Teachers

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Performing Multidisciplinary Artist born in Latin America.
Studied Plastic Arts & Contemporary Art at the Colombia National University, got a Master degree on Traditional Chinese Painting at the China Art Academy, with a thesis about Painting & Performance, and learned Physical Theater in South Korea with the Theater Troupe Georipae.

Through his studies in Asia, integrated his Western experience on diverse fields like Contemporary Art, Improvisation, Physical Theater, Clown and Capoeira, with Eastern Arts and Culture: Meditation, Yoga, Tea Ceremony, Calligraphy, Butoh and TaiJiQuan (TaiChi). After co-creating the first CI community in Hangzhou, he toured extensively in China teaching Somatics and Contact Improvisation, and performing his own Improvisation pieces co-created in collaboration with Contact HZ, as well as The ASK Dance and Theater productions, created by the Theater Troupe Teatre Animal from Spain and the Swedish Dance Company Ingrid Olterman Dans.
He had performed at the India Art Fair in New Delhi, the Myriang Village Theater in South Korea, the National Grand Theater in Beijing and the Power Station of Art at the Shanghai Art Biennial.

Member of the Europe Contact Improvisation Teachers Conference ECITE in Italy and Belgium, and Teacher and Performer at the TOUCH China Contact mprovisation Art Festival.
His Art practice is rooted in Contact Improvisation, with explorations on Theater, Dance, Music and Literature, in Art Events and International Festivals in India, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Georgia, China, Japan, South Korea, Colombia, United States and Thailand.

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MASHA GRUDSKAYA 

Has been dancing contact improvisation for almost 20 years and teaching for over 10 years in Russia, Europe, Israel, Thailand, Japan, Malaysia. Based in Moscow, she is one of the main teachers supporting regular classes, jams and other events in the city. Over the years Maria has participated in performance projects involving contemporary dance, movement and contact improvisation in Russia and other countries.

She is inspired by the approach of poetic movement developed by Steve Batts and Echo Echo Dance Theatre Company (Northern Ireland). Her deep interest is to dance with people of different ages and abilities, believing that dance is a natural skill and joy that all of us share.
Maria is a certified Somatic Movement educator, teacher of IBMT Somatic Institute and co-organizer of IBMT in Russia. Co-founder of international CI festivals in Russia and Thailand.
Currently she continues to develop in the somatic field, exploring the mystery of body and mind and the possibilities for movement and presence.
And as well she enjoys the physicality of movement and endless fun of acrobatics and contact technique.

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Social psychologist, coach, certified embodiment facilitator (EFC), certified practitioner of Bodymind Gestalt therapy, international teacher of contact improvisation and body awareness.

Practitioner of the Deep Listening method, teacher of author courses for people in helping professions, developer of methods for teaching underwater dance (Ocean Dance), freediver, host of retreats and festivals, and author of the blog “Body My Home”. Guide for regular Contact Improvisation events on land and water in Tepoztlan.

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ANASTASIA SAEVICH 

Somatic therapist (IBMT), dance movement therapist, performer.

Author and facilitator of workshops on somatic movement, contact improvisation, and the Discipline of Authentic Movement. Co-organizer of dance festivals and conferences. Has been practicing for the past 17 years. Instructor in A. Girshon’s “Integral Dance” program in St. Petersburg and Perm.

Co-creator of the Wild Women community, inspired by the tale of La Loba. Leads a women’s somatic retreat based on the story.

“Contact improvisation became the embodiment of my dream of dance. It is a dance where you can be anyone, where any movement—or stillness—can be part of the dance. A dance full of play, and at the same time exploration and focus, which expands the dance and offers new possibilities. Contact improvisation is a dance for people, a dance between people, with each dance being unique, like a personal conversation. Contact improvisation is a place of meeting, a place of self-discovery, a place where you can be yourself and explore the different potentials of your body.”

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YANA SUTINA

Teacher of dance in water, watsu and aquahara therapist, freediving instructor, co-owner of “Freedive Nusa”  freediving school, mother of a little mermaid. 

I got to know contact improvisation in 2007 and instantly felt that I found what is just right for me – the practice that inspires, expands boundaries and makes me purely happy. My main interest in dance and in life – is the readiness to continue, to carry on. Continue to dance even when is seems already boring, or tiredness builds up, or the the sparkle fades away. Continue to dance when my dance seems not interesting. Continue to dance when it takes an effort even to begin. My interest is in long dances and stories that develop there. When I think – what I can do, so that my dance (as well as my life) is filled with things that I value… the answer comes clearly – just carry on

For several years now my professional life has been connected with water. It inspires me that in water we can feel as comfortable as on land. At our freediving school we teach students to dive apnoe – while holding the breath. Since 2015 I have been practicing aquahata and watsu – relaxing bodywork techniques in water, which can be a deep journey of release, letting go and trust… And connecting this with contact improvisation led to dancing in water – the essence of my most valuable and beloved practices.

