Where the word comes from

A jam session is "a relatively informal musical event, process, or activity where musicians, typically instrumentalists, play improvised solos and vamp over tunes, drones, songs, and chord progressions", and to jam is to improvise without extensive preparation or predefined arrangements (Wikipedia, jam session). The same entry notes that jam sessions run from very loose gatherings of amateurs to evenings with a host who acts as gatekeeper.

The word moved from music into movement. Contact improvisation began in 1972, when a group of dancers started working with their relationship to gravity, and it is practised today "in studios, festivals, and open-air jams", according to CI Treasure Hunt, a directory that indexes those gatherings worldwide.

When an organiser advertises a tantra jam, the word is doing the same work it does in music. The gathering is open, and the shape of the evening comes out of the people in the room.

What a tantra jam is

One Ubud tantra jam, listed by an organiser other than this studio, works this way. It is a lightly facilitated gathering that opens with a short welcome and agreements to anchor the container, after which the space belongs to the room. Participants are asked to bring an intention, a practice they would like to share, and their own boundaries. There is no central facilitator, and the organiser frames the evening as an energetic jam session where everyone brings an instrument (the organiser's listing).

Other movement forms run the same format. A guide to finding an acroyoga jam describes a jam as unstructured practice time: no teacher, usually no fee, no curriculum. People show up, warm up, pair off, work on whatever they are working on, rotate partners and drift home over two to four hours (Beyond the Mat).

The shape of an evening

Arrival and attunement

A tantra event in Philadelphia that runs an open, co-created evening opens its doors at 6:30pm for arrival and settling, and asks people to be on time (Tantric Latihan).

Agreements and consent framing

The same evening closes its doors at 7pm "to seal our container", then spends half an hour on an opening circle and a somatic connection practice before the main practice starts. Cuddle Party's agreements push the same idea further. The first hour or more of the event is given to the agreements themselves, and nobody is admitted late once the welcome circle has begun, so that everyone present has heard them.

Open practice time

This is the long middle of the evening. Philadelphia runs it from 7:30 to 8:30, guided by music and spacious facilitation. In an ecstatic dance context the equivalent stretch is a two-hour dance. Ecstatic Dance's guidelines say a typical dance includes a warm-up, an opening circle, the dance, a wind-down period and a closing circle, and that the format and flow vary from event to event.

Closing circle

Philadelphia finishes with an integration meditation and a closing circle. Buffalo Ecstatic Dance treats its opening and closing circles as speaking turns that are confidential, and asks participants to request permission before discussing what somebody shared (Buffalo Ecstatic Dance guidelines).

How a jam differs from a workshop, a retreat, a training and a private session

A workshop teaches something, through a curriculum and a facilitator whose job is to move a group through it. A jam has no curriculum and no teaching arc to complete.

A retreat takes you out of daily life for days, usually with accommodation included. Irish listings site tantra.ie puts residential retreats at several hundred euro upwards once lodging is counted.

A training is a qualification rather than an evening. The same site puts a full practitioner training at one to three years and several thousand in tuition.

A private session is one practitioner and one client behind a closed door. tantra.ie describes the usual shape: a clothed conversation about intentions and what is off limits, private time to undress, a session running ninety minutes or longer, and closing time to talk before you leave.

A jam is one evening in a room with other people. Nothing is taught from the front, nobody leaves with a certificate, and the attention of whoever is holding the space is divided across everyone present.

What is not assumed about you

That you are experienced

A contact improv jam in the Bay Area answers the newcomer question directly: there is no right way to do it, you can dance alone, with one partner or in a group, and you do not need to come with a partner or someone you know (Thursday Jam FAQ). Its guide to contact improvisation calls listening for and respecting boundaries an ongoing navigation, and says verbal communication is always welcome.

Tantra jams set the bar differently, and this is worth checking before you go. The Ubud listing states that the space is for people who already have some experience of tantra through workshops, trainings or regular practice, and that it suits people comfortable navigating a co-created, non-facilitated space under shared agreements. An ecstatic dance community, by contrast, describes itself as open to all ages and backgrounds, with dancers from 18 to 80 in the room.

That you will arrive with someone

Come as you are, solo, with a friend, or with a partner. The Philadelphia listing says all three are welcome, and adds that the evening is a sovereign journey into your own embodiment rather than a couples event.

That you will be touched, or undressed

Cuddle Party's first agreement is that it is a platonic event and clothes stay on the whole time, with a stated minimum of a wide-strap tank top and long shorts. The Philadelphia tantra event calls itself a clothed, sensual, nonsexual container, asks for loose clothing you can move in, and says participants will be barefoot or in socks.

Touch, where it happens, is asked for. Cuddle Party's agreements state that you never have to cuddle anyone, and that you must ask permission and receive a verbal yes before touching anyone. An acroyoga guide gives the same instruction for that form: ask before touching anyone, every time, including when spotting.

That you have to join in

Ecstatic Dance's guidelines say you are not required to take part in any part of the evening that does not feel alive for you, and that sitting, resting or observing at any time is completely fine. Buffalo Ecstatic Dance gives dancers the same permission in writing: disengage or end any dance.

