The Glasgow Jam

Dear Jammers! What happened to 2016?! It's crazy to think we are entering December! Last weekend we had the fantastic Anne-Galle Thiriot up from London who led an inspiring sold-out workshop. There is ONE Glasgow Jam left for the year, and it is with Nina on Friday, December 9th, from 6pm, KPC, £5. Below are a list of Jams for both Glasgow and Edinburgh, including a sharing of work in Edinburgh on the 8th of December, and Ralf's workshop THIS weekend. For Glasgow, please also remember that @TGJ's prices increase slightly in the new year. Hope everyone has a safe and restful holiday period! Penny and Laura xx GLASGOW DECEMBER (1 jam only) JAM:  Friday 9th December --- 6-9.30pm --- Nina Enemark --- KPC --- £5 2017 JANUARY CLASS:  Sunday 15 January --- 12-1pm --- Monika Smekot --- CCA Clubroom --- £12 JAM:   Sunday 15 January ---1-3. ...

Dear Jammers, We have an announcement to make: @TheGlasgowJam is, and always will be, about the community it serves. However there are some things we need to think about, and one of them is our pricing structure. For us, it's about being able to continue to work with the community in the longer term, to ensure that we remain viable and to be able to continue to meet our outgoings. So, from January 2017, our jams will be £7, and our Sunday class and jam will be £12. As always, we are keen to hear from volunteers to help directly at our jams, or give time in another way should finance ever be a question of attendance. We are finalising the list of attendees for Anne-Gaëlle Thiriot’s workshop in November. We have received a number of bookings so there are not many places left, as we want to keep the workshop small so you receive attention and space and time to explore circularity in contact improvisation. Details of the workshop are below. You ...

@TheGlasgowJam is, and always will be, about the community it serves. However there are some things we need to think about, and one of them is our pricing structure. For us, it's about being able to continue to work with the community in the longer term, to ensure that we remain viable and to be able to continue to meet our outgoings. So, from January 2017, our jams will be £7, and our Sunday class and jam will be £12. As always, we are keen to hear from volunteers to help directly at our jams, or give time in another way should finance ever be a question of attendance. Our exciting new programme will be announced very soon and we hope to see you at our jams and classes. http://theglasgowjam.blogspot.co.uk/p/jam-calendar.html Penny and Laura x

Dear Jammers, What an amazing way to return from the lull of the summer months. We are back in full swing! Nina led a special workshop for Indepen-dance as part of the Gathered Together festival in early September. It was very well attended and huge fun. We had jams with Brian and Penny. Penny is leading the classes in September, October and November, so this is a great chance to deepen your knowledge and learn some of the techniques she perfected in her study with Nicolás Nuñez and Julyen Hamilton. We have been busy organizing Anne-Gaëlle Thiriot’s visit in November. Anne-Gaëlle is a very experienced CI practitioner and we are lucky to get some time with her to perfect skills and find new ways on moving. It is also an opportunity to connect with the wider UK scene! Grab your spot now. All the details of the workshop are below and you just book by emailing us theglasgowjam@gmail.com . It is only £40 for a day with this amazing dancer! Watch ...

We are excited to welcome the wonderful and experienced contact dancer Anne-Gaëlle Thiriot to Glasgow. There are limited places so book early to avoid disappointment! In this one-day workshop we’ll kiss and befriend the floor, fall into and rise from it, and will use curves rather than straight lines to find ease and efficiency. We will put the focus on studying ways to be more spherical in our dance to be able to make more choices when improvising. To round your motion is helpful to prevent injury, get more efficient and be able to make your dance readable for a CI partner. But beyond the safety and possibly aesthetic aspect, to look for curves allows you to engage with infinite pathways of motion and of thoughts that expand further starting and arrival points. We will start with technical aspects of rounding our body to the floor, to another body/partner, and in space, looking for multi-directionality and for the body tone that will allow this quality to arise. We will th...

