Fall 🍁 JAM
September, 25-27, 2026
Registration
Please note that there are NO DROP-INS for individual sessions. See below for attendance options.
The Fall JAM in Bellingham is a Contact Improvisation weekend hosted by Carmen and Rajendra Serber, featuring a special workshop with Rachael Lincoln and Aaron Swartzman. We are lucky to have Heather Cunningham, Soleil Chappelle, Wonder Phallen and Rajendra as additional facilitators. Music by Serge Gubelman, Aaron Finbloom and surprise guests. Optional Farewell Dinner in our home on Sunday after the JAM.
Join us to practice Contact Improvisation, inspired by classes, scores, labs, music, and of course jamming (please scroll down for the schedule and descriptions). We are committed to creating a welcoming, safe-enough container while also inviting the experimental nature of a radical community process.
Explore our Gallery and enjoy a collection of moments captured between 2023 and 2026.
Please read our Orienting Guidelines for the Jam in Bellingham. Thank you.
At the Aikido Peace Education Center (the Dojo) in the Masonic Hall, downtown Bellingham, WA.
September 25 ~ Friday day workshop with Rachael and Aaron
September 25, 26 and 27 ~ Friday evening, all day Saturday and Sunday
You can join us for ...
- Friday Workshop with Rachael and Aaron (including Friday evening) $90 to $180.
- The Jam Weekend (Friday evening - Sunday) $100 to $300.
- Workshop and Jam Weekend $180 to $350.
🥊 After September 10:
- Friday Workshop with Rachael and Aaron (including Friday evening) $110 to $200.
- The Jam Weekend (Friday evening - Sunday) $150 to $300.
- Workshop and Jam Weekend $230 to $350.
We try to keep the price low but the rent has increased so we unfortunately had to raise the price.
Sign up early! We have a limited capacity and these events sell out.
📣 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.
🍚 🥗 🍫 🧀 Sunday farewell dinner potluck at Carmen and Rajendra's.
Schedule
Additional details below the schedule
Friday September 25
10:00-4:30 Listen - Workshop with Rachael Lincoln and Aaron Swartzman🌍
10:00 Workshop
1:00 Lunch Break
2:00 Workshop
Jam Weekend
6:00 Open Space
7:00 Welcome mixer with Wonder
7:30 Jam ~ music by Serge
Saturday September 26
9:00 😌 Deep Play CDP with Soleil*
12:00 Lunch
2:00 Welcome activity
2:30 CI class with Rajendra into JAM
4:30 Jam
5:30 Evening Break
7:00 Focused JAM
Sunday September 27
9:00 😌
10:30 円 Lab: Liberation Collaboration **相 with Heather
12:00 Lunch
1:30 Fall Harvest Score and Jam with Carmen music by Aaron F.
3:45 Last round
4:30 Clean up
6pm 🍚 🥗 🍫 🧀 farewell dinner*** potluck at Carmen and Rajendra's 🏠.
Workshop with Rachael Lincoln and Aaron Swartzman
Listen
Contact Improvisation is a listening practice. But what do we choose to attend to, and how? What do we do with what we notice? How do we respond to what we have become aware of?
In this workshop, we will practice shifting the aperture of our listening: from specific, focused, and deliberate attention (What is this little finger saying?) to wide, inclusive, multi-sourced awareness (How do I listen to the physics of my partner, my own impulses and desires, and the room all at once?). We will explore listening across scales, from nearly imperceptible sensations to full-bodied, high-energy movement, discovering how the smallest cue can spark a dynamic lift and how great momentum can settle into quiet stillness. Together we will cultivate the practice of listening, exploring how attention shapes action and how perception becomes movement. We will play in the rich and unpredictable territory of choice: what we notice, what we trust, and what we do with what we hear.
The workshop will include a mix of technical studies and open explorations. Movement will range from subtle to athletic, with options available for movers of all experience levels and physical capacities.
Rachael and Aaron's bio.
* 😌 Deep Play Contemplative Dance Practice (CDP) with Soleil Chappelle
Contemplative Dance Practice (CDP) is a movement meditation developed by Barbara Dilley at Naropa University in 1980. Blending sitting meditation with mindful improvisation, CDP cultivates embodied awareness, presence, and deep listening. Open to people of all abilities, the practice offers a supportive, non-judgmental container for exploring spontaneous movement and personal expression.
Soleil Chappelle studied and worked with Barbara Dilley at Naropa University and will guide a practice rooted in Barbara’s original teachings and approach.
** 円 Liberation Collaboration 相 . Heather Cunningham will explore the question: “In what ways does your mind take you out of the dance?” As a decades-long Zen practitioner and dancer, she will invite us to investigate the relationship between mind and dance, and how our mind's discourse influences our direct experience.
*** 🍚 🥗 🍫 🧀 Farewell dinner/potluck on Sunday
We provide rice and salad. Bring your own protein, favorite dressing and other snacks to delight you and others. Some topping ideas include: avocado, chicken, tuna, feta cheese, fried tofu... chocolate, etc. 🥨 🍠 🍗 🍰 🍲 🍕 🍪 🥑