upcoming performances + teaching

No pre-registration required: come for all 4 or just drop-in for 1!

Location: Studio rEvolution, Florence Industry + Arts Building, 221 Pine St, Suite 422, Florence, MA 01062

Date: Saturdays, September 5th, 12th, 19th, 26th, 2026

Time: 11AM – 3PM
11AM – 1PM class
1PM – 3PM open jam

Sliding scale: $10 – $15 just class or jam
$20 – $30 both

Open to all levels, beginners welcome!

Facilitated by Helena Zhao

How do we prepare for the unknown? Can we accept that we’re not going INTO the unknown but that we ARE the unknown itself? Then, how do we prepare to meet this in one another, with creative potential, and a sense of “us” rather than of “you and me”?

These are some of the ongoing inquiries that I am proposing to research in my weekly CI class and jam series. We will be preparing an inquiry and experimental based approach to learn, exploring what it means to creatively embody the principles of CI that can give rise to collaborative and improvised forms. Some of the principles we will explore include:

• support from the Earth
• Awareness of body mechanisms in space
• Trusting the intelligence of the body NOW
• Agendaless listening
• Making space for creative potential
• Equanimity
• Meeting ourselves where we are
• Aiki touch and Irimi, moving towards (from Aikido)
• Sensations of weight, momentum, and direction

Come as you are. Contact improvisation is an improvisational dance form typically practiced in physical touch with one or multiple other human beings. If you are a total beginner to CI here is some more information on what the practice exactly is, which I would highly encourage reading before attending: https://contactquarterly.com/contact-improvisation/about/index.php

For more information on Helena, click here.