JOENSUU IN CONTACT – Mini Gathering
🗓 Saturday, 22 March
⏰ 10:00–19:00
📍 JOKU-TALO, Teollisuuskatu 13
Joensuu in Contact – Mini Gathering is a small-scale, community-driven Contact Improvisation event initiated by six local dancers passionate about CI. The gathering offers affordable CI workshops and an open JAM, creating an accessible space for practice, exchange and connection in the Joensuu area.
The workshop format brings three teachers at a time, forming two 150-minute workshop blocks, offering participants multiple perspectives and rich ways of experiencing contact dance. Rooted in care, curiosity and shared learning, the event welcomes both experienced CI dancers and newcomers.
SCHEDULE:
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09:30–10:00 | Arrival & settling into the space
10:00–12:30 | Morning Workshop
Trio: Suvi · Siri · Ella
12:30–14:00 | Lunch break
14:00–16:30 | Afternoon Workshop
Trio: Lindon · Elina · Juska
17:00–19:00 | Open Music Jam
Guided by Juska Ojajärvi
19:00–20:00 Packing & leaving the space
WORKSHOP CONTENT:
MORNING WORKSHOP ⛅
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10:00-12:30
By Suvi Rinkineva, Siri Dybdahl & Ella Valkola
Suvi - Consent, joints, sharing weight
In the first workshop of the day we begin by arriving to our own moving bodies by gentle movement which lubricates the joints. We say hi also to the themes of consent and sharing weight.
Siri - Balancing support and release
In this class, we will explore the relation between tension and release, between being active and passive. We will find ways to create momentum in the movement as well as support and stability through our structure. The practice can be a way to let go of excess muscle tension and finding more ease in the dance.
Ella - Spine and tonus
We end the class with spine exploration. Playing with how body tone affects the ways we use our spine and connect with our partner.
AFTERNOON WORKSHOP 🌤
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14:00-16:30
By Lindon Shimizu, Elina Ikonen & Juska Ojajärvi
Lindon: Skin-Flesh-Bone
This Contact Improvisation workshop proposes an embodied exploration of dancing contact through three shifting qualities: skin, flesh and bone. We move from surface to depth, sensing how touch, weight and listening change as contact travels from the sensitivity of the skin, through the pliability and volume of flesh, toward the clarity and support of the skeletal system.
Elina: Pouring Weight – Weight Flow
In this class, we explore pouring and receiving weight in contact — how weight can flow from one body to another. We practice continuous adaptation in movement and contact. The work supports safe risk-taking, presence, and shared flow.
Juska: Movement and imagination
In the workshop, we will add a layer of imagination to movement by using audiovisual stimuli as sources of inspiration. What kinds of qualities do different images evoke in movement? What happens when different movement qualities meet in a shared improvisation?
Fees
* Half day pass (morning or afternoon): 35 €
* Full Day Pass: 50 €
* Open Jam: Donation-based
Registration
📩 Send an email to
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*Please include the payment receipt.
Account Holder: MU&MA
IBAN: FI86 5770 0520 6258 12
Teachers & Facilitators – Bios
Lindon Shimizu
Lindon Shimizu is a dance artist, choreographer, teacher, and somatic practitioner based in Joensuu. His work spans contemporary dance, contact improvisation, and embodied practices, with a focus on care, plurality, and collective presence. He has been facilitating CI jams and embodied practice spaces in Joensuu for several years.
Elina Ikonen
Elina Ikonen is a dance and movement therapist, Trager practitioner, neuropsychiatric coach, and community dance artist. She teaches dance and somatics at KPEDU, Tampere Summer University, and soon at Jyväskylä Christian Institute. She has taught in ISLO’s Education in Dance and Somatics program, worked in EU projects related to dance education, and is currently part of the Liiketila Project. Elina has studied contact improvisation with Malcolm Manning, Hanna Pihko, Jaana Turunen, Nina Martin, Stoffelien Verdonk, and through extensive shared practice.
Ella Valkola
Ella Valkola is a dancer with a background in contemporary dance, somatic practices, and influences from East African dances and butoh. She is currently in her third year at Riveria’s contemporary dance education in Outokumpu. Ella has practiced contact improvisation for over ten years and sees it as a dance playground for soft, surprising encounters.
Siri Dybdahl
Siri Dybdahl is a dancer with a background in somatic practices and contemporary dance. She has studied at ISLO Education in Dance and Somatics in Joensuu and ZeroPlus Performing Arts Education in Hungary, and is currently in her third year at Riveria contemporary dance education in Outokumpu. She is interested in skin-level communication, playfulness, and discovery through moving in the not-knowing.
Juska Ojajärvi
Juska Ojajärvi is a multidisciplinary artist whose utopian dream is to gather all the world’s politicians into CI jams. After years as a musician, he was drawn into dance through interdisciplinary projects, butoh, contact improvisation, and studies in somatics and contemporary dance (ISLO and Riveria Outokumpu). He is especially interested in jam culture as a space for dissolving social boundaries through embodied listening.
Suvi Rinkineva
Suvi Rinkineva is a dancer with a background in contemporary dance, somatic practices, and butoh. She has studied at ISLO Education in Dance and Somatics and is currently in her third year at Riveria contemporary dance education in Outokumpu. Suvi sees CI as a place to investigate care, trust, boundaries, wildness, transformation, and connection to nature through the human body.
✨ Come as you are.✨ Dance, listen, rest, and connect.✨ A full day of Contact Improvisation in community.
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