Past Class &
Workshops Descriptions

DEALING WITH DESIRES: What wants to happen? Contact improvisation for
people who feel ambivalent about contact improvisation
co-facilitated with Hannah Krafcik

In this class, we will consider how contact improvisation can support our self-knowing—awareness of our desires, capacity, and sensory fantasies—and how it can illuminate what we don’t know we know.   We will practice with a queered lens, staying curious about one another’s experiences. We will stay accountable to our individual behavior as well as community safety by keeping active channels of communication and consent open. We will also explore various ways of identifying and asking one another for what we want. This class will include soloing, movement in partnership and group composition. We will play with some mechanically specific material, while emphasizing its adaptability.

June 3 & 17, 2025, Ballet Rituals Spring Guest Series at the Nod Theatre in Seattle, WA.

Triaxial Trajectories

Triaxial refers to the simultaneous use of three axes of rotation, inviting movement pathways that spiral, arc, and curve. Triaxial trajectories are inherent to bodies in motion—attuning to them cultivates internal sensitivity and awareness of how we relate to space and to others. Through spirals, we locomote, fall, and suspend—each spiral offering a more easeful relationship with gravity. A spiral holds potential energy; cycling through phases of coiling and uncoiling encourages adaptability and ease in motion. In this class, we’ll explore triaxial trajectories through somatic practice, solo dancing, and contact improvisation. We’ll explore how these pathways allow us to find and offer support, inviting moments of shared weight, loft and flight. I’ll offer movement pathways and improvisational scores to try on. This class is informed by the Axis Syllabus, an evolving resource of knowledge about the human body in motion. Rooted in biomechanics and physics, it aims to foster agency and autonomy in moving bodies.

June 10, 2025, Ballet Rituals Spring Guest Series at the Nod Theatre in Seattle, WA.

June 13, 2025, PDX CI +/- Festival in Portland, OR. See the full festival schedule here.

The Space Between
In this class, we will explore our connective tissue—an ambiguous term for the substance in our bodies that signifies interconnected relationships rather than isolated parts. We will work with interoception and proprioception, deepening our awareness of how feedback from our connective tissue indicates joint alignment and spatial orientation. Through movement, we will investigate how connective tissue shapes our unique sense of timing—experimenting with lead and lag, tone and effort, tension, and recoil. We will also dip into theories of how connective tissue adapts over time, considering various strategies for building greater resilience and range. 

June 27-29, 2025, Bay Area Axis Syllabus Exchange (BAASE)  in Berkeley, CA.

Alignment is a Felt Sense

I used this title for a class series in 2023, and I still contemplate the title, so I’m up-cycling: old title, new material. I am thinking of alignment as a dynamic process of sensing into ourselves, being present to our environment, and cultivating capacity to shift, as needed, to attend to our own physicality, energy and emotional states. Alignment describes relationships, it is self determined, from within, rather than imposed externally. In each class I will offer theory, choreography and improvisation scores to try on. This class is inspired by the Axis Syllabus, and will include concepts from anatomy, biomechanics and physics. Movement motifs will include rolling, crawling, spiraling and traversing through space. This class is open to all levels. Reach out with any questions ejones248@gmail.com. 

January 26th, February 23rd, March 23rd, April 27th & May 25th 9:30- 11:30 am, 2025 at FLOCK in Portland, OR

Tuesdays October 17- Novemeber 14 10-11:30am, 2023 in Portland, OR at Bridgespace Commons

Spectacular Spines
This three part Axis Syllabus workshop series will orient around the spine’s nuanced coordinations, and capacity for organizing energy in our moving bodies. We will play with the spine in relationship to limbs, exploring patterns for locomotion and sequential weight transfer. We will work with wave patterns and undulations to cycle energy through our bodies. We will investigate our spines from an evolutionary perspective, considering the nervous system, and how we receive and respond to sensory information. This workshop will bridge theory about spinal function, to practices that support spinal health and avoid excessive stress into the spine and adjacent structures. This workshop series will include theory, somatic and improvisational practices, and movement motifs drawing on contemporary dance forms. All levels are welcome. You can participate in this entire series or drop in for single dates. 

