Contact improvisation workshop and Jam with Julija Melnik Riga

The workshop is designed for all levels of experience in contact improvisation (CI). The aim – to prepare or to strengthen foundations for a mutually satisfying dance duet, would that be CI or another dance form. Contact improvisation can become an ,,Art of Staying Connected”, that allows to maintain the connection in the dance with another, the continuity, fluidity and harmony of the movement with others. It is a wonderful instrument to experience what happens at the moment of contact, to approach the reality through touch and to engage into the path towards joy and freedom! This movement-dance requires not only the physical technique, but also training of attention and cultivation of quality relationship with others. It’s a great way to see, expand and transcend our own limits. ,,I will be very happy to meet and investigate the dance with those, who want to enter into contact with themselves and the others through conscious movement and touch." - Julija Julija Melnik is a dancer, researcher and educator originally from Vilnius, now settled in the Alsace region of France. In her quest, drawn to the distant lands of Mongolia, India and Nepal, she eventually found what she was seeking in Hohwald, the French Dharamsala, and settled in Alsace. Holding a master's degree in education, she has spent decades exploring the intersections of movement, body awareness, and personal transformation. The particularity of her approach lies in its rare combination of lightness and depth. Since 2006, she has been teaching Contact Improvisation, playing a key role in building CI communities across the Baltic States, particularly in Lithuania. She has studied with numerous international teachers, including CI pioneers in the USA. For the past 20 years, she has also been an organiser and teacher at the Vilnius Contact Improvisation and Performance Minifestival. Her teaching encompasses Argentine Tango, the Sacred Dances of G. I. Gurdjieff, Samara Yoga, and Lou Yong Tao To Qi — practices she approaches with a shared thread: an invitation to move from authenticity, deep presence, and genuine connection to the body. She is also a practitioner of energetic and transgenerational techniques, meditation, and bodywork. Alongside all this, she travels, gardens — with a fondness for medicinal flowers and Bach flower essences — explores tea ceremony process, art of cooking (with a training in healthy and vegetarian cuisine behind her), and keeps studying the human nature. Time: April 26, Sunday 17:30-19:30 - workshop 19:30-21:00 - Jam session Come 10-15 min in advance, to meet us and prepare Venue: Agra Daņiļeviča deju skola "Dzirnas", Rīga, Lāčplēša iela 106, k-1, LV-1003 Participation: workshop - 25 €, if registered till 17 of April, later - 35 € 5€*/10 € - Jam * for workshop participants Booking is confirmed with 10€ eur non-refundable deposit. Number of places is limited. Registration: https://ej.uz/melnik_riga or directly with Ance +37120218408