CLASSES

CLASS CARD

Class Cards may be used for all drop-in classes listed below.

• Our regular drop-in rate is $25/class.

• 10 CLASS CARD: $150 ($15/class) — save $10 per class

• 5 CLASS CARD: $100 ($20/class) — save $5 per class

We also accept cash (in-person at the studio) and e-transfers. Please email us to arrange.

*Please note: Class Cards cannot be used for jams.

Class format: After arrival, participants begin with a self-directed warm up to settle, tune to the space and their individual needs. The teacher offers prompts to guide attention and practice with an emphasis on expanding awareness and skill development. Warm-up organically leads into open contact duets or more structured explorations. Class usually concludes with an ensemble score. Facilitated opportunities for conversation and questions occur halfway and/or at the end of class.

See the EDAM Calendar for the full Teaching Schedule through June 2026.

MORNING CLASS
MONDAY TO FRIDAY
10AM - 12PM

Drop-ins and Class Cards welcome.
Drop-in: $25
Class Cards: $100 (5-Class Card), $150 (10-Class Card)
Drop-ins for Morning Class are available at the door (cash or e-transfer).

Morning Class is for professional dancers and experienced Contact Improvisation practitioners (ie: minimum 3 years of regular CI practice). Permission is required to attend class. If you meet this criteria, please email us at info@edamdance.org to request permission.

Peter’s Format
Offered Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays

• Self-Directed Arrival: Rather than a synchronized warm-up, participants follow their own physical preparation. The teacher provides verbal cues to help sharpen internal awareness and subtle sensation.

• Organic Pacing: Participants make their own way into CI practice, allowing for a personal and intuitive transition into partnering.

• The Score: The final portion of class (20–25 minutes) is dedicated to an improvised score. These parameters vary day-to-day, offering a structured container to explore ways of improvising and composing together.

• Ethos: This class is inspired by a teaching structure that was developed, held and practiced by Peter Bingham in the latter part of his career between 2017 and 2025.

Skills Format
Offered Tuesdays, Fridays

• Solo movement skills: Guided warm-ups explore frameworks for solo movement pattering (rolling, floor-work, and across-the-floor patterns) designed to refine our coordination and attention.

• Partnering Mechanics: Each class introduces a specific contact partnering skill, focusing on the physics and mechanics of weight sharing and moving safely with others.

• Targeted Practice: The teacher may also lead the group through structured CI exercises to provide a more specific focus on technical or awareness-based refinement.

• Integration & Witnessing: Classes conclude with either a Round Robin or open practice to integrate the specific learning from the day, often utilizing the practice of "witnessing" to support our learning and integration.

Shared Values
In both formats, agency remains a priority. Participants are encouraged to choose their level of physical contact and are always welcome to witness. All classes include time for group reflection and conversation, with the opportunity to ask questions and discuss the practice in more detail.

FOUNDATIONS IN CONTACT
THURSDAYS
6:30 - 8PM

This class is a drop-in, beginner-friendly class focused on introducing Contact Improvisation basics, and is best for those with 0 - 3 years of CI experience. All levels are welcome to join supporting our ongoing research of introductory CI skills. Teachers rotate every six weeks. Read more about the class format at the registration form link below.

Winter 2026 Teaching Schedule:

• February 19th - March 26th with Arash Khakpour

Spring 2026 Teaching Schedule:

• April 2nd - May 7th with Hayley Gawthrop

• May 14th - June 25th with Francesca Frewer

CONTACT IMPROVISATION
SUNDAYS
12:30 - 2:30PM
with Anne Cooper

Drop-in: $25
Class Cards welcome.

Winter term starts Jan 4th, 2026.

Open level. All welcome.

BIPOC FOUNDATIONS IN CONTACT
with Natalie Tin Yin Gan (顏婷妍)

Class Notice: Our BIPOC Classes are taking a pause for the Winter 2026 Term (January to March). During this time, we will be hosting two BIPOC Jams per month with Natalie and guest artists from our BIPOC group. Come jam with us!

Class Description: For BIPOC dancers and movers. This class is a drop-in, beginner-friendly class focused on introducing Contact Improvisation basics, and is best for those with 0 - 3 years of CI experience. All levels are welcome to join supporting our ongoing research of introductory CI skills.

Email List: Please email us if you are interested in receiving updates about upcoming BIPOC classes and jams.

Please email us at info@edamdance.org if you are interested in attending and cost is a barrier.

BIPOC: This class is an affinity group space for those who self-identify as BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, Person of Colour).

