CI Workshop & Jam

About this event

A 12-day residential Contact Improvisation retreat at Leviathan Studio on Lasqueti Island, British Columbia, Canada (September 13–26, 2026), led by Mark Young and Lesley Greco. Two classes per day plus evening jams. The fee of $1,800 CAD includes all meals, tuition, accommodation, and transportation to and from the ferry. Mark Young's morning classes connect Tai Chi to Material for the Spine to Contact Improvisation through spiral movement. Starting from floor work, participants roll over each other, find the floor with safe landings, explore the fear reflex, and open new movement pathways. The Tai Chi lineage Mark studied extensively in the 1990s is grounded entirely in spiral organisation — the natural structure of life from DNA to galaxies. Spiralling accesses both strength and lightness: stability in lifting, buoyancy in flying. Lesley Greco's afternoon labs explore the dynamics of non-verbal dialogue in CI through anatomical and physiological perspectives on listening and responding. Participants investigate their own attentional and perceptual systems as they dance together, developing nuanced physical reciprocity in contact. Lesley works across rehabilitation, performance, and movement education, with backgrounds in osteopathy, movement, and voice. She has been practising CI since 2001 and teaching since 2009, and her essays appear in The Anthology of Essays on Deep Listening (2012) and Resistance and Support: Contact Improvisation @ 50 (Oxford University Press, 2024). Leviathan Studio, founded by Mark Young, is a dedicated CI research centre on Lasqueti Island — a small, car-free island accessible by ferry. Contact: via the website.