OuterSpace

The JIM is a dancer’s gym.

It stands for The Joy In Moving and is created by dancers committed to creating a happy and healthy culture for the moving body.

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Bridge Medicine Yoga
with Yvonne Gail Estolas
Mondays – 10:00 – 11:30 am
February 12 – June 18
$5 JIM Members / $12 Drop-In

“To bridge means loosening our borders, not closing off to others.  Bridging is the work of opening the gate to the stranger, within and without.” – Gloria Anzaldúa, This Bridge We Call Home

In this integrative practice, we will weave breath work and guided moving meditation or yogasana to warm, restore, and bring focus within. Beginning here, we will explore the truths and wisdom held in the individual body, as well as habits held in the mind.  As we strengthen our capacity to consciously see the self in wholeness with compassion, the practice can expand.  From the small grows all.

“All that you touch you change. All that you change changes you.” – Octavia Butler, Earthseed

While yoga will make up the majority of our session, we will alternate individual and collective somatic activities to explore connection, nourishment and creative visioning on different scales.  Bridge Medicine Yoga is open to every body.

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Monthly Masters 
Mondays, 6:00 – 8:00 pm
March 5 – June 18
$10 JIM Members / $15 Drop-In

Monthly Masters is a golden opportunity to be in the company of interested and invested individuals who continuously engage in the mastery of their craft.  Each month a new artist enters the rotation and shares their knowledge and years of experience in a class setting.   These classes are for the intermediate and advanced practitioner and vary in subject matter month to month.

March 5, 12, 19, 26 – Ayako Kato
April  23, 30  – Jessica Marasa
May 7, 14, 21, 28 – Lisa Gonzales
June 4, 11, 18 – Onye Ozuzu

 

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Lucid Body
with Precious Jennings
Tuesdays 7:30 – 9:00 am
February 13 – June 19
$5 JIM Members / $12 Drop-In

Come and explore what a physical practice may consist of; strength, power and coordination utilizing the subtle energetic body. This class will consist of the Lucid Body physical warm-up principles, non-judgmental mind, safe space, audible exhalations and meditation. We will learn the 7-energy centers and capacity that each one serves in our physical and energetic body.

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Basics of Yarnwork 
with Precious Jennings
Tuesdays, 6:00 – 7:00 pm
February 13 – June 19
$5 JIM Members / $12 Drop-In

In this weekly class we will learn the basics of knitting and/or crochet…it’s up to you which one you choose. Provided will be a simple pattern for you to work with such as a hat, scarf or dishcloth.  Students are welcome to knit or crochet a separate piece or work on a communal blanket that is being created for and at OuterSpace over the next five months.

The image pictured is a piece created by OuterSpace originator Asmina Chremos.

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Devising Scores & Systems: Text, Sound, Movement 
With Lindsey Barlag Thornton
Tuesdays, 7:15 – 9:15 pm
February 13 – March 20
$5 JIM Members / $12 Drop-In

Taught in a workshop style, this class actively invites participants to engage in leaps of playful imagination with a summertime-kid sense of wonder.  Inspired by school-yard games, participants will explore methods for improvising and scoring movement, text, and sound — encouraging curiosity and risk-taking.

Providing space for solo and collaborative exploration, each Tuesday night will propose various systems and strategies for devising moments of performance.

Lindsey will share her own devising process which includes movement-based practices, exercises to generate text and sound, improvisational structures, compositional scores, and image-based making.  You can drop in for one class or join for several – each Tuesday workshop will ask participants for radical care and generosity towards each other and our work.  All artistic disciplines are enthusiastically welcomed. Wear clothes you feel comfortable moving in and bring a notebook!

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Feldenkrais
with Ben Law
Wednesdays, 6:00 – 7:15 pm
February 21 – June 20
$5 JIM Members / $12 Drop-In

The Feldenkrais Method, often referred to simply as “Feldenkrais”, is a somatic educational system designed by Moshé Feldenkrais (1904–1984). Feldenkrais aims to reduce pain or limitations in movement, to improve physical function, and to promote general well-being by increasing students’ awareness of themselves and by expanding students’ movement repertoire.  Classes are welcome to all abilities and are done lying on the floor on a blanket.

