Training Course: Youth in Contact

Location: Saintes, France

Dates: 8-16 May 2020

Number of participants: 24 participants

Participating countries: Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, France, Italy, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Spain

Organizer: Les Schini’s

Apply here: Application form

Deadline to apply: 24 January 2020

Date of selection: 10 February 2020

Inquiries about this project: inspire.contact.improvisation@gmail.com

Costs: Training Course is co-funded by Erasmus+:

Participation fee
Participants contribution is 70€, to be paid in cash upon arrival.

Apart from the 70€, the sending organisations from each country are entitled to ask for an internal fee, which in all cases will need to be paid even if you found the training in SALTO and not in their communication channels.

Accommodation and food
This training course is co-funded by the Erasmus+ programme of the European Comission, therefore accommodation, food, materials and the program are covered.

Travel reimbursement
The travel costs up to the maximum amount specified below will be reimbursed after the training course:

France: 20 EUR
Italy, Slovenia, Slovakia, Czech Republic and Spain: 275 EUR
Cyprus and Estonia: 360 EUR

Youth in Contact

Contact Improvisation is a dance form based on the spontaneous communication between moving bodies that are in physical contact. We will explore Contact Improvisation by practicing it and develop resources to be applied in youth organisations.

The focus of Contact Improvisation is on giving and receiving, exchanging the body’s weight between the dancers. The dancers’ dialogue is the free improvisation, generating instant compositions, finding a free expression space to develop how to listen, how to communicate non-verbally, discovering oneself on the way.

We will develop resources based on Contact Improvisation to be applied in youth organisations working with young people with fewer opportunities.

Our objectives are:

  • Introduce Contact Improvisation and its philosophy as an innovative methodology with broad potential from the artistic, pedagogical and social point of view, to youth workers and educators, providing tools that can be applied in their projects.
  • Explore Contact Improvisation as an inclusive dance, enabling participants to question gender stereotypes, physical or age differences, finding attunement with themselves and others through non-judgemental body expression.
  • Educate the holistic awareness of oneself and others, emphasizing the learning process through a balance between body and mind.
  • Discover the physical, emotional and psychic benefits of human contact, dissociating it from the sexual perspective.

This training course is for you if:

You are a youth worker or an educator working on a regular basis with a group of youngsters
You are willing to explore the possibilities of Contact Improvisation as an innovative tool in your daily work
You are officially resident of France, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Italy, Slovakia, Slovenia or Spain
You are able to work in English
You are open to listen to your body and let it be your guide
You are ready to connect with others in a different level

By taking part in this project, participants will: learn what is Contact Improvisation by practicing it; be more aware of their personal development through connecting with their bodies in a deeper level; learn a set of Contact Improvisation exercises that can be applied in their organisations; and develop new ways how Contact Improvisation can be applied to Youth Work, connecting it with concepts such as inclusion, conflict management, sustainability, leadership, deep communication and creativity, among others. Our intention is that participants have an impact in the organisation level through sharing, spreading and applying Contact Improvisation in the local and international communities.

Timeframe of the project:

Applications deadline: 24th January at 12pm
Selection results: 10th February
Booking of travel tickets: until 14th February at 12pm

Arrival day: 8th May from 17:00 to 18:30

Start of the program: 9th May at 9:30am

End of the program: 15th May around 7pm

Departure day: 16th May until noon

More information can be found here: https://youthincontact.wixsite.com/project