CI on Saturday
One Saturday per month
A whole Day of Contact Improvisation
We’re excited to present a new Contact Improvisation format at SerVivo. One Saturday per month we open our doors, our studio and hearts for a full day of dancing and practising Contact Improvisation. We will sometimes invite teachers bringing diverse perspectives and different approaches to this wonderful dance form.
In the morning we will dive deep with a 2.5-hour CI class, followed by a break with a potluck lunch to connect and rest. Then we go in the second round: the afternoon jam, also for 2.5 hours.
Let’s spend the day together in Arrábida, cultivating presence, community, and exploring the unknown!
Do you have questions? Send us an email:
Irene Pons & Jo Bruhn
Schedule & Prices
- CI Class (10:30 AM – 1:00 PM)
Sliding Scale: €15 to €30
Open for Beginners
Registration is mandatory - Potluck Lunch
(Bring a dish to share during the break) - CI JAM (3:00 PM – 5:30 PM)
Sliding Scale: 8€ to 20€
No registration needed
Dates & Facilitators
17th January 2026
Reimar Wen Shen:
Embodiment: From Form to Formless
In this CI class we will be investigating the different bodies within ourselves. From the obvious to the subtle bodies. The physical body, the energy body, the poetic body, the body of emptiness. From the tangible to the invisible. What bodies are the source of my movement? What bodies am I meeting in the space? How to improvise and draw from the worlds of each body?
Read more
Gazing at the space – do I see the objects, the bodies moving? Do I see the energy that moves the bodies? When I look up – do I see the ceiling? Do I see the empty space? Do I see myself floating in the Milky Way?
When I touch another – Do I touch the bone, muscle, skin? Do I touch the joy, the texture, the mind of the other? Do I touch their world?
When I move – am I moved by something inside or outside? Is this a physical, energetical or imagined action? Can I act from all my bodies, showing up wholly, fully, for this dance?
Am I this body moving, or something vast, mysterious, timeless?
We’ll explore the material through touch, solo movement, stillness and contact. We work our way from the form to the formless and allow the improvisation to guide us. I draw from my experience in Aikido, Butō and Vipassanā.
The movement between being, interbeing and non-being. Let’s dance and explore these bodies together!
Reimar Wen Shen
Reimar Wen Shen is a facilitator, performing artist, and meditation teacher based in Portugal with a German-Singaporean background.
In Contact Improvisation, he has studied in-depth with Bari Kim, Kirstie Simson, Ekaterina Basalaeva, and Sasha Brezrodnova. From 2020 to 2023, he lived in Thailand, where he practiced with and later assisted at the TOWARDS Institute with Sasha Dodo and Dolores Dewhurst Marks.
He has a background in martial arts—Taekwondo (1st Dan) and Aikido (including training at Ryu Dojo in Tokyo)—which form the physical ground of his movement practice. His work in Butoh include creating solo performances Dukkha, Abgrund der Krise, and Requiem Sanctum, and ongoing study of Jinen Butoh with Atsushi Takenouchi.
Reimar’s dance continues to be inspired by his decade-long meditation practice. He is the founder of Vipassana at Home, where he offers online meditation courses, one-to-one guidance, and in-person retreats. He began practicing Vipassana in the Goenka tradition and later trained in Northern Thai Vipassana (Mahasi noting and Open Awareness), including four months in retreat at Wat Sopharam.
His teaching projects include Action & Emptiness (CI), Contemplative Contact Retreat (with Francisco Borges), Aikido & CI, and Shared Body, Shared Dream (Butoh & CI with Virginia Torres). He also co-facilitates OceanDance (with Geraldin Acevedo Espana), combining somatic freediving and Contact Improvisation, which he studied with it’s creators Sasha Brezrodnova and Mario Blanco.
In 2025, he co-created The Healing Museum project at the Bode Museum in Berlin with curator Dr. María López-Fanjul. The project brought mindfulness and somatic presence into the museum setting through guided audio meditations, a curated exhibition, and live events, in collaboration with Charité Berlin.
14th February 2026
Viktória Makra:
The desire of Disorientation
In this Contact Improvisation workshop we will tune into the body’s capacity to navigate shifting support, unexpected pathways, and unfamiliar momentum. We’ll work with techniques and principles that challenge our sense of “upright” and widen our movement vocabulary ( rolling, folding, spiraling, falling, lifting, and being lifted).
Read more
By cultivating trust in both our partners and our own sensory intelligence, we learn to welcome surprise as a partner rather than a threat.
This workshop is an invitation to:
- Heighten listening skills through touch, weight, and shared balance
- Explore disorientation as a gateway to creativity and presence
- Develop comfort with unpredictability in movement
- Expand physical playfulness and improvisational range
- Practice responding rather than reacting
All levels of CI experience are welcome. Curiosity, openness, and a willingness to step into the unknown are the only requirements.
