Contact Improvisation Class + Jam

Contact Improvisation Class + Jam at The Center SF

Join The Center SF for a playful evening of contact improvisation. Class will be from 7:30-9pm and then will flow directly into a jam until 10:30pm. In class, we’ll explore themes of weight-sharing, counterbalancing, signaling, listening, and everything in-between. The jam that follows is an opportunity to continue researching your movement & relational curiosities that sparked from class. First-timers and experienced dancers are all very welcome! Class will be taught by Rajendra Serber (visiting from Bellingham, WA!) and live music by Daniel Berkman :)

CI classes at The Center will be offered by a rotating mix of teachers every 2nd & 4th Wednesday evening. Check the calendar here for more contact improv across the bay area and to see who's teaching.

teacher/musical artist/host bios:

RAJENDRA | teacher. Rajendra lives in Bellingham, Washington, where he is a co-facilitator of the seasonal Jam In Bellingham with Carmen Serber. He has had the privilege of collaborating with many wonderful artists, including Sara Shelton Mann, Scott Wells, and the wcciJAM team from 2013 to 2020. He is currently studying Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy and thinking about graphemes.

DANIEL | musician. Daniel Berkman is a San Francisco-based composer, multi-instrumentalist, electronic musician, live looper, producer, singer-songwriter, film and dance score composer and innovator of electro-acoustic music, specializing in the Kora (a 21-stringed West African harp) and Gravikora. Daniel has many acclaimed albums to his credit ranging from modern Kora music, planetarium soundtracks and dance & film scores to IDM and classical music. His music can be heard at: danielberkman.bandcamp.com

MERRICK | evening host. Merrick Jacob is a lover of movement, continuously in awe of the body and its potential for unique expression, creativity, & authentic connection. Influenced by her practices of figure skating, acroyoga, hand balancing, and contact improvisation, she guides playful movement experiences as an opportunity for deep listening, exploration, and co-creation. She is a certified acroyoga instructor with AcroRevolution & AcroYoga Montréal. Merrick studied a variety of somatic movement therapy modalities with Dynamic Embodiment & The Moving On Center: School of Participatory Arts & Somatic Research, focusing on BodyMind Centering & Laban Movement Analysis. For more contact improvisation with Merrick, she hosts every 2nd & 4th Wednesday evening at The Center SF. Say hi to her here: https://merrickjacob.com/

Want to read more about CI? Here’s a good resource to start, and please make sure to review our class agreements before attending.

Looking forward to dancing & jamming together!