Southwest Contact Improvisation Jam
June 12th - 15th, 2026
Tico Time River Resort, Aztec NM
Join us for three days and nights of dancing and camping on the Animas River in northern New Mexico!
Workshops with Gretchen Spiro & Steve Homsher,
Gwen Ritchie, Angela Heyun & Hallie Dalsimer, and Mark Koenig
Morning and evening jams, Underscore, Contemplative Dance Practice
The first annual Southwest Contact Improvisation Jam welcomes experienced dancers and beginners with a committed practice for a deep dive of collective inquiry and exploration. All of our programming will take place in a large, shaded pavilion directly overlooking the river, and we are scheduling a single offering at a time in support of creating a coherent group experience. What magic happens when we’re all ingesting the same material — through shared learning and shared meals? Let’s find out!
Your registration includes tent or car camping and five hot meals (dinner Friday, brunch + dinner Saturday & Sunday), plus a simple breakfast bar, coffee, tea, and snacks (including the morning of departure). Fresh drinking water is available on site. The venue offers indoor toilets and outdoor showers. Additional accommodation options (RV sites, glamping, bungalows) are available and can be booked directly through the venue's website https://ticotimeresort.com/accommodations-pricing/
We are grateful for the embodied wisdom that teachers bring to an event. If you are a CI teacher please make sure to let us know when you register.
Space is limited to about 60 spots. These will sell out, so we encourage you to register early!
EARLY REGISTRATION by April 17th
$465
REGULAR REGISTRATION after April 17th
$495
BIPOC REGISTRATION
$435 - 495
(sliding scale)
*Registration may be transferred to another person
*** LIMITED Work Exchange Available ***
We will be offering a small number of discounted WEX positions in exchange for kitchen/meal prep and registration/orientation support. Please indicate your interest when you register and get in touch to discuss possibilities.
For questions reach out at humxning@gmail.com
Angela Heyun
Angela Heyun creates spaces for moving at the pace of being and feeling, where awareness, connection, and creativity emerge together. She is devoted to the practice of attention—how we come into contact with ourselves and each other. She explores fascination, sincerity, and the ‘world’ of the moment.
Her approach to Contact Improvisation focuses on the relational and collective, primarily influenced by Nita Little and Nancy Stark Smith.
She co-organizes CalCITE (California Contact Improvisation Teachers Exchange) and organizes CI
in Las Vegas.
Angela facilitates worldwide for Contact Beyond Contact, a dance and healing practice for interpersonal growth. CBC integrates aspects of Contact Improvisation, Authentic Movement, Passing Through, Qi Gong, Family Constellations, and Taoist philosophy. She also draws inspiration from Tango, Zouk, Butoh, and Tai Chi.
TEACHERS
Hallie Dalsimer
Gretchen Spiro & Steve Homsher
Gretchen Spiro began dancing Contact Improvisation with Nita Little in 1983 and has followed that thread ever since. She has spent over four decades teaching yoga, Gyrotonic, and CI. She holds a BFA in Dance from CalArts and an MA in Dance Therapy from Naropa University. Her work is rooted in the poetic and creative dimensions of CI, and at the edges where artistry intersects with the transpersonal and therapeutic. A former member of TouchMonkey, she founded Tumblebones CI Collective in Boulder in 2002. She was the organizer of the Moab Jam and Festival, and a core organizer of CI36. Gretchen teaches nationally and internationally with her husband, Steve Homsher, sharing a love for the magic and mystery of improvisation. She is also a mother, a lover of water and wild places, and a travel leader. She loves cats and monkeys.
Steve Homsher came to Contact Improvisation 30 years ago through gymnastics, aerial dance, and martial arts. He has studied with many first- and second-generation teachers, with a deep resonance for the work of Chris Aiken, Nita Little, and Nancy Stark Smith. Steve brings bold inventiveness, curiosity, and attention to detail into his dancing and teaching. A full-time professional visual artist, he explores a profound, contemplative practice in painting that shapes the way he moves and guides others. Known for his humor, vivid imagery, and spirited enthusiasm, Steve is a member of the Boulder Lab core, and teaches workshops and at festivals around the world. Steve often teaches alongside his wife, Gretchen Spiro, weaving partnership, artistry, and embodied inquiry into their shared work.
Gwen Ritchie
Gwen Ritchie is a dance artist specializing in contact improvisation, ensemble improvisation, and interdisciplinary collaboration based out of Boulder, Colorado, USA. She has danced and toured internationally in several contemporary dance companies, including her own, LABCO dance, and has had the privilege of teaching at several universities including Slippery Rock University, Chatham University, CU Boulder, and Naropa University.
She currently directs an improvisational performance ensemble called “Lost and Found Dance Ensemble” and teaches in a variety of settings both in and outside of her community.
The cultivation of awareness, presence, and finding freedom in the unknown while co-creating keeps her fascinated and passionate about her research in contact improvisation. Gwen looks forward to continuing to find ways to share that inquiry with others.
Mark Koenig
Having grown up in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where he competed in and taught gymnastics, Mark Koenig undertook his university education in art and dance at the University of California at Irvine and Santa Cruz, California and at Pau and Paris, France. Mark has been teaching and performing Contact Improvisation dance independently and with LeyZokiParl and LAVA, the two improvisational music and dance performance collectives he cofounded, since 1996 in areas including Northern California, Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minneapolis, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Texas, Utah, and Wisconsin. Mark also co-founded GLACIER, the annual Great Lakes Area Contact Improvisation Enthusiasts Retreat, in Willard Wisconsin in 2002, which continues today. He participated in the teachers advisory group of the annual West Coast Contact Improvisation Festival in Berkeley, California from 1998 through 2009. He currently resides in Rio Rancho, New Mexico with his wife Cynthia, and teaches a weekly Contact Improv class at Keshet Center for the Arts in Albuquerque.
