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Comment by Belina Raffy on November 1, 2009 at 2:32am

James - thank you for posting the Agile Impro session - very useful for one of my clients - awesome!
Hope to see you at the December AIN meeting!

Comment by James Lyndsay on October 30, 2009 at 4:10am

Commitments have permitted - see you there?

Comment by James Lyndsay on October 29, 2009 at 2:17pm

All - You may be interested in this: Improvisation for Agile Coaches, Saturday 21 November, London

http://www.agilecoachesgathering.org/wiki/index.php/Home#Autumn_Event_2009:_Improvisation_for_Agile_Coaches

An agile coach, for those not familiar with jargon of this particular persuasion, is someone who works with agile software development teams to help them change for the better. Agile software development is a fun and fashionable approach to making software - it has adaptability, self-organisation, and lean principles at its heart, and contrasts with command-and-control process-bound approaches. At least, that's what I'd have you believe.

I'll be there if commitments permit.

PS - I've not been able to get to AIN London recently - conflicts with http://www.londonbulgarianchoir.co.uk/ . This time last week, I was performing at the Electric Proms...

Comment by Sue Walden on October 4, 2009 at 3:18pm

Hi fellow AINers... I'm back in your neighborhood and am delighted to be offering a powerful/magical/fun personal development application to Londoners. Please check out the posting of "Living Beyond Your Limits" on Saturday, October 10th and contact me with the secret code word "AIN" by Wed. to be eligible for an extension of the early reg discount.

The day is packed with games & exercises... and I know how we love playing -- I'll bet many of these are new-to-you...???

In any case, I hope to see many of you while I am here in the UK.
Sue
PS: not necessary to be an AINer to attend.

Comment by Zach Laliberte on September 13, 2009 at 2:17pm

I think the most useful way to approach Contact improvisation is through the use of non contact. Start with negative space and that can undo a lot of the problems that people seem to be running into. I'm coming to the UK to teach in Sweden and would love to set up a workshop if people are interested.
Z

Comment by James Simpson on September 13, 2009 at 11:16am

Thanks Paul, perhaps I'll do that - or maybe it would be easier to invite a group to an already established contact improv drop-in class. With the right sort of facilitator I think it would be helpful to organisations if mixed in with other improv games. There is a danger of it becoming a 'grope' session though (or viewed as one) by those who are unfamiliar with contemporary dance - but I know there are theatre improv games that would cause the same sort of reaction. I suppose with anything like that (maybe it's the same with a contact sport like Rugby or getting a professional massage) it depends on where the focus is (I'm sure blokes in a scrum have usually got their focus on the ball, not on how erotic it can be to have their arms between another man's legs...although I can imagine the intimacy of the game must cross the mind of the odd newcomer - especially in a culture focussed on the notion of touch primarily leading to sex).

Comment by Simon Sholl on September 13, 2009 at 10:56am

Exactly my point - the Retreat I was on turned into just that - a 'grope' session, despite being led by expert facilitators. So it would need careful handling. Perhaps I should have rephrased that...

Comment by Paul Z Jackson on September 12, 2009 at 2:32am

Sounds like an interesting idea for a London group (I nearly wrote 'grope') session. Get a good facilitator to lead it, then discuss how it might work (if at all) in organisations.

Comment by Simon Sholl on September 10, 2009 at 2:34pm

Not into Contact Improv directly, but do have experience of it in a Buddhist retreat centre in the UK. The problem, in my experience, is that, as we are sexual beings, there needs to be a lot of guidance from a mentor/mentors to strip us of those instincts. So it is very difficult to access the 'power of contact' outside a sexual psychoenvironment. Perhaps the 'path' is first to acknowledge the sexual instinct, and only then to learn how to shed it to access the 'Contact Power'?

Comment by James Simpson on September 10, 2009 at 10:55am

I wonder if Contact Improv would be of benefit to corporations - it certainly changed my outlook on relationships. It seems to me that touch outside a sexual context has such power to release people from so much built up tension. Anyone else into Contact Improv here?

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