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Half Moon
with Music and Dance
Wednesdays, 7:30 – 9:30 pm
February 21 – thru June 6
$5 JIM Members / $10 Drop-In

Half Moon brings together movers and musicians interested in improvisation.  Each session invites one dancer and one musician to attend to the openness of the room and the flow of the group by seeding the collective with a prompt, question, exercise or perspective.  Each week will begin with facilitator instruction and will then open out into a free improvisation.  Half Moon differs from a jam session in that participants are asked to attend for the entirety of the session from start to finish facilitating a deepening relationship among musicians and dancers interested in the non-separateness of the two halves from the whole.

2/21: Kristina Fluty & Jason Stein
2/28: Courtney Mackedanz & Nicholas Davis
3/7 & 3/21: Anna Martine Whitehead & Damon Locks
3/14: Lia Kohl & Ryan Packard
3/28: Precious Jennings & Keefe Jackson
4/4 & 4/18: Onye Ozuzu & Ben Lamar Gay
4/11: Ayako Kato & Peter Maunu
4/25: Ayako Kato & Katherine Young
5/2 & 5/16: Adriana Durant & Dave Rempis
5/9 & 5/23: Sara Zalek & Michael Zerang
5/30 & 6/6: Lisa Gonzales & Michael Zerang

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Metta Meditation
with Jessica Marasa
Thursdays, 6:00 – 7:00 pm
February 1 – June 21
Free / Donations Accepted

“Metta meditation uses words, images, and feelings to evoke a lovingkindness and friendliness toward oneself and others. Practice includes the recitation of the phrases that express an intention to plant the seeds of loving wishes over and over in our heart,” (Jack Kornfield).

In this practice we will cultivate the quality of Metta and direct it towards ourselves, our benefactors, the difficult people in our lives and those whom we have a neutral relationship to.  We will practice letting our body relax with what is arising and gently direct our energies towards well-being in this world.

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Song Circle
with Chrissy Martin
First Thursdays, 7:30 – 9:30
Mar 1, Apr 5, May 10*, June 7
$5 JIM Members / $10 Drop-In

A Song Circle is a collection of voices gathered in a circle to sing about beauty, light, love and loss.  This circle will be led by experienced voices that make it easy to join in, to harmonize and to ride the changing rhythms of each song.  All instruments and voices are welcome and we encourage you to bring a friend and a song to share.

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The Underscore
with Chrissy Martin
Last Thursdays, 7:30 – 9:30
Mar 29, Apr 26, May 24, June 28
$5 JIM Members / $5 Drop-In

The Underscore is a long-form contact/improvisation/composition/jamming score that Nancy Stark Smith has been developing since the early 1990s as a framework for dance improvisation practice and research. It guides dancers through a series of “changing states”—from solo relaxation and sensitizing to gravity and support, through group circulation and interaction, contact improvisation (CI) engagements, opening out to full group improvisation, and back to rest and reflection.  More information can be found in Nancy’s book “Caught Falling.”

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Art + Core 
with Elana Jacobs
Friday, 1:30 – 3:00
January 5 – February 23
$5 JIM Members / $12 Drop-In

This series is intended to be a workshop for artists + creatives of all types (writers, dancers, musicians, filmmakers, performers, etc.) with the purpose of finding our core strength and connecting to our creative trajectory.

Each session will include Pilates exercises, guided meditation, cardio movement, writing prompts, personal goal setting, and community-building with a variety of other artists. We will examine where our blocks are in the mind and in the body, and how to break through to a healthy artistic practice.

In this weekly workshop, we will work on shedding old habits and stories stored in the body and mind that no longer serve us.

