Contact Improvisation California Campout | Oct 9-18, 2026

🌟 Contact Improvisation California Campout
📅 Friday, Oct 9 to Sunday, Oct 18, 2026

10 days of dancing, classes, jamming, relaxing in nature, swimming, kayaking, and community @ Cedar Springs in North Fork, CA (Sierra Nevada Foothills)
🎟 Tickets (includes camping + 3 meals a day): 10 Days: $1350–$1,700 / 5 Days: $795-$950. Tickets are live now and will continue to go up in price as we get closer to the event.

For partial work-exchange (up to $250 off), you can fill up this application form: forms.gle/w9a21mWLDBbxxM7EA

Next ticket prices increase on Aug 1, Sep 18, and Oct 2

✨ Optional Intensives for 10 day jammers:

• Ray Chung (Advanced, 38.5 hrs, Morning & Afternoon Classes, 25 person max) +$300
• Rosemary Hannon (All Levels, 27.5 hrs, Afternoon Only Classes, 25 person max) +$200

For the general admission option (no intensives), this is for people that want a more relaxed schedule vs. daily intensives. There will be community-led classes during the day and pre-jam evening classes + special offerings to choose from. Each day we will have a whiteboard with the community-led offerings posted and pre-curated classes. As a participant, you will be able to sign up to share your offerings if you wish. There will also always be a dance floor open for unstructured jamming and/or labbing.

Ray Chung Intensive: Ready

What does it mean, and what is necessary to be ready to engage in CI
physically, mentally, emotionally, and creatively? What level of
mobility, agility, and flexibility can widen the spectrum of
possibilities in one’s practice? Which cognitive faculties, both
conscious and unconscious, facilitate a wider range of choice making?
Could one’s level of experience be a deciding factor on how and what one
wants out of their practice? How do we inform our practice via our
experience?  These and related subjects will be the focus of this
intensive. We will delve into various practices to activate and enable
new ways of engaging in habitudes.  The act of practicing can tend to
form habits and patterns of movement that repeat themselves. Such habits
or patterns may be undesirable, but by totally embracing these movements
that arise from such improvisations, one is embracing the unconscious
and trusting in it.

With CI as a foundation, we can focus on ways to improvise dancing in
duo, trio, and ensemble, employing a detailed survey of CI essentials,
with emphasis on efficient, effortless use of technical skills, to
develop a facility for, and availability to, changing physical states
and levels of touch and weight. We will work with strategies for
improvising or how we improvise the way we improvise.

Each day time will be devoted to facilitated practice and research as
integral to the guided learning. Come prepared for focused playfulness
within committed practice.

This intensive will include a 3 hour morning class and 2 hour afternoon facilitated lab. There will be some mornings, afternoons, and full days off for rest during the duration of the 10 days.

About Ray Chung

Ray Chung has a passion for dancing which he likes to share with other people. His main focus is improvisation and he has worked with Contact Improvisation since 1979 as part of improvisational performance practice. He integrates other movement forms into his work, including martial arts, bodywork and Authentic Movement. Ray has worked with the leading proponents of Contact Improvisation and has also been influenced by collaborations with others such as Chris Aiken, Peter Bingham, Martin Keogh, Lisa Nelson, Nancy Stark Smith, Karen Nelson, and Katarina Eriksson. He has also trained as a shiatsu therapist and instructor with Ryuho Yamada, and Wataru Ohashi at the Shiatsu Education Center of America. Ray also has experience as an engineer at Space Sciences Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley. His work has been featured at numerous national and international festivals and venues.

Rosemary Hannon Intensive: Un/planning: How Listening Changes Perceptions

CI scores can bring attention and curiosity to familiar and fundamental relationships, like falling toward earth, and listening to ourselves, each other, and the places we are dancing. They can also help us notice how our past experiences and future speculations are influencing our present perceptions amid dynamic interactions.

Sharing Weight
How might working with pouring weight, surfing, movement puzzles, dynamic structures, and pausing open pathways for sharedweight, role reversals, and mutual support?

Listening
How might scores investigating listening through different types of touch afford choices that unfold over time like branching roots, ripples on water?

One-Many-One
How might working with group flocking scores allow for attentional/physical shifts? Let’s delight in noticing differentiations, dissolutions, disruptions, organs, organizations, and reorganizations.