Dear Jammers, We hope that everyone has had a fantastic summer, be it here or abroad! Penny went to teach in Costa Rica and Mexico (with support from Creative Scotland), and former New Jammers, Becky Moore and Nina Enemark headed to Doune the Rabbit Hole to lead some adventurous festival go-ers into Contact Improv! You can read more about Penny's adventures here: http://theglasgowjam.blogspot.co.uk/ September is a big month for @TheGlasgowJam. Aside from our normal jams, Nina is leading a special workshop for the Gathered Together Festival providing a safe inclusive space for our work. More info here http://indepen-dance.org.uk/festival/ As normal, jams for Glasgow, and Edinburgh are listed below, as well as links to some great new regular Butoh classes in Glasgow, and to the jams in London. Happy jamming! Penny and Laura xx GLASGOW - SEPTEMBER (check venues!) JAM: Friday 9th September --- 6-9.30pm --- Brian Hartley --- CCA --- £5 CLASS: Sunday 25th September ---...

  Dear Jammers, Last weekend I had the absolute joy to teach an adventurous, generous and incredibly engaged group in San Jose, Costa Rica. I find myself really questioning the role of CI and my teaching and how it can affect us more than "just a physical practice". Within the group were bilingual students, and some that spoke either Spanish OR English. Amazing to see how language can somehow separate us before the class but during, with a movement language we've created, join us, and so by the end as we begin to part - a hug, connecting with someone through their eyes, just being physically there - these things speak such richness. A practice of bringing together a group of people to cultivate deeply communicating beyond language, and growing a collective that for a time have their own language. Supported by Creative Scotland

We can ask ourselves, when we can find more to give, and when this is important. When should we throw in everything we have, when is that task actually not worth it? And then beyond this, when does the act of giving more interfere with the action itself? The effort to give undermining the desired gesture? There is an urgency to our time, a need to gather together to open up doors, rather than to close in fear. We need to be ready to jump without the need to prepare and plan. And whilst this may be a sentiment for the theatre, there is much of this that I believe needs to spill over to the rest of our lives. If our lives are our art, then there is a need to live our lives in the same manner. Concerns, worries, certain rational thinking patterns can all draw us back from the present moment and its seemingly simple requirements. The making of art … and the self-producing of it, such different skill sets, different thinking patterns. Nicolas' work reminds us of...

Dear Jammers, Are you enjoying your summer? We are! Both of us are very busy with our projects — Laura studying yoga in Crete and Penny teaching and studying in Mexico and Costa Rica supported by Creative Scotland. Meanwhile, our helpful team of volunteers have kept things ticking in Glasgow. Thank you so much for your help! To allow you to enjoy the weather (well, you know, whatever we get) while maintaining your jamming practice, we are only holding the class and jam on the last Sunday of the summer months . Brian Hartley hosted a lovely class and jam on the 31 th July with good attendance and engaged participants. Our next one, with Nina Enemark, will be on Sunday 28 th August. We are keeping things fresh and changing the venue to the CCA in Sauhiehall Street . We are back to 2 jams a month from September. We have a had a good response to our appeal for support but we still need your help, donations, commitment to attending the jam, bringing a friend, v...

Dear Jammers, The Global Underscore on the 19th June was such an amazing event! Penny introduced the practice and we had 32 dancers, musicians and visual artists turn up. We posted a picture of our small dance towards Madrid, and our harvest here: http://theglasgowjam.blogspot.co.uk/2016/06/global-underscore-19-june-2016.html If you missed it, we are so sorry, it was really a fabulous practice. Make sure you get yourself to the next one! On Saturday 2 July, @TGJ and partners LOOP Theatre are delivered a gorgeous workshop on Integrated Movement Improvisation. A fantastic dive into a partnership with LOOP, and hopefully more to come! Despite the success of the underscore, we have had to cancel our first July jam because we could not find anyone to volunteer. We are so sorry about this. Although we have a had a good response to our appeal, we still need your help donations, commitment to attending the jam, bringing a friend, volunteering, anything in kind … If you can help u...

32 movers joined us last Sunday to dance together with other participants around the world.  Our small dance (towards Madrid): Our harvest (more here ):