A huge welcome to the 14th Skiing on Skin – Contact Improvisation Festival!
We are a group of 13 Finnish CI dancers and teachers. Many of us are also dear friends and colleagues for well over 20 years.
We were so happy last year to get back into creating this beautiful festival again in these new inspiring surroundings that we are eager to keep on going.
There is so much love and curiosity for the exploration and research of this form, and for the warm wintery family-like togetherness – surrounded by fresh, pure, silently magical Finnish nature – that we really wish to share all of this with you once again.
The spirit of the festival is as follows : We aim to offer our freshest findings of what we feel passionate about in our own explorations with CI.
Some of us are drawn to study anatomical details or the precision in weight sharing. Some focus more on the somatics and deep listening through touch. Some love to play and improvise. For some it’s about the nourishing quality of human connection and also learning about life and its mysteries through dancing together. Some are lively lovers of dynamic flying, jumping and bumping. And some seem more like eternal explorers of hyper-slow and meditative micro-movements. Some are going for the unknown, and some just love to repeat the same same in different ways.
No matter what is each one’s calling and personal interest, together we are creating and enjoying a rich offering of a variety of perspectives towards our common love, the ever-present creative meeting point, the dance of Contact Improvisation.
So, we would like to invite you to dance and be with us!
Please come and share your dance and contribute to the co-creation of a fulfilling festival atmosphere through your way of being, moving and dancing.
Let’s share the deep and mysterious meaning of dancing together in these unprecedented and apocalyptic times.
With all this we like to say that we would be very happy to see you again! ..or to see you for the first time! ..or, why not, to see us all like for the first time ever, like never before : )
Some practicalities which are good to know :
The festival is created in a non-profit spirit.
Basically we create it just out of love for the CI, for each other, and for the evolving community. Our shared dance is the thing which makes us rich. This is how many of us choose to continue to believe : ) All the money you pay for participating goes in its totality to cover the basic necessities of the festival.
Since last year our new home for SOS is a fantastic sports center Vierumäki located 1,5 hours from Helsinki, with great facilities for dancing and winter sports, such as skiing, and also for dipping in the ice-cold lake, swimming in an indoor pool and having a sauna. You can read more about the center here: https://vierumaki.fi/en
If you have any questions please reach out.
We are looking forward to seeing you and to dancing with you!
Warm wishes from the SOS 2025 team : Annukka, Iiris, Ilona, Kaisa, Katri, Linda, Mirva, Otto, Panu, Petri, Terhi, Ulla, Ville.
Schedule and Classes
This schedule is preliminary and probable to change.
Classes:
Tonus and Motion
Contact Improvisation Class: Tonus and Motion Teachers: Mirva Mäkinen & Ilona Kenova Level: Open Level (some CI experience recommended)
Class Description:
In this Contact Improvisation class, we will explore the interplay between the tonus (muscle tone) and motion in our dancing bodies. Our investigation begins with a deepening awareness of internal sensations—tuning into the subtle shifts of muscle engagement, relaxation, and readiness.
What is tonus?
Tonus is the continuous and passive partial contraction of the muscles, a key element in how we organize our movement, weight, and responsiveness. In CI, our tone shapes how we give and receive weight, how we fall, roll, lift, and flow with a partner.
Throughout the class, we will:
Explore variations in muscle tone: from soft and receptive to activated and ready.Practice listening through touch, recognizing how changes in tone signal intent or direction.
Move between states of stillness and motion, discovering how tone supports transitions.
Work solo, in duets, and in group scores to research how tonus influences connection, timing, and spontaneity.
Investigate the quality of motion born from different tonal states, and how these impact shared weight and movement pathways.
Our aim is not to “correct” tone, but to expand our awareness and range—to support more versatile, responsive, and expressive dancing.
Leaning and Listening – Basics of CI
Contact Improvisation Class: Leaning and Listening – Basics of Contact Improvisation
Teacher:Kaisa Kukkonen Level: Open Level, suitable for beginners and experienced
Class Description: What do we need to make Contact Improvisation enjoyable, fun, interesting, and safe enough? We will explore the principles of contact through clearly guided exercises, as well as through freer inquiry and experimentation. Each body and each dance is different, and from the very beginning, we learn by doing, exploring, and practicing.