About Rosemary Hannon

Rosemary Hannon is grateful to have learned from dancing alongside many wonderful improvisors and choreographers. Her movement research is inspired by almost thirty years of performances, Contact Improvisation (CI) practice, and work with arts education organizations. She completed her MA in Education at USF, her MFA in Dramatic Arts, and a PhD in Performance Studies at UC Davis. She currently researches improvisation weekly with Miriam Wolodarski and other dancers through the Compostable Feminisms dance laboratory in Berkeley, CA.

🌲 Location

• Cedar Springs Retreat Center in North Fork, CA located in the gorgeous Sierra Nevada Foothills
• ~3.5 hours driving from the SF Bay Area
• ~4 hours driving from LA
• ~40 minutes from Yosemite National Park
• Amenities
  • 3 outdoor dance floors (covered)
  • Cabins
  • Glamping tents
  • Tent camping
  • Manzanita Lake for swimming, lounging, kayaking
  • Dining deck with gorgeous view
  • Communal indoor dining hall

🏷️ Pricing (prices go up Aug 1, Sep 18, and Oct 2)

• General Admission (No intensives. Includes all day and evening community-led classes & offerings + pre-jam evening classes)
  • 10 Day: $1050–$1,700 (Next prices increase on Aug 1, Sep 1, Sep 18, Oct 2)
  • 5 Day: $795-$950 (Next prices increase on Aug 1, Sep 1, Sep 18, Oct 2)
• Intensive Add-Ons (for 10 day jammers only)
  • Ray Chung (Advanced, 38.5 hrs, morning & afternoon class track) +$300
  • Rosemary Hannon (All Levels, 27.5 hrs, afternoon only class track) +$200
• Lodging Add-Ons
  • 1 Bunk Bed in Cabin Add-On: $50 (women only, men only, and all gender options)
  • Limited Glamping Tent with Bed Add-on: will open up for purchase soon..
• Child Add-Ons
  • Under age 4 - Free
  • Ages 4-12 - 10 days: $400, 5 days: $200
  • Ages 12 and up: A regular General Admission ticket

Only 5-day (October 9-13 / October 14-18) or full 10-day registration available.

📷 Venue Photos: View Here

WHAT TO PACK

• Water bottle
• Swimsuit (lake is public)
• Sunscreen & hat
• Plenty of dance clothes
• Mosquito repellent
• Unscented personal toiletries & healthcare items (shampoo, soap, lotion, lip balm, etc.) — the air can be dry!
• Bedding: sleeping bag, sheets, blankets, and pillow if you’re staying in a cabin
• Camping gear: tent with rain-fly and sleeping pad if you’re camping
• Towels
• Closed-toed shoes
• Sandals/flip-flops
• Flashlight

Optional:

• Cup/mug or insulated thermos for hot/cold beverages
• Notebook & pen for reflections or notes
• Shade structure, umbrella, or pop-up tent (little shade in car camping area)
• Floaties for enjoying the lake
• Off-road bike (the camp area is large)
• Layered clothing for warm days and chilly nights
• Knee pads for dancing
• Yoga mat for stretching or practice
• Musical instruments, games, frisbees, etc. for play and community time
• Earplugs, night lights, and power strips (especially useful in shared cabins)

Work Exchange

Apply to work exchange here. Filled on a first come, first served basis. We will take down the application when work exchange is full.

FAQs

• What's the typical weather in October in North Fork? Daytime ~low 70s°F and nighttime ~high 40s°F. Expect dry, crisp air, low humidity and possible a few light rain showers.
• Cabin situation/setup? The cabins accommodate 4 to 8 people in bunks and have lights and outlets.
• Closest town? The sweet town of North Fork is literally less than a 10-minute drive from Cedar Springs with some cute shops and a little organic grocery (The Gnarly Carrot and Kern Family Farm)
• Is there cell reception? Yes, but we encourage limited phone use during the festival/embrace the digital detox. Keep phones out of sight when possible
• Will there be a place to store personal food? Yes, more details on this coming soon
• Can I sign up for less days? At the moment we only have an option for the first 5 days, the second 5 days, or the full 10 days
• More FAQs coming soon...

Refund Policy

Refunds: 90+ days: refund minus 10% fee. 60–89 days: 25% fee. 30–59 days: 50% fee. 15–29 days: 75% fee. 0–14 days or no-show: none.
Transfers: Allowed with $50 admin fee

Camp Agreements

• Coming soon

This event is being organized by Merrick Jacob and Shira Yaziv. 
📩 Reach out to us with questions: cicampout@gmail.com

We're so excited to dive into this immersive CI experience together!