Viktória Makra
I’m a Hungarian contemporary artist. Contact Improvisation dance teacher, performer, theater director, puppeteer; based in Portugal. I have been performing and holding many workshops in the Balkans, France, Germany, Netherlands, Italy, Portugal, Dubai, Armenia, Egypt and Iran.
My last 20 years in theater and dance helped me to travel the world, my last 16 years in contact improvisation helped me to understand it. Or at least to ask better questions…
14th March 2026
María Cantero:
POLYPHONIES OF A BODY.
CI & BIOMECHANICS.
A Contact Improvisation class & jam through somatics & The Axis Syllabus principles. Our body is a complex polyphonic system. Multiple functions operate automatically, such as pulse, breathing, or neuronal synapses, and on top of that, we move and dance, multiple rhythms.
Read more
For Aristotle, movement is a change of place and state. In this workshop, we will play with this definition, tuning in to the polyphonies of our parasympathetic and sympathetic systems.
First, we will listen to the rhythm of our organs and our structure, and then we will work with the articulation of the motor centers, changes in tone, and the sensation and shifting of weight—playing with the sequencing in the movement of masses.
We will work with bouncing, waves, and tempo—both solo and in contact—exploring the principles of Assemble & Disassemble, Fall & Inertia Moments.
What makes me move? What moves us together?
Marie Bardet, in “Thinking Through Moving”, responds: “The concrete, a line in space, a changing light, the falling body, there are many imbalances, the state of being off-center, the inner sensation of a joint, the speed at which I approach someone, or at which I move away…”
Every perception is already action, and it is already composition. We are going to play to tune into our structures and into others in contact, to be able to perceive and jam with the polyphonies of our bodies and the space.
María Cantero
María is a Bachelor’s degree in Philosophy, performer and dancer. I specialize in physical and anthropological theatre (Odin Teatret, Denmark; and Studio Matejka, Poland), and I study contemporary dance with teachers such as Janet Novás, Pau Aran, David Zambrano, Faustin Linyekula, among others. I am currently immersed in studying Axis Syllabus with Kira Kirsch and Antoine Ragot (Berlin).
Contact improvisation runs through my practice and is a constant focus of research. I train with teachers such as Linda Bufali, Mirva Mäkinen, Katja Mustonen, and Anya Cloud, among others. I co-create and co-direct the research spaces in CI and performing arts “Cuerpo Colectivo,” “Espacio A Rigueira,” and the “Galicia Contact Festival” (4th edition).
As a dancer and performer, some of my works include CAMINANDO by Laura Garmo, presented at Surge Madrid and the CENIT Atalaya Festival (Seville); and VOCES, a documentary dance piece directed by Silvia Galán.
Since 2016, as a promoter of Equality and arts-educator for the prevention and awareness of structural violence, I have brought Contact Improvisation and performing arts to rural areas and equality centers through my projects Con-Tacto (Molina de Aragón, Festival El Canto del Gallo, Centro de Igualdad Carme Chacón) and Danza entre Mujeres (a dance-based empowerment project at Centro de Igualdad María de Maeztu, Madrid).
My pedagogical research on the training and creation of material for the actor-dancer, “The Infinite Body”, has led me to conduct workshops, direct, and train groups of professional and amateur artists. My pedagogy draws from physical theatre, the use of the word as a motor and a possibility for movement, somatic techniques, Contact Improvisation, Axis Syllabus, and Flying Low.
I am also currently part of a Contact Improvisation and Instant Composition group, with which we present “Los martes escénicos” in Madrid.
+info: Instagram @maria.cantero_dance
18th April 2026
Dagmar Bock:
SPIRALS & WAVES
Axis Syllabus & Contact improvisation
This class explores the potential of spiral and wave-like movements and patterns within the body — on the level of bones, muscles, fascia, and energetic pathways that extend beyond the body’s apparent boundaries.
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We will engage in open explorations with aspects of biomechanics and anatomy, while intuitively diving into the nourishing expansiveness of spirals and waves.
Through various improvisations and partner exercises, participants are invited to experience the dynamics and expressivity of spirals and waves in diverse situations. The collaborative choreography of space and the shared joy of dancing form the heart and inspiration of this practice.
The Axis Syllabus
The Axis Syllabus is a collection of knowledge for learning, researching, and experiencing movement—especially in the context of dance. This includes moving with anatomical relationships, physics, bio-tensegrity, ongoing multi-disciplinary research, movement analysis, and transmission.
An Axis Syllabus class aims to create a collaborative learning environment and an effective space for personal research.
axissyllabus.net
Dagmar Bock
Dagmar Bock is a performer, choreographer, movement researcher, and certified Axis Syllabus teacher. Since 1999, she has worked in performance and theatre contexts with companies such as Cie Toula Limnaios, Sasha Waltz & Guests, and the State Theatre of Nuremberg.