Leaning – working with weight, exploring shared axis and directions
Finding and maintaining your own movement and dance, even when moving with others
Moving through different levels
Rolling and sliding contact points with a partner and alone
Regulating weight through muscle tone and relaxation
Grounding in your own body and movement, and from there connecting to others and the space
Practicing boundaries: saying yes and no, entering and leaving dances, being clear with your own intention, and listening to others
Taking care that the body-mind is open and warm for dancing
Jam skills – What is a jam? How do you participate and find dancing within it?
Imaginary physicalitites: You are what you think you are, even when you aren’t, What could we be?
Underground: Access to “real” world is limited by the limitation of our perception. We make conceptualisation about.. Well, most of the things (if not everything). Like time, space, spoon, food, home, survival, life and obviously about ourselves.
My perception affects my conceptualisation and my conceptualisation affects my perception. I can create myself if, not anew, at least something that I know I am not, yet I can experience it. In these classes we explore what we are, and partly what we could be. I’m in search of qualities of perception of/and movement. I have very specific suggestions for exploration, all of which all arise from my perceptual experience, which I can’t explain in any other way than imagining forces that are not quite there, in the “real”. So, come to imagine, and search for qualities of movement with added (imaginary) forces.
This class explores the concept of nature through movement, imagination, and contact improvisation. Rather than seeing nature as something separate from ourselves, we will approach it as something that flows through our bodies and to which we are intimately connected.
Weather permitting, we may begin—or even hold the entire class—outdoors, dancing in the snow or on a frozen lake.
Our focus is on attuning to and being affected by other beings while staying true to our own nature. We will allow our imagination, movement, and the quality of our dancing to be inspired and shaped by the nature we encounter, both within ourselves and around us.
Through this exploration, we aim to let our bodies and our encounters dance in response to the living world, opening space for inspiration, connection, and movement that is alive.
In these two classes we will explore some basic (and non basic..?) concepts of dance improvisation and contact improvisation to let us be emerged in the joy of dancing and improvising together.
We will tune into ourselves to be ready to tune into others using some somatic work.
We will find ways to explore the space as another inspiring dance partner.
We will explore weight and sharing weight in different amounts and getting more precise in our choices.
We will explore rolling point, sliding point and skipping point and the fun of consciously playing with them.
We will tune into the rhythm, speed and musicality of our dance and the dance of others.
In this class, we play with the weight of the head. In Contact Improvisation, one of the key elements in dance is to let go of the verticality of every day life, and let the head drop, reach, turn and follow, taking us into 3D -motion.
We will work gently and safely to release the shoulder-neck-head area, and play with a relaxed upper body to find how the movement of head connects to our spine, arms and the rest of our body.
We explore movement both in solo and contact, with improvisation of imagery and anatomical starting points, as well as given paths.
A moment to unwind and recover energy – we will work with a partner and give each other a gentle massage-dance. This body work is based on Nuad Boran Thai Massage. We work with breath, giving and receiving weight and letting go while being moved. In the core of the practice is also the Buddhist meditation practice of Metta – cultivating compassion and kindness towards self and others.
Please wash your hands and feet before coming to the class, and take warm clothes with you!
Pilates into Contact Improvisation
Contact Improvisation Class: Pilates into Contact Improvisation
Class Description: In this class we work with basic principles and exercises from Pilates to help us find strength, alignment and ease for dancing. First practicing on our own, we then take the exercises to play with partnering in lifts and balances. How can the activation of our core muscles support us in dancing?
Funatics in Contact
Contact Improvisation Class: Funatics in Contact
Teachers:Panu Erästö Level: Open Level (some CI experience recommended)
Class description: In this class, we delve into the dynamic relationship between bodies, gravity, and space, uncovering pathways of movement that blend fluidity with moments of easiness and surprise. Through guided explorations, you’ll experience soft acrobatics — playful, weight-sharing movements where trust and timing make flying feel natural and falling safe.
