Contact Improvisation- Deepening the practice
About
In this series, I focus on three core elements: practice, prayer, and play.Practice as refining skills, deepening technique, and building clarity in how we meet the form.
Prayer as an attitude of attention and reverence towards gravity, flow, and the shared field of the dance.
Play as openness and risk, the willingness to not know, to follow impulse, to surprise and be surprised.
This is a space for experienced dancers to work like a lab—sharing, testing things out, asking questions, and learning from each other in real time.
Looking after ourselves and each other is a key part of the practice. We stay aware of boundaries, consent, and the small signals that help keep the space safe, generous, and supportive.
Each session starts with guided exercises and simple explorations, then opens into a spacious jam where we can put things into practice and follow what’s emerging.
A space to keep refining, exploring, and deepening in the dance together.
About the facilitator - Justin Holland
After more than 30 years of dancing, Contact Improvisation continues to keep me curious. There is always more to learn—new bodies to dance with, new sensations to track, and a deeper listening at the point of contact. An ongoing question in my practice is how we take care of ourselves and our partners in ways that allow both the form and our bodies to be sustained over decades.
I am a dancer, musician, and teacher with over 30 years of professional experience in the performing arts, and more than 20 years of practice and teaching in Contact Improvisation. I have studied with Nancy Stark Smith, Martin Keogh, Helen Clarke-Lapin, Rinske Ginsberg, and Martin Hughes. I am a founding member of Bird On A Wire Dance Theatre, a Contact Improvisation performance ensemble, and have performed extensively throughout Australia and internationally.
In my teaching, I invite experienced dancers into focused, shared investigations of Contact Improvisation technique and practice. We work with weight exchange, alignment, tone, spirals, and momentum, refining how these elements support clarity, choice, and care in the dance. I am interested in how we deepen our practice in different ways—whether through technical precision, cultivating presence, or finding permission and confidence in our choices. There are many pathways into depth, and I aim to support dancers in discovering what opens the work for them.
I am a graduate of the Victorian College of the Arts (VCA), a qualified yoga teacher, and work across dance, improvisation, and music. In recent years, I have devoted my practice to the TaKeTiNa Rhythm Process, teaching workshops in Australia and Asia and undertaking senior training with founder Reinhard Flatischler. I currently work as Musical Director and Choreographer with Somebody’s Daughter Theatre Company, a Melbourne-based community arts organisation working with women in prison and marginalised youth.
Dates
Thursday 23 April 2026 - Thursday 28 May 2026 (UTC+10)Location
community church of St Mark
100 Hodgkinson St , Clifton Hill VIC 3068
Choose date
Select a date
Key
Available
Not available
Past session
Loading...
Contact Form
Contact Improvisation- Deepening the practice
Resend recently purchased tickets to our events to your email.
Enter email to start search
You can review the event organiser's terms and conditions here.