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KIRILL POPOV 

Since childhood my relationships with water haven’t worked well. I grew up in the region of semideserts, with no place to swim, so it was quite late when I learnt to swim, or rather to float in water.
Then contact improvisation came into my life, after that – diving, and later – freediving, and CI in water as a blend of all these things.
I was driven by freediving so quickly and strongly, that it has been the main occupation in my life for four years already. My relationships with water are so close that I can’t imagine my life without the sea.
At first I learnt to dive. 20 metres, 30, 40,… After, I learnt to swim well and now I am keen on taking long swims for several kilometers in open water.

I am constantly moving to different countries and continents in search of new exciting places for freediving.
Immersing along coral walls; diving with graceful manta rays; swimming with whale sharks; practicing deep water dives, when you see only the rope passing by; dynamic and static apnea…
Freediving is very diverse!
Everyone can dive! And everyone can find his/her interest in all this diversity.
Freediving is a fascinating world and I want to help others to enter into this world.

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JAM TEAM

Each year we invite a special team of experienced CI practitioners and teachers with a “secret” task to support jams at the festival. Each year Jam Team find new and creative ways to explore and hold jams – scores, talks, labs, one2one sessions, warm-ups etc. We love and cherish jams as the main space for CI practice.

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KSENIA ISAEVA

It is a miraculous joy that Contact Improvisation (CI) happened to me, and we are still together. Now it is more than just work, broader than rest or self-discovery—it is a lifestyle. Of course, CI as a form of dance remains a form of dance, but its principles have somehow shaped the atmosphere of my life.

I’ve been practicing Contact Improvisation since 2010 and teaching since 2014, leading classes and workshops in Russia and abroad. Currently, I’m based in Moscow.

Before the pandemic, I actively traveled the world to CI communities, where I learned, led, co-organized, and supported.
I have taught at international CI festivals in France, Northern Ireland, Hamburg, Italy, Romania, and in South America: São Paulo, Gamboa in Brazil. I’ve also taught in Argentina, Peru, and the USA and held regular classes in Goa.
In 2018, I organized and completed a year-long Trainer’s Training Program of the Institute of Holistic Dance and Movement Pedagogy, led by Sabine Parzer (Austria), in Moscow. In 2018 and 2019, I co-organized the Contact Improvisation festival in Moscow “5 Days 8 Jams,” where we invited both Russian and international dancers to jam.
In 2020, I was fortunate enough to study under Nancy Stark Smith in a three-week workshop in the USA. For the past two years, I have been a co-organizer of the CI and performance festival in Nebesnye Bobry. I am now actively incorporating somatic learning into my experience—at the IBMT Institute and in an embryogenesis program with Ilya Belenkov.
Some teachers who have had a profound influence on me and inspired my creativity, dancing, and teaching: Anzhelika Donii, Nancy Stark Smith, Sabine Parzer, Martin Keogh, Otto Akkanen, Scott Wells, Benno Voorham, Steve Batts, and Danny Lepkoff.

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MARIAM NAGAYCHUK

Hello everyone! My first degree is in pedagogy and choreography, and my second is in psychology. Currently, I am studying in the IBMT program and consider myself a somatic practitioner.

I have studied in Russia and Europe, and of course, I gather all the most interesting knowledge from my studies into my classes. My dance practice has included a lot of Contact Improvisation (CI), but I’ve only started teaching it recently. Throughout the 2023-2024 season, I’ve been working in tandem with Ksyusha Isaeyeva, which brings me great joy and marks a transition in my teaching practice—from narrative forms of leading classes to more free, improvisational ones.

this, I taught jazz-modern for 10 years and contemporary dance for 12 years at the TSEKH Dance School. I have also led and continue to lead workshops at Gogol School, New Cinema School, the British Higher School of Art and Design, MMOMA, GES-2, and more. I’ve worked with children in the “Domik na Dereve” and “Mamin Sadik Seasons” kindergartens.

I’ve also worked extensively with directors, choreographing and staging movement for plays. You can read more about my education and experience here: https://zhivoetelo.com/. The closest thing to CI in my past was teaching partnering and bodywork—very much about contact, but not improvisation.

Now I’m happy to be part of the CI community. I enjoy the changes in myself and in my dance. All my dance and teaching skills have expanded in new ways. I’m becoming freer, and it’s a joy I’m happy to share.

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DASHA FILIPPOVA

I have been dancing CI since 2011 and teaching since 2016. Was teaching in Russia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan. Why do I love CI? For me it is a dance of possibilities.
It is a manifestation of freedom of choice.
It is an opportunity to learn from your body.
In teaching, I love to take a complex form into parts, do an introductory exercise and voila – the whole group is getting the hang of it.
I enjoy working with mixed groups, when beginners and advanced students are together. I believe that in any form of contact improvisation we can bring the movement experience of our whole life, no matter if it was dance or just everyday actions. That’s enough. It’s always enough to get you started.

Other favorite body awareness practices of my life are mountaineering and rock climbing. So I have some experience with embodyment the fear of falling, the experience of feeling physically weak (“I could never do this movement”), and the opportunities to turn all this thoughts into the experience. And keep moving again.

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