August 24-October 26th, 2024, at FLOCK in Portland, OR
November 15-17, 2024, at The Finnish Hall In Berkeley, CA

Spheroidal Senses

In this workshop we will attune to the spherical structures existing within our own bodies. We will consider what movement possibilities these structures imply, and dance with them in mind. We will play with translation of spherical pathways from the interior of our bodies into the space around us, finding momentum, working with centripetal and centrifugal forces to move dynamically. This workshop will include movement principles from the Axis Syllabus. Axis Syllabus is a compilation of information that aims to help movers cultivate greater bodily autonomy through understanding and awareness of their own bodies. This workshop will include improvisational scores, exercises to build strength and coordination, and movement motifs inspired by contemporary dance and floorwork. No prior experience is required.

July 26th, 2024, 2:00-4:00pm, at Bodyvox Dance Center in Portland, OR

June 27-30, 2024, at Bay Area Axis Syllabus Exchange (BAASE)  in Berkeley, CA.

Under-dancing

co-facilitated with Hannah Krafcik

In this class, we will explore how the skills used in under-dancing translate into moments of loft and flight. We will work with structural attention, sloughing, tension, space making, and release. We will consider the floor not only as a place of retreat and refuge, but a site of power and platform for imaginative choice-making. We will prioritize returning to mid-level from floor and standing work, finding innovative transitions that do not compromise our joints all the while. This class is facilitated from a queer lens and involves rigorous consent and labbing.

June 10, 2024, 10:00am-12:30pm at PDX CI +/- Festival in Portland, OR. See the complete schedule here.

Flight of Dance series at Dekum Street Theatre

This class will begin with an invitation into somatic inquiry. Through imagination and sensation we will warm up and locate ourselves. The middle of class will be a movement game that invites noticing and challenging our own coordinations, as well as coming into relationship with others. Class will finalize with a movement phrase that emphasizes kinetic energy- how do we shape/craft/hone what is already in motion to make a dance? All levels and movement experiences are welcome.

March 22, 2024, in Portland, OR

Elastic Feet

In this class we will examine the architecture of our feet and ankles, with an emphasis on loading pathways to build elasticity. We will sense into the ways our own bodies give us feedback via sensations stretch and slack, and practice using these cues to hone our own movement timing and coordination. I will offer some choreographed pathways to try out, as well as improvised scores to inspire creativity. 

October 28, 2023, at KINESPHERE in Berkeley, CA

bodymind building: a queer affinity Contact Improvisation workshop

co-facilitated with Hannah Krafick

In this workshop we will work toward dancing in partnership with sensitivity: We will begin by attending to our individual anatomies. As we move toward partnering, we will practice loosening our grip on assumptions and channeling our intuitions. We will invite surprising movement pathways to become more possible through instinctual choice-making. 

Contact improvisation spaces are often dominated by heteronormative patterns that lead to coercion, but we seek an alternate container: We name this workshop as a queer affinity space and invite people identifying as LGBTQAI2S+ to join. Open lines of communication with dance partners and the group will be promoted to ensure accountability. Participation in exercises will not be compulsory, and witnessing will be encouraged. 

*Max capacity is 25 participants. No one turned away for lack of funds.*

2023 in Portland, OR & Olympia, WA

“Contemporary" Class

co-facilitated with Hannah Krafick

In our "contemporary" class, we will do our best to invite in-between moments of labbing, so that participants will have the chance to try on our own movement while also figuring out how to negotiate transitions within their own bodyminds. Each week, either Emily or Hannah will facilitate while the other takes class and models a practice of asking clarifying questions. We will disrupt regimented timing and invite moments of group synchronicity through supportive use of musicality. If phrasework is offered, we will prioritize giving space to learn the phrasework and self-determine our capacity within it. We may fall short of these aims, so we invite participants to call us back to these during class. Masks are optional.

