Long Beach Contact Improvisation Festival
Join us for a 4-day celebration of Contact Improvisation in sunny Long Beach!
Enjoy classes & jams with world class teachers from California and across the country.
January 8-11, 2026 on the beautiful California State University Long Beach campus.
Arrive early for the Pre-Fest January 3-7, 2026 with Alicia Grayson and Ezra LeBank.
Emily Jones (Portland, OR)
Triaxial Trajectories
Triaxial trajectories are inherent to bodies in motion—attuning to them cultivates internal sensitivity and awareness of how we relate to space and to others. Through spirals, we locomote, fall, and suspend—each spiral offering a more easeful relationship with gravity.
Nguyen Nguyen (Los Angeles)
Release Technique into Contact
The class is built on fundamentals of release technique and will serve as a laboratory for us to explore the moving body and how it functions within the context of contact improvisation. We will discover together how to awaken our inherent physical intelligence.
Rene Alvarez (Oakland)
Soloing into Group Scores
Build from our solo practice of awareness, presence and efficiency to expand into trios and larger groups. Indulge in the unpredictability and flow of a large improvisational ensemble, with tools to support oneself and each other.
Jesse Johnson (Los Angeles)
Dancing with Gravity
This workshop invites us to deepen our relationship, sensitivity, and capacity to receive support from the unconditionals: gravity, the floor, the breath, the pulse, and the moment itself.
Mihyun Lee (San Francisco)
Function and Expression
Function and Expression is one of four themes in Laban/Bartenieff Movement Analysis. Explore six body connectivities, rotation, neurocellular patterns, and movement qualities to explore the interconnectedness between function and expression in dance relationships.
Nhu Nguyen (San Diego)
Let the Groove Get In
Through grooving, we will discover our potentials for multi-directionality, in order to clarify the “yes” relationship with others. We will rock, bounce, slide, wave, and roll our way through playful and (hopefully) exciting dances.
Rebecca Bryant (Long Beach)
Ensemble Thinking
Ensemble Thinking teaches a system of collaborative performance practices to enhance a group's ability to perceive, initiate, and support collective action in real-time, refining the skills needed for group attunement.
Alicia Grayson (Nederland, CO)
Full Body Awareness
We will cultivate full body awareness so that the instrument of our body can be ready and responsive for anything to happen. As we listen to ourselves and our partner we can be present in the unfolding improvisation.
Land Acknowledgement
CSULB is located on the sacred site of Puvungna. We acknowledge that we are on the land of the Tongva/Gabrieleño and the Acjachemen/Juaneño Nations who have lived and continue to live here. We recognize the Tongva and Acjachemen Nations and their spiritual connection as the first stewards and the traditional caretakers of this land. We thank them for their strength, perseverance and resistance.
