Winter JAM 2026
January 16 - January 19
4 DAYS this time!
Please note that there are NO DROP-INS for individual sessions. See below for attendance options.
The Winter JAM in Bellingham is a Contact Improvisation weekend hosted by Carmen and Rajendra Serber, featuring a special workshop with Carolyn Stuart and Aether Noble. We are lucky to have Delia Brett, Arunimá McNeish, Michal Lahav, Eric Mulhern and additional facilitators. Music by Serge Gubelman, and surprise guests. On Friday evening, we host a welcome potluck dinner at our home. This time we offer Monday (Martin Luther King day) as an additional day option.
Join us to practice Contact Improvisation with the inspiration of classes, scores, labs, music and of course jamming. We are invested in creating a welcoming and safe container while also inviting the experimental nature of a radical community process.
At the Aikido Peace Education Center (the Dojo) in the Masonic Hall, downtown Bellingham, WA.
January 16 ~ Friday day workshop with Carolyn Stuart and Aether Noble.
January 17, 18 and 19 ~ all day Saturday, Sunday and Monday. (Martin Luther King Day).
You can join us for ...
- Friday Workshop with Carolyn Stuart and Aether Noble $80 to $150.
Welcome dinner/potluck at 6pm. - The Jam Weekend (Saturday - Sunday) $80 to $300.
- Monday $40 to $80.
🍕🥗 🍰 Welcome dinner/potluck on Friday evening at Carmen and Rajendra's at 6pm. Optional.
We provide rice and salad. Bring your own protein, favorite dressing and other snacks to delight you. Some topping ideas include: avocado, chicken, tuna, yummy dressings, feta cheese... chocolate, etc.
Please let everybody you want to dance with know ~ share this post in email, on Facebook or wherever you are social.
🏕️ 🚗 🛏 Housing/Carpool
Upon receiving your registration/payment, you will get access to a self-serve spreadsheet to inquire about rides and housing.
Workshop with Carolyn Stuart and Aether Noble
The WOW of CONTACT
The What, Why and What Else of Contact Improvisation
CI is a rare and special proposal! Gravity imposes contact and freewill implies improvisation.
The dance of contact and improvisation uses the guiding principle of Care to explore how we relate, how we play for the benefit of all involved! WOW, a concept worth our curiosity in this conflict ridden world.
We'll come together to be curious, together, about what we're doing and what else is possible. We'll play with options and applications and the power of slowing down to be With what IS.
We'll explore the simple all purpose directive to GO IN to show up in and trust our unfolding present moment experience to take us where we need to go.
The point of contact is the point of contact!
Carolyn Stuart and Aether Noble will co-facilitate to offer their shared curiosity in this 'form' of infinite potential. An emphasis will be on present moment experimentation, co-creation and trust of an unfolding process of moving and debriefing to further our understanding of how mutual wellbeing works. Carolyn brings 40+ years and Aether 3+ of obsessive investigation in CI.
Preliminary Schedule
Friday January 16~ workshop with Carolyn Stuart and Aether Noble 10am-4:30pm
10:00 Workshop
1:00 Lunch Break
2:00 Workshop
6pm Welcome Dinner/Potluck at Carmen and Rajendra's***
Saturday January 17
9:00 Group SHAKE* into JAM with Carmen 🧂🧂
12:00 Lunch
2:00 Welcome activity
2:30 Class with Rajendra 🔥 🧚🏽♀️ 🌺
4:30 Evening break
6:30 Mixer with .....
7:00 Music JAM with Serge
Sunday January 18
9:00 🌍 ⛅️ Radical Softness ~ PSOAS into JAM with Carmen
11:30 Lunch
1:30 Class with Delia
3:00-5:00 Contact Improv MOSHPIT with Arunimá and Eric ☠️ 🧚🏽♀️ 🔥
5:00-7:00 Evening break
7:00 Open Space
7:30 Focused JAM (no music)
Monday January 19
9:00-12:3o UNDERSCORE** with Michal
12:30-1:30 Lunch
1:30 Winter harvest score and JAM. Music by .....?
4:00 Closing Round 🐪 🐡 🐙
4:30 Clean up
*What is a Group Shake?
A Group Shake is a durational collective somatic event. We shake, to music {most of the time}, together for a duration with the emphasis on shaking and rocking the body in various ways. It can look like dancing but we don't have to be concerned with appearance, skill or rhythm. Group and individual ecstatic and meditative states can be achieved [but may not be]. Shaking is a simple and individual task-based practice without explicit goals but also beneficial for circulation, nervous system and systemic health. Shaking takes many formats in cultures around the globe, across lifeforms, and to the subatomic level. Shaking is one of the body's natural impulses to relieve tension.
**The Underscore was developed by Nancy Stark Smith in the 90's. It is a spacious experience shared by the participants which can spark surprising kinesthetic and compositional improvisation and Contact Improvisation within this defined framework.
***Welcome dinner/potluck on Friday evening
We provide rice and salad. Bring your own protein, favorite dressing and other snacks to delight you. Some topping ideas include: avocado, chicken, tuna, yummy dressings, feta cheese... chocolate, etc.