral signal is currently (June 2025) trending low. “Diagnosed cases are often referred to as the “tip of the iceberg,” which means that for each case that is diagnosed, there are likely many individuals who are infected and unknowingly transmitting the infection to others.” Do not attend a Contact Jam event if you are ill or have been exposed to people who are ill. If you think you've been exposed, see the updated procedure for Rapid Antigen Testing.
Everyone is welcome to join our Ottawa CI dance community. If you have never danced with us before, we invite you to first attend one of our free monthly Contact Improv Basics classes before joining the regular weekly jams. You are also welcome to join our weekly jams as an invited guest of one of our regular CI dancers.
Our free monthly CI Basics classes and jams are designed to introduce new people to the form and to CI consent culture so that they may participate in all the local weekly CI dance jams. Monthly CI Basics Classes and Jams are open to all, free for everyone, and adjust to the skill level of those present. All welcome! No experience necessary! We teach you everything! Please arrive on time.
We offer a free CI Basics Class & Dance Jam approximately once a month from 11:15am to 1:15pm on the first Saturdays, open to all at no cost. Invite your friends!
Ottawa Community CI events are on vacation during July/August every year. Weekly classes and dance jams will resume in September.
All classes take place in the fully accessible ODD/CDC Studio "B" in Arts Court at 2 Daly Avenue in downtown Ottawa. Arts Court is wheelchair accessible through the entrance at 67 Nicholas Street.
Come ready to move in contact with and close proximity to other people:
Our Ottawa Community CI events emphasize Playing over Training. Yes, we learn the basics of CI to further our ability to play with each other, but we do it in a relaxed and social atmosphere. For a discussion of the difference in these approaches, see this Acro Yoga article on Playing vs. Training at jams.
Everyone is welcome to join our Ottawa CI dance community. If you have never danced with us before, we invite you to first attend one of our free monthly Contact Improv Basics classes before joining the regular weekly jams. You are also welcome to join our weekly jams as an invited guest of one of our regular CI dancers.
What is Contact Improvisation Dance?
A contact improvisation dance jam
is an open dance play session
for all levels of movers, from beginners to high flyers.
You are free to move, or not move, on your own, in duets, trios, or however
else your co-dancers co-create with you.
Usually,
we don't dance with music;
sometimes, we do. (Alternate link to Martin Keogh talking about
Music at Contact Improvisation Jams)
Ottawa Community Contact Improvisation dance events take place almost every Saturday in air-conditioned comfort, usually Saturdays 11h15-13h15 in the accessible second-floor ODD/CDC Studio "B" at Arts Court at 2 Daly Avenue in downtown Ottawa.
The first-Saturday monthly CI Basics Classes are free for everyone – invite your friends! For the other weekly classes we collect a sliding-scale donation of about $10 to cover the cost of renting the room. Nobody is turned away for lack of funds.
*** 2 0 2 5 O T T A W A C O M M U N I T Y C O N T A C T I M P R O V J A M S ***
Everyone is welcome to join our Ottawa CI dance community. If you have
never danced with us before, we invite you to first attend one of our
free monthly Contact Improv Basics classes before joining the regular
weekly jams. You are also welcome to join our weekly jams as an invited
guest of one of our regular CI dancers.
11:15am-1:15pm Sat Jun 28 2025 CI community only -- last date until September
... Summer Break July+August -- no Saturday CI events until September 2025 ...
B 11:15am-1:15pm Sat Sep 13 2025 CI Basics Class - all welcome - **FREE FOR EVERYONE**
11:15am-1:15pm Sat Sep 20 2025 CI community only
11:15am-1:15pm Sat Sep 27 2025 CI community only
B 11:15am-1:15pm Sat Oct 4 2025 CI Basics Class - all welcome - **FREE FOR EVERYONE**
11:15am-1:15pm Sat Oct 11 2025 CI community only
11:15am-1:15pm Sat Oct 18 2025 CI community only
11:15am-1:15pm Sat Oct 25 2025 CI community only
B 11:15am-1:15pm Sat Nov 1 2025 CI Basics Class - all welcome - **FREE FOR EVERYONE**
11:15am-1:15pm Sat Nov 15 2025 CI community only
11:15am-1:15pm Sat Nov 22 2025 CI community only
11:15am-1:15pm Sat Nov 29 2025 CI community only
B 11:15am-1:15pm Sat Dec 6 2025 CI Basics Class - all welcome - **FREE FOR EVERYONE**
11:15am-1:15pm Sat Dec 13 2025 CI community only
11:15am-1:15pm Sat Dec 20 2025 CI community only
... More dates to be announced in 2026 ...
B = Free Monthly CI Basics Class open to everyone; all welcome. (First Saturdays)
Arts Court ODD/CDC Studio "B" is fully accessible by wheelchair, and there is a
large modern, fully accessible washroom on the same floor as the CI studio.
From: Lana Morton
Subject: Arts Court security awareness.
Date: Fri, 20 Oct 2023Hello everyone,
As we move into the colder months, we would like to remind everyone of safety and security while at Arts Court. We advise all Studio users to keep valuables and personal belongings in the Studio and to keep the Studio door closed during classes and rehearsals.
Please note there is security on site at the Ottawa Art Gallery at all times at the desk on the ground level. If you witness or suspect any incident or suspicious behavior, please contact security immediately at: 613-233-8699x232
We appreciate your collaboration as we work together to practice and create dance in a safe environment for all.
Warm regards,
ODD management
Lana Morton
Production Manager, Associate Director
Chef de Production, Adjointe à la direction
2, Avenue Daly, Suite 200
Ottawa, ON K1N 6E2
613-233-6266 www.odd-cdc.orgOttawa Dance Directive acknowledges that its studios are located on traditional, unceded territories of the Algonquin nation, as the traditional custodians of the land. We respect the land as the territory of the First Peoples. We are humbled to work in their community, and on their territory.
The annual Ontario Regional Contact Jam (ORCJ) will be held in Toronto, probably on Easter weekend, in 2026. Over 200 dancers attend this event every year. Follow the link for details. See Ian! about car pooling from Ottawa to Toronto.
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Updated: 2025-06-26 03:14 EDT[-0400]