We’ll move through shifting dynamics, from quiet listening to momentum-driven partnering, where gravity becomes both anchor and invitation. The focus is on connection and awareness rather than technique: a space to test edges gently, to risk balance without losing sensitivity.
Join in a dance that is both spontaneous and intentional, revealing how softness can carry strength and how every shared movement holds the potential for flight.
Contact Improvisation Class and ritual : power of the earth /maan voima
Teacher: Iiris Raipala Level: Open Level (some CI experience recommended)
THE POWER OF THE EARTH
We are earth and belong to the earth. This continuous relationship is also manifested in the laws of gravity. The earth pulls us towards it and we pull the earth towards us – this creates a state of mutual coexistence.
This workshop is an invitation to connection, to ourselves, to each other and to the larger web of life. In the workshop, we explore working based on the principles of contact improvisation and other somatic methods. We work alone, in pairs, and in groups. Each exercise can be done from one’s own perspective, listening to and respecting oneself and others.
We carry the entire history of evolution within our bodies. The life force flows through our veins and runs in our limbs. Our tissues remember the movement of tectonic plates, the roots that dig through the soil, and the agile spine of animals. Through the body, we connect to the earth, instincts, and the wisdom that arises from the core. The body supports us and is on the side of life.
In times when various ecosocial crises shake us, it is meaningful to return to the basics. Although different opinions and ideologies divide people in the present moment, we can find comfort and meaning in what connects us: we are a part of the planet and are subject to gravity – just like all living things. Touch enlivens, sensitizes, and grounds us. It anchors us to the present moment. We become sensitive to the sensations of the body, the movement of weight, and intuition. We explore gravity as a continuous state of questioning, to which the body responds with movement.Through dance, we can surrender to continuous change and allow life to flow through us without the need to control.
Teachers
Teachers are all from Helsinki community, even if not living in Finland anymore.
We are excited about our new festival location, the Vierumäki sports institute! It is a well known in Finland as a sports mecca and the facilities suit our festival perfectly.
We will have three large dance spaces at our disposal. The jam space is located close to our accommodation and restaurant, and two other spaces a little walk away.
We will sleep in warm and cosy rooms of 2, 2-4, or 2-5 persons. The rooms come with bedsheets and towels, en-suite bathrooms with showers, little fridges, drying cabinets for clothes etc.
We will have flexible meal times in the institute’s buffet restaurant three times per day. It will be easy to combine a delicious and nourishing meal of one’s own liking, be it vegetarian, fish or meat. Also jam snack will be served late in the evening.
What would a visit in Finland be without sauna! We have booked the lakeside sauna for two nights during the festival. There will be two separate saunas and an opportunity to dare ice swimming in the lake! There’s also the possibility to use the sauna and spa close to the jam space for a 6 € fee per session.
Vierumäki is located 130 km from Helsinki. It’s a 90 min drive and easily reachable by public transport (some 2 hours, similar from the airport). More info for getting there – Read below
Getting there
By car
Write the visiting address of the reception in your navigator:
Pihkalantie 3 Vierumäki
Come to the Fennada Hotel.
Parking is free but parking spot availability tends to fluctuate according to visitors. However, most probably at this time of the year there should be enough spots around.
By public transport
Fennada Hotel is your destination, use this when you googlemaps. Suomen Urheiluopisto is the bus stop you need to get off at. The Fennada Hotel where registration happens, is about 500-600 metres north.
Coming from Helsinki or the Helsinki-Vantaa intl. airport, you need to take a train to Lahti, where you switch to a local bus towards Vierumäki, goes to bus stop A which is underground, it´s signposted from the station (coming from the airport you need to first change trains in Tikkurila). The buses are regular and daily.
For both the train and the bus it is probably easiest to pay by their mobile apps, or use ticket machines at the railway stations and bus stations.
Coming from the airport, the train ticket to Lahti costs 13,10 €, paid by mobile or ticket machine. You cannot buy tickets in the trains at all these days!
Vierumäki is on zone C for the Lahti area transport, LSL. The price for 3 zones is 5,20 €, if paid by mobile or ticket machine. If you pay in the bus, they only accept cash and it’s more expensive.