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Moving Pages 
with Jessica Marasa
Tuesdays, 7:30 – 9:00
April
$5 JIM Members / $12 Drop-In

Moving Pages is a communal experience for anyone who says, at any time, “I can’t dance.”  Its structure is made up of one part reading group, one part experiential anatomy and one part dance jam.  Through instruction and self directed exploration, class is designed to engage your centers of language, imagination, visualization and sensation.  Sessions begin with a guided movement experience led by Jessica Marasa and close with music and an open dance jam.  Each session exists independently of that which came before it, however it’s offered as a series to support your regular return to building confidence in your ability to change.

Source Material & Schedule

The Spring 2018 sessions will work through The Sevenfold Journey, written by Anodea Judith & Selene Vega.  The practices introduced in the text will lead our investigation into how we sense ourselves in the space we inhabit and the space that surrounds us.

3/2	3/9	3/16	3/23	3/30	4/6	4/13	4/20	4/27
Pages 1-34	Pages 35-78	Pages 79-120	Pages 121-154	Pages 155-192	Pages 193-218	Pages 219-248	Pages 249-272	Pages 273-287

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Open JIM
Fridays, 3:30 – 5:30
February 16 – June 29

Every Friday either the Sun or Moon Studio will be open to all JIM Members as open studio time.  Out of consideration for all these hours will be held in noble silence and ask that no music be played, no sungs be sung and no speaking be spoken during this time.  Headphones are permitted if volume is kept at a level where it is not able to be heard by those around you.

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SET FREE Contemplative Dance 
with Jessica Marasa @ Links Hall (3111 N. Western)*
Saturdays, 9:30 – 12:00pm
March 3, March 24, April 21, May 19, June 16
$5 JIM Members / $12 Drop-In
*Please Note these sessions are held at Links Hall

Contemplative Dance provides a container for cultivating awareness and acceptance of what is arising in the body.  The practice is simple and free of set movements one needs to learn to participate.  Each session is open to all ages and levels of experience and begins with 30 minutes of Sitting Practice with everyone seated at cushions positioned around the edges of the room.  The practice then moves into 40 minutes of  Personal Awareness Practice and finishes with 40 minutes of Open Space.

“There are two rules: take responsibility for yourself, and don’t cause harm.  Sitting around the edge of the room, we become Well-Wishers and On-Lookers.  We enjoy the presence of others and the room and the light.  We witness without judgement or comparisons,” (B. Dilley).

The practice concludes with a short closing circle where each person who wishes to speak can share what they experienced and what they saw.

This particular sequence was developed by teacher Barbara Dilley and is hosted by dance artist Jessica Marasa who produces and curates SET FREE at Links Hall.

*Please Note this class is located at Links Hall at 3111 N. Western Ave*

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Butoh Body  
with Sara Zalek
Sundays, 12:00 – 2:00
January 7 – June 24
$7 JIM Members / $15 Drop-In

Butoh training is an invaluable tool for dancers, actors, creative people of all types. Butoh training exercises can expand your body physically and energetically through breath and meditation techniques, Noguchi gymnastics, sensory exercises, improvisational sound and movement, and visual imagery.

This open weekly class aims to develop sensual awareness both physically and energetically. You are invited to expand your imagination through movement in a supportive environment. Create personal internal landscapes to move with mindfulness and presence.  You will be encouraged to take risks, listen, move with your subtler senses, and evolve your personal body language.

These workshops dwell on themes and ideas of the transformative body and the importance of the live moment. Participants are encouraged to find beauty in the horror of the grimace; the effort to embody objects, animals, textures, and states; the work of transforming from one to another, and move from deeply internal impulses to find more unique expressions of outer movements.

There is usually time for reflection using automatic writing and/or drawing exercises and short informal showings to more fully integrate the ideas into usable material for making strong choreographic and performance decisions.

[Butoh is a practice which seeks to embrace the shadow self. It offers us a chance to discover our relationship to nature, the cosmos, other sentient beings, and our shamanistic selves. Welcome them to your future.]

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Sunday Swing
with Chelsea Dvorchak
First Sundays, 7:00 – 8:00
$5 JIM Members / $10 Drop-In

Swing is a happy, upbeat, uplifting social dance. In its style and history it is meant for everybody, with its swingin’ rhythms, casual aesthetic and lack of “rules.” Its energetic and happy nature revitalizes body and soul and helps us find connection within ourselves, with the Earth and with those around us.

