Appetite for Disorientation

Daylong workshop for beginners and beyond
Sunday, January 4, 2026
10:30am - 5pm (1.5h lunch)
Sliding scale $80 - $150
@ the dojo

Developing an appetite for disorientation is a necessary skill to learn and to delight in while dancing Contact Improvisation. Disorientation stimulates balance and challenges the way we are used to balancing. We can give up choosing "this way or that way" and allowing ourselves to get caught up in the whirlwind of kinesthetic possibilities – the potential of being moved by beauty and sensation. We aim to experience our bodies as a spherical multidimensional space instead of a rigid structure controlling space.

Disorientation can feel bewildering and confusing, even scary. Embracing these feelings as part of the dance brings out the improvised nature of this form. Through disorientation we can begin to experience many directions all at once – finding suspension through space while at the same time feeling the earth and the support of gravity.

We will build capacity to stay aware during spatial disorientation by practicing shifting and falling in many directions, being upside down, spinning, playing with momentum, peripheral vision, eyes closed and most of all not being in total control. We will explore the fluid nature of our structure in order to cultivate introspection and sense proprioception.

Text inspired by: How to land by Ann Cooper Albright

You may also like the following events from Bellingham Contact Improvisation:

• Happening on, 16th January, 10:00 am, Winter JAM 2026 in Bellingham

Also check out other Workshops in Bellingham.