Contact Time @ SerVivo
CONTACT TIME FESTIVAL – May 26th to 31th 2026
FADE OUT – June 1st to 3rd 2026
Alignment
and gravity
Alignment and gravity
Festival
Contact Time: May 26th - 31st 2026
6 days to explore Contact Improvisation as a movement practice, based on artistic and somatic approaches.
Dance with gravity, alignment, and the unknown.
We invite you into a shared exploration of Contact Improvisation, where orientation and disorientation become companions, and movement opens new perspectives.
We return to simplicity, to patterns and principles that connect us.
Alignment and gravity are joyful aspects of CI on physical, intellectual, social, and emotional levels, supporting orientation, playfulness, and resilience in everyday life, even as we face some of the world’s chaos.
We are delighted to have Charlie Morrissey with us as our intensive teacher this year!
Jo Bruhn will approach Contact Improvisation playfully, Jennie Zimmermann will bring in Experiential Anatomy based on Body-Mind Centering® into CI. And we are happy to welcome Irene Pons and Pedro Paz as guest teachers.
A structure of CI workshops, somatic classes, lab time, and jams will carry us as a group through the days.
We will dance in the beautiful studio of SerVivo and outdoors, inspired by the landscape of Arrábida Nature Park and its stunning sandy beaches.
Located in SerVivo, a 40-minute drive south of Lisbon, Portugal, we will gather with 30 to 40 people. This group size allows for connection with most participants without feeling easily overwhelmed. Whenever you feel the need to rest, walk, or be alone, there is plenty of nature around to enjoy.
Our festivals welcomes all bodies and genders.
All levels of experience are welcome.
If you have never danced Contact Improvisation before, we invite you to arrive a bit earlier during landing time so you can join the beginners’ class and gently arrive into the practice.
The costs for the whole Contact Time festival (May 26th to 31st 2026), accommodation and mostly organic food are 370-440€ depending on how much you can pay.
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More about:
Contact improvisation is a form of improvised partner dancing that has been developing internationally since 1972. It involves the exploration of one’s body in relationship to others by using the fundamentals of sharing weight, touch, and movement awareness. It has evolved into a broad global community of social dancing around “jams” characterized by their welcoming attitude towards newcomers to dance, as well as seasoned practitioners.
American dancer and choreographer Steve Paxton originated contact improvisation, drawing from his past training in Aikido, a martial art form, to explore and push boundaries with his colleagues and students to develop this new practice. Contact improvisation plays with the artistry of falling off balance, counterbalance, finding the shelves of the body, learning the mechanics of the body in order to handle someone else’s weight or be lifted, breathing techniques, and can involve the art of getting to know your partner past the physical point through the physicality.
Steve Paxton, along with other pioneers Nancy Stark Smith, Danny Lepkoff, Lisa Nelson, Karen Nelson, Nita Little, Andrew Harwood, Peter Bingham, and Ray Chung, thus participated in creating an “art-sport,” oscillating between different emphases depending on the moments and personalities.
Body-Mind Centering® (BMC) is based on the embodiment and application of anatomical, physiological, psychophysical and developmental principles.
BMC® is an approach that explores movement, touch, voice and mind and supports people to recognise themselve better and interact with others through focusing attention and intention.
Developed by dancer and occupational therapist Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen, BMC® fosters a dynamic body mind awareness for processes of learning and repatterning. The approach takes place in dance and movement training, bodywork, physiotherapy and occupational therapy and is constantly evolving.
Let's Land
Landing into Contact Time:
May 21st - 25th 2026
Any day from May 21rd on, we warmly invite you to come to SerVivo. Take the time to arrive, go to beaches (15-45min. drive away), dive already in CI in jams and enjoy the growing group, become a short term member of the community of SerVivo. We will gather in the mornings to meet each other, connect and plan activities for the day.
This time is for people who want to feel already more arrived when the festival starts.
Food will be self managed. This means we organize together shopping (10-15min drive away), cooking and cleaning. You can already set up your tent, move into the dormitory, park your camper. Paying just 20€ per night plus food.
Landing into Contact Time is connected to Contact Time and not to be attended separately.
Integration
Fade Out: June 1st - 3rd 2026
Time to stay some more days in Servivo, to integrate, say good bye, and get ready for what ever awaits you.