Tuesdays Nov 8th, 15th, 22nd, 29th, 2022 10:30AM-12PM at Performance Works Northwest in Portland, OR

“what if we…” — a workshop for friends, partners, parents and youth to practice moving together

co-facilitated with Hannah Krafick
This workshop is intended for duos: friends, partners, collaborators, or parents and youth who wish to practice movement together with plenty of space for humor! We will offer prompts for imaginative collaboration, and partners will be invited to explore what it means to move together without sacrificing individual autonomy. This workshop is informed by our practice and critique of contact improvisation. Participants will spend the majority of the workshop dancing in relation and physical contact with the person they enrolled with. For covid safety precautions, we will not be mixing and matching contact partners, and all participants must be masked. All bodies are welcome. Modification of our offerings is encouraged as needed, and we will be available to support throughout. 

December 10, 2021, 7:30-10pm, Waterline Studio @ Headwaters Theater in Portland, OR

Everything in Relation: an Axis Syllabus class series

This class emerges from thinking about relationships in our bodyminds. How do we consider these relationships as a means to distribute load and leave more space for nuanced responses? In this class we explore in scores, and we will practice choreography together, while prioritizing autonomy. This class will be designed with covid-19 safety precautions in mind- we will wear masks and keep distance. For accessibility related questions please reach out to Emily.

Mondays November 1- December 13, 2021, 9:30-11 am, at SKC Studio in Portland, OR

“what I don’t yet know, I know”

co-facilitated with Hannah Krafick

What does it mean to have a critically engaged nervous system? How might the practice of following this intuitive and predictive technology cultivate possibilities for meaning-making and self-knowing? In this workshop Hannah and Emily will offer various scores and practices from their collaboration. Participants will be invited to attune to their sensations with attention toward nervous system awareness. This workshop will prioritize personal agency, needs, and boundaries for engagement.

October 2, 2021, 10:00am-12:00pm This workshop was part of PICA’s TBA festival in Portland, OR.

Living Room Practice, pt. 1 & pt. 2, a contact-based workshop

co-facilitated with Hannah Krafick

In this workshop series, we will question the way consent and reciprocity are practiced in contact improvisation, acknowledging that we each embody different histories and shifting identities that shape and inform our practices as movers that move together. Considering a continuum of relational tendencies (including dominance, submissiveness, etc.), we will hold space for personal inquiry within shared practice. With attention toward agency and communication, we will work with a compositional lens and play with the intersection of contact improvisation and choreography. The content of this workshop emerges from our ongoing collaboration and discussions about queer and femme contact, as well as our evolving critiques of and participation in the greater contact improvisation community. Participation in this workshop assumes willingness to dance in contact with others.

August 3 & 10, 2019 at Art Klub Nola, New Orleans, LA

Sensing in Spirals

In this axis syllabus inspired dance class we will orient toward the spiraling nature of our joints and connective tissues. Sensing into the triaxial movement that exists in our bodies we can find coordination in congruence with our individual design. Bringing our spiraling joints into locomoting movement, we will play with kinetic energy: harvesting, recycling, releasing and dissolving. Axis Syllabus is a platform for practicing and sharing somatic inquiry, with the intention of understanding how we, as human beings, can move with more intentionality to our bodies internal landscapes, considering efficiency and ease in movement.

August 17, 2019 at Art Klub Nola, New Orleans, LA

“what wants to happen?”

co-facilitated with Hannah Krafick

In this movement-based workshop, we sought to cultivate uncertainty. We asked, what happens if we radically shift our focus? Through sensory walks, movement explorations with eyes closed, and experiments in “attending to” an environment with a redistributed hierarchy of the senses, we worked  to uncover possibilities for instant composition—the emergence of the poetic in a particular place. We wondered together: what wants to happen?

September 30, 2017 at Creek College. Creek College was a program that offered a variety of classes aimed at bridging art and environmental conservation in Portland, OR.