Anne Cooper has danced with EDAM since 1994, studying Contact Improvisation with Peter Bingham and performing in EDAM's work, both structured improvisations and choreography. She has researched and performed with Nancy Stark Smith through Nancy's 'Glimpse Performance Installations' in the U.S.A. Anne has taught/facillitated CI since 2001 in Vancouver and other locales through classes, Jams and workshops. She has created and performed her own work and has danced with many Canadian companies/choreographers. Anne has trained in contemporary dance and CI; her CI teachers include Peter Bingham, Nancy Stark Smith, Jaci Metivier, Andrew Harwood, Chris Aiken, Ray Chung and others and some study with Steve Paxton (Material For the Spine) and recently, Nora Hajos (Material For the Spine). Anne is grateful to live and work in Vancouver, BC, on the ancestral and unceded lands of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsliel-Waututh First Nations.

Francesca Frewer is a contemporary dance artist and Feldenkrais® practitioner living as a grateful guest on the unceded, ancestral territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh First Nations. Her practice celebrates movement as a conversation with the vast and layered unfolding unknown. Encompassing contemporary dance, The Feldenkrais Method®, improvisation, and Contact Improvisation, her practice and her classes pursue a sense of embodied freedom, expansive awareness, grounded autonomy, and togetherness.

Born and raised on Semiahmoo territory (South Surrey), Hayley Gawthrop is an independent artist living and working on the unceded lands of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh Nations (so-called Vancouver). Hayley began dancing at a young age, training extensively in ballet, jazz, and contemporary forms, where their love of movement and rigor eventually came into tension with the rigidity of classical dance structures.

Their practice has since evolved to celebrate what they love about dance and the world, while questioning what they wish to change. Hayley has performed and collaborated with artists and companies including Emmalena Fredriksson, Arash Khakpour (Biting School), Antonio Somera Jr., Fight With a Stick, Dumb Instrument Dance, Omer Keinan, Kelly McInnes, The Response, MACHiNENOiSEY Dance Society, and has worked as a dramaturg and outside eye for Emmalena Fredriksson, Kelly McInnes, and Marissa Wong.

Hayley has studied Contact Improvisation with Peter Bingham since 2015 and has danced professionally with EDAM since 2021. Contact Improv offers a framework for following their questions around care, listening, disruption, holding, floating, and flying. They are passionate about gentleness, bodily autonomy, and deep listening. Their classes balance practical skill-building with space for personal inquiry, inviting students to feel thoughtful, brave, and confident in the unknown.

Arash Khakpour (آرش خاکپور) is a dancer and choreographer from Tehran and is privileged to be a dance artist based in the Coast Salish Territory (Vancouver). Arash has been practicing dance and performance for the past 15 years and has been a company member of the EDAM Contact Improvisation ensemble since 2017. He tends to invest in the nuances of prejudices in the body as a way of inviting the unconscious to the conscious, and as a doorway to confront unknown emotions. He sees dance as a process of physical, emotional and spiritual discovery and a mode of transformation. He works with dance as a language that researches the human condition through mythical, historical, social, political and existential interpretations. As a first-generation immigrant, he continuously considers what healing he can bring to the land and communities he works with. He is building a culture of relationality and reciprocity that celebrates the multiplicity of presences and approaches. Arash is the co-founder and artistic director of the dance-theatre-film company The Biting School (alongside his brother Aryo Khakpour).

Olivia Shaffer is a dance artist and the Artistic Director of EDAM. Informed by nearly two decades of performance, dance making, and embodied research, her work centers on the merging of practice with artistic expression. A BFA graduate of Simon Fraser University and a certified Feldenkrais Method® practitioner, Olivia is committed to exploring how refining brain-body connections can develop our capacity for greater choice and ease of movement. Having shared her work across Canada, the US, Europe, and Asia, she is interested in cultivating spaces that prioritize curiosity and collective care. Olivia is honoured to lead EDAM’s next chapter, upholding the legacy of founder Peter Bingham while moving into the evolving possibilities of the form.

Natalie Tin Yin Gan (顏婷妍) is an independent dance artist, writer, and teacher based in so-called Vancouver, on the unceded ancestral lands of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh First Nations. Her practice squats (120 lb) at the intersection of spirit, somatics, and technology-induced melancholy. Natalie is the Co-Artistic Director of company Hong Kong Exile that explores the historical and contemporary politic of the Chinese diaspora. She is also the smaller half of vulva clown duo, Pulsive Party. She is a graduate of The Writer’s Studio and a certified teacher of Fitzmaurice Voicework®. Natalie is a late sleeper, a late riser, a late bloomer, a latecomer, and a late-night snacker. nataliegan.com