Montreal’s Annual Jam Festival /
Kirstie Simson 2026

🔹 WORKSHOP 1: Saturday, October 31st and Sunday, November 1st
(Experience Level: Intermediate to Advanced)

🔹 WORKSHOP 2: From Tuesday 3rd to Friday, November 6th, from 9:30 am to 12:30 pm
(An In-Depth Training, Research, and Creative Development Program for Experienced Practitioners)

Creating Improvised Performance
An intensive research and creation laboratory dedicated to improvised performance, open to dancers and movers from all backgrounds who maintain a committed movement practice.

🔹 A dedicated organizing team will soon be taking shape. More details will be announced shortly. For now, save the dates!

Friday, November 6:
Opening evening /jam / performances with Kirstie Simson and the research group

Saturday 7 and Sunday 8:
• Guided warm-up on Saturday morning with Kirstie Simson
• Two-hour workshop on Saturday afternoon with Kirstie Simson

Three days of gathering, dancing, exploration, and celebration, bringing together Montreal’s Contact Improvisation and movement improvisation communities.

Biography of Kirstie Simson

kirstiesimson.com

I place my work within the broader context of humanity’s effort to evolve as a species.

This will be Kirstie Simson’s third visit to Montreal since the 1990s. Her presence in our dancing community is not to be missed. She is extraordinary to witness in motion, and her teaching embodies great wisdom, depth, and humanity.

Kirstie Simson belongs to the first generation of practitioners who contributed to the growth and development of Contact Improvisation.

About her teaching, she writes:

« As a teacher of dance improvisation, my interest is in engaging everyone in the experience and vitality of pure creation through instantaneous, virtuosic improvisation. What continually inspires my work is the rediscovery of how such exploration can serve as a catalyst for learning opportunities that continue to benefit individuals throughout their lives.

I understand learning as a transformation arising from self-discovery through a process of exploration and revelation, and I believe that everyone carries within themselves the potential for remarkable creative achievement.

Our bodies are designed for movement, and it is our birthright to engage with and enjoy embodied intelligence. Through the study of simple movement practices, we can generate a body-mind state that greatly supports our overall well-being—one that can enrich and potentially transform our relationship to life.»