Ken Manheimer

Ken comes at dance through movement improvisation, specifically movement cooperation game called Contact Improvisation (CI). He has studied with several of the CI’s central proponents, including Nancy Stark Smith (the Underscore), as well as Andrew Harwood, Martin Keogh, and many others. He has also studied a related movement and self-discovery practice, Authentic Movement with Susan Schell.

Ken has been an active organizer of various CI events, including the Washington, DC CI local jams, Underscore practice, the East Coast Jam. He has developed and maintained the DC jam website and other online facilities of the DC jam and the East Coast Jam (ECJ). Ken has considerably contributed to making CI a safe space by developing an essay addressing the importance of respecting boundaries. He has been actively teaching CI classes of different levels for audiences of up to 100 people. In addition, he was a member of a local dance improvisation company, Nancy Havlik’s Dance Performance Group from 2007 to 2015, performing and helping to develop pieces, cultivating a combination of dance choreography and improvisation.