In addition to her work in dance, she is a Craniosacral Bodywork Practitioner, teaches at the University of Music and Theatre Hamburg, and develops her own performance projects. She also practices Chen Tai Chi.
Dagmar’s work is dedicated to creating spaces where the joy of movement and dance can flourish. Her ongoing research into a respectful and gentle relationship with the body—combined with her passion for dance—motivates her to weave together diverse forms of movement and somatic practice. Her teaching focuses on cultivating contexts where participants can deepen their individual connection to the body and engage in shared learning.
23rd May 2026
Jennie Zimmermann
Playful Orientation
In Contact Improvisation we are fooling around with spatial orientation, mobility and balance. In this workshop we will explore different tissues of our body through movement, somatisation and hands-on bodywork.
Anatomically we will focus on the vestibular system of the inner ear and proprioceptors throughout the body.
Photo: Alexandra Ruth Bergmann
Read more
These body systems provide us with information about our body’s tone, posture and mobility.
Becoming aware of inherent patterns enables us to make decisions and to orientate, to try out and to mutually tune in during the dance.
Jennie Zimmermann
is a dancer and Body-Mind Centering® Somatic Movement Educator.
As a somatic approach, BMC® makes anatomy and physiology tangible. In her work she explores the interplay between emotion and movement, thoughts and well-being.
20th June 2026
Dedicated to Nancy Stark Smith
Global Underscore
The Underscore, a long-form dance improvisation structure created by Nancy Stark Smith, incorporates Contact Improvisation (CI) into the broader arena of improvisational dance practice. Global Underscore (GUS) centers around a yearly event in which the Underscore is practiced simultaneously for a 4-hour period by people all over the world near the summer solstice (northern hemisphere).
Read more
By cultivating trust in both our partners and our own sensory intelligence, we learn to welcome surprise as a partner rather than a threat.
This workshop is an invitation to:
- Heighten listening skills through touch, weight, and shared balance
- Explore disorientation as a gateway to creativity and presence
- Develop comfort with unpredictability in movement
- Expand physical playfulness and improvisational range
- Practice responding rather than reacting
All levels of CI experience are welcome. Curiosity, openness, and a willingness to step into the unknown are the only requirements.
Viktória Makra
I’m a Hungarian contemporary artist. Contact Improvisation dance teacher, performer, theater director, puppeteer; based in Portugal. I have been performing and holding many workshops in the Balkans, France, Germany, Netherlands, Italy, Portugal, Dubai, Armenia, Egypt and Iran.
My last 20 years in theater and dance helped me to travel the world, my last 16 years in contact improvisation helped me to understand it. Or at least to ask better questions…
MORE DATES IN 2026:
- 23th May : Jennie Zimmermann
- 20th June Global Underscore
Past CI on Saturdays
6th December 2025
Elena López de Haro Antúnez:
MOVING ROOTS / SYMBIOTE BODIES
When I give a CI class or even when I enter a jam, many questions come to mind: What do I want and have the capacity to share? How is the space that I am entering and the people I’m going to offer this to? What is the knowledge that I can share?
Foto: Raquel Antúnez
Read more
When I move or am moved or when I am about to suggest a movement, am I in a state of pause, of calmness, of patience? When I am in a physical pause, am I in moving thoughts?
And more importantly, will I feel comfortable with all of this, secure, lost sometimes, content of what may come up, surprised of new learnings that will be offered to me?
I could go on with more questions. These are my real tools, the base of my exploration, of my proposal, of my improvisation.
Lately, my explorations are related to the processes of Nature, how to understand them and incorporate them into the body, into movement, into a collective of bodies. To allow images of natural elements to flow through our sensations and give their qualities to a body that transforms and that opens to new possibilities of relationships through mimicry.
I invite you to an exploration where you will begin to let go of “your you”, of your personal traits, where you will have the experience of a sensitive physical body which will distill each of the qualities that can open to the contact, with an alert and open mind, where perceptions are amplified. The great dance begins. Perceiving is already dancing.
Elena López de Haro Antúnez (1970)
Born in Badajoz, she was involved from a young age with knowledge and practice of sports (high level of competitive rhythmic gymnastics) and expressive movements which later evolved to contemporary dance and other performative languages as well as to somatic education.
In Madrid, she combined a degree in physical education with contemporary dance studies led by Carmen Werner, amongst others, and was part of the company “Aracaladanza” in Madrid.
