There's something new and interesting happening at Centrum this weekend, and you can see it at 8:00pm on Friday December 18th in Building 204 at Fort Worden State Park. 

The "Centrum Jam" is comprised of artists within a specific community of dance who have come together to work on an improvised form of movement. This is done through "labs" (labs are open forms for working on a  specific focus, issue or problem). The labs are collectively and collaboratively designed and determined, and each artist takes part in the process. As various suggestions are put forth, the lab is set by what is most appealing to the most people. 

Then… they Jam! 

I asked Cyrus Khambatta of Phffft! Dance Theater Company  and the organizer of this collaborative residency of movement artists, to describe the process to me in layman's terms… 

"Contact Improvisation is different than many set forms… a more open and collective form with an extended group of people who practice it. The best analogy I can make is to jazz music in its infancy. A group of jazz musicians would often get together and "jam," and then other musicians would drop in, often unnannounced, to play along with them. The Jams are a format where people refine and practice the form, without any guidance (but their own) from any outside teacher."

The dancers will be working throughout the weekend, and visitors may stop by to observe in the afternoons. Please remember that this is not a workshop, but a collaborative artistic residency. While observers are welcome, we ask that you respect the artists' space and time as they develop their new work here at Centrum. And check out this great video of Phffft! presenting Mass Movement, a stealth dance project in a Washington mall.