Join us for a monthly Sunday class where we will learn partner swing in the styles of East Coast and Lindy Hop as well as solo jazz movement. After class we will head down together to Honky Tonk BBQ to listen and dance to the Chicago Cellar Boys, a local 5-piece band specializing in Chicago traditional jazz from the 1920s and 30s. The music is hot and so is the bbq- the perfect party to end the weekend!

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Sunday Silver Screen
curated by Diana Quinones Rivera and In/Motion
Second Sundays, 7:00 – 9:00 (approximately)
Feb 11, Mar 11, Apr 8, May 13, June 10
$5 JIM Members / $10 Drop-In

Every second Sunday of the month OuterSpace will run a series of films centered in movement and dance.    Each evening the Sunday Silver Screen series will screen one new episode in Diana Quinones Rivera’s docu-series “Darling Sheer” along with multiple films by local, national and international filmmakers.   Dialogue and exchange are encouraged and popcorn and pillows will be provided for your comfort. We encourage you to bring a friend and a beverage of choice to share.

We are currently accepting submissions for the monthly screenings and you can visit our Call for Submissions Page for more information.

 

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Starboard Sundays
with Jessica Marasa & Sara Zalek
Third Sundays, 6:30 – 9:00
Feb 18, Mar 18, Apr 15, May 20, June 17, July 15, August 19
Free / Donations Accepted

In nautical terms “starboard” indicates the “right” side of any ship.  At OuterSpace, The Starboard is the name indicating the group of people committed to steering this ship in the right direction.  It is co-organized and led by artists Jessica Marasa and Sara Zalek and includes a collection of local and national artists.

This monthly Sunday gathering is a community potluck open to all renters, members and faculty of OuterSpace.  At 6:30 we will gather and eat; at 7:00 Jessica and Sara will share information and updates on inner happenings at OuterSpace and will attend to any questions and concerns raised by the community; at 8:00 we will whip out a board game and play a round or two of whatever rouses the group.

Vegan soup will be provided by the space and we ask you address all other dietary concerns with whatever food you bring to share.

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Research Project
facilitated by Nora Sharp and Aurora Tabar
Bi-Monthly Fourth Sundays, 7:00 – 9:00
Jan 28, Mar 25, May 27, July 22
$5 JIM Members / $10 Drop-In

Research Project is a low-tech, bimonthly works-in-progress performance series hosted by OuterSpace Studios. RP brings together artists in the midst of their creative processes to show work, share process, give & receive responses, and chew the fat. This opportunity provides a community forum for experimentation, emerging ideas, and artist-to-peer support. We welcome artists and their work at any phase in their careers and processes.

Research Project was started by Greer Dworman and is now coordinated by Nora Sharp with Aurora Tabar and the support of OuterSpace & The Watering Can Dance.

If you’re interested in showing work, please know and send along the following:

– RP is shaped to serve movement-based artists, though we encourage a broad view of this language.

– Please send us a brief description of the work you wish to share, where you are in your process, and what you hope to gain from this in-progress opportunity. What are you looking for from your audience?

– If possible, please send a link to a brief work sample reflecting your current research.

– Please let us know the length of time that would best serve your needs in showing. Most performances usually run 10 minutes or under (excerpts of longer works welcome), but we are sometimes able to arrange for longer showings.

Submit proposals to researchprojectchicago@gmail.com.

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Black Coffee & Raw Sugar
facilitated and curated by Catalyst Movement
Bi-Monthly Fourth Sundays 7:30 PM
Apr 22, June 24, Aug 26
$Free JIM Members / $8 Drop-In

Black Coffee & Raw Sugar showcases black and brown movement art in conjunction with black and brown vendors of art, beauty, and hygienic products.  It is like an expo of sorts with dance and movement as the front runner with an emphasis on queer inclusivity.

April 22 features:

Zachary Nicol
Camila Rivero Pooley
Tiffany Berry
Duo Duo Wang
Keyierra Collins
w/ vending by Eso Shea Therapy & others…