Her training in dance kept going from there, opening up to different techniques and languages (Dance-improvisation, Dance-theatre, Bodyweather, Contact Improvisation, Bodymind Centering, etc.), which brought her to many places to study in Spain and abroad (Madrid, Barcelona, Sevilla, Portugal, Montpellier, London, Dartington (England), Abercych (Wales), Freiburg, Göttingen y Berlin (Germany), Ostuni and Orvieto (Italy), Amsterdam, New York, Tel-Aviv (Israel), Buenos Aires (Argentina), Yspertal (Austria). There, she could learn and be inspired from great professionals like Jess Curtis, Kirstie Simson, KJ Holmes, Gwen Welliver, Lisa Nelson, Nancy Stark, Jöerg Hassman, Deborah Hay, Julyen Hamilton, Ana Mira, Eckard Müller, Daniela Schwartz, Mirva Mäkinem, Lucia Walker, Charlie Morrisey, Gustavo Lecce, Andrea Fernández, Ray Chung, Maya Carrol, Martin Keogh and Patricia Gracia, amongst others.
She has been related for more than 20 years as a dance and pedagogue to the Asociación Experiencia Danza in Badajoz, which she co-founded. Different initiatives related to contemporary dance and contact improvisation diffusion and practice were born through this association, in Badajoz, but also elsewhere, in collaboration with other entities and projects or artists from different disciplines, organizing and imparting workshops with professors invited from Spain and abroad, classes, jams and more, all related to contemporary dance and contact improvisation.
Main last project in collaboration: videodanzas with the visual artist Susan Pérez, research on “relación cuerpo-movimiento-Naturaleza” with pedagogue and creator Paz Brozas, short documentary film “La regla de tres” directed by Carla Alonso.
Today, she is still working as a physical education teacher in the Instituto Castelar in Badajoz and is leading the workshop lab “Cuerpos que hablan” with her association, which is based on dance, conscious movement and creativity. She is also coordinating the Ciclo Ciudadanía Inquieta (Jornadas de Danza y Contact Improvisación en Badajoz).
http://experienciadanza.com/
https://www.facebook.com/experiencia.danza/
https://www.instagram.com/experiencia_danza?igsh=Y3YyOWt0OXd3NHVj
https://instantemovimiento.blogspot.com/
8th November 2025
Nikolaï Denz:
THE LIMINAL PHASE – Making space for the in-Between
We live our days moving from one moment to the next – point A to point B – chasing endings, marking beginnings, caught in the pulse of what comes before and after…
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Here, we do not rush towards falling by defining it as the mere shift from standing to lying, but rather, we listen to the unfolding potential of the fall itself. Time stretches, space expands, and transformation arises by itself, rather than being controlled. Can we allow ourselves to not understand a lift by its start and end in order to welcome other, infinite possibilities?
This is not about arriving. This is about becoming. Let’s meet in the liminal. Where direction remains open, not fixed. A place where movement is not a decision, but a question.
ABOUT NIKOLAÏ DENZ
Still a child, Nikolaï was more interested in Egyptian papyrus scrolls than his native alphabet. Increasing interest in foreign material and immaterial cultures in following years led him to study Cultural Anthropology, Indology and Precolumbian Studies. Working in academia he eventually found himself mentally and corporally stuck and questioning research, academia and science, yes, maybe even humanity in general.
On a long quest for the missing link between the mind and the body, he became successively interested in movement, somatic practices and embodiment. Profoundly altered by the encounter of Gaga dance classes some years ago, he fell later into Contact Improvisation and defines progressively is home nest in it. Also, he tries himself in other disciplines like Physical Theatre, Butō, Contemporary Dance, Fighting Monkey Technique and Partnering.
Nikolaï is currently interested in becoming friends with his past. After many years of separation, he finally gives it some hugs in appreciating the inspiration for movement coming from linguistics, epigraphy, anthropology and words, always researching the physical and corporeal meeting point and asking himself every now and then, if it’s all already there.
What is Contact Improvisation?
Contact Improvisation (CI) is a postmodern dance practice that explores movement through shared weight, touch, and physical awareness.
Originating in the United States in 1972, contact improvisation was developed by dancer and choreographer Steve Paxton, drawing on influences from modern dance, aikido, and somatic practices. Contact Improvisation emphasizes the interplay of gravity, momentum, and improvisation, fostering an experimental approach to movement that invites both professional dancers and newcomers into its global community.
The practice involves continuous physical touch between dancers, where gravity, momentum, inertia, and friction shape their interactions.
Read more
The dance is further described by Paxton:
“The exigencies of the form dictate a mode of movement which is relaxed, constantly aware and prepared, and onflowing”.
Known for its open “jams,” contact improvisation is both a social dance and a tool for movement research, offering a unique blend of physicality and mindfulness. Formally, contact improvisation is a movement improvisation that is explored with another being. According to one of its first practitioners, Nancy Stark Smith, it “resembles other familiar duet forms, such as the embrace, wrestling, surfing, martial arts, and the Jitterbug, encompassing a wide range of movement from stillness to highly athletic.”