That you can film it

Ecstatic Dance's third guideline is no drugs or alcohol, no phones, no camera or video. Its listing for one jam repeats that it is a drug and alcohol free space.

How consent and boundaries are handled in a group

The plainest formulation comes from Buffalo Ecstatic Dance: get non-verbal consent before dancing with someone else, and accept anything less than an enthusiastic yes as a no.

Contact improv jams spell out the refusal side. You do not have to dance with anyone you do not want to, "no thanks" is always fine, and the single most important guideline is to take care of yourself (a newcomer FAQ). An acroyoga guide puts the same thing as etiquette: ask before joining a pair, and treat "not today, thanks" as a completely normal answer. Cuddle Party's agreements add two useful moves, that a maybe means no, and that you are encouraged to change your mind.

Tantra event pages say the same about their own rooms. The Philadelphia listing states that the facilitator will go over the upper limits of the space as part of the event. The Ubud jam opens with agreements to anchor the container. tantra.ie reports that the workshops in its directory are consent-led, that participation in any exercise is optional, and that if somebody pushes past a boundary you stated, even gently, leaving is a reasonable response.

Facilitators carry the enforcement. Buffalo's guidelines treat physical, verbal and sexual harassment as grounds for being asked to leave and possibly banned, and state that dance is not a place to cruise or pick up sexual partners. The Philadelphia listing goes further and requires a real name, email and phone number to register, with no anonymous participants.

Who a jam suits, and who it does not

It suits you if

  • You want to practise with other people in the room rather than alone or one-to-one.
  • You can name a boundary out loud and hear somebody else name theirs.
  • You already practise and want peers. The Ubud jam frames itself for people with some tantra experience behind them.
  • You are new to movement jams and want an entry point. Contact improv and acroyoga jams routinely welcome people with no experience at all.

It does not suit you if

  • You want to be taught from zero in the room. The acroyoga guidance is blunt that a jam will not teach you the basics, and that a class first makes a first jam far less bewildering.
  • You want privacy or sustained one-to-one attention. That is what a private session is for.
  • You are looking for sex. Buffalo states plainly that a dance space is not a place to cruise, and the tantra jams cited here describe clothed, nonsexual containers.
  • You are in acute distress. A group evening spreads the facilitator's attention across everyone present, and tantra.ie is clear that a tantra session is not therapy.

Practicalities, and how to find one near you

Where jams hide

Movement jams are often badly advertised. The acroyoga guide lists where they actually turn up: Facebook groups, WhatsApp groups you get into by meeting one person, Instagram location and hashtag searches, circus schools and aerial studios that host jams without labelling them as such, yoga studios, and parks on a fixed weekend afternoon. It describes walking up to a group already practising as how nearly everyone it knows started.

Directories

CI Treasure Hunt indexes contact improvisation festivals, jams, workshops, intensives and retreats worldwide, with 153 upcoming events across 32 countries at the time of writing, plus separate listings for venues and local communities. Ecstatic Dance keeps a global list of dances. Search both for the nearest city before concluding there is nothing.

Arrive on time

Three organisers say it independently. The Philadelphia evening asks people to arrive for 6:30 because the doors close at 7. The Montreal ecstatic jam asks people to arrive on time so the circle opens together. Cuddle Party admits nobody once the welcome circle has started.

What to bring

Water and a towel. A cushion or pillow if you may be sitting on the floor. Comfortable clothes without zips or buckles. Clean feet, short nails, and no perfume, cologne or essential oils: the acroyoga etiquette and the Thursday Jam both ask for it, and Thursday Jam notes that its community includes people with scent allergies.

What it costs

The cost varies more than the format does. Thursday Jam is free with a donation station and run by volunteers, and states that nobody is paid to coordinate it. The Ubud tantra jam is free with donations and registration required. The Montreal ecstatic jam charges a fixed ticket, cheaper in advance.

When the address arrives after you register

Several organisers publish the venue only after you sign up. The Ubud tantra jam emails the location once you register, which is a normal arrangement for an evening held in somebody's space.

Four questions worth sending first

Ask what the evening's format is, what kind of touch is involved, how consent is handled, and whether prior experience is expected. An organiser who cannot answer those four is telling you the room may not be well held.

Tantra jams at this studio

Tantra Studio runs its own open group practice jams, in four cities: Ubud in Bali, Goa in India, Koh Phangan in Thailand, and Miami in Florida. The jams page explains the format and what each city's evening involves.

No date, venue, contribution or facilitator name for any studio jam is published on this site. Every one of those details is confirmed with you by text before anything is agreed. Text the studio about the city you are asking about and say what you want to know.

Other organisers' jams, retreats and trainings are a separate list. The area calendar is a dated, sourced list of events the studio does not run, host, book or take payment for, and it stays separate from the studio's own jams on purpose.

Text the studio about a jam. The message arrives already naming the city, so the reply can carry the date, the venue and the contribution for that one.

Tantra Jam - Ubud Tantra Jam - Goa Tantra Jam - Koh Phangan Tantra Jam - Miami
Ask in the chat Other organisers' events

The studio's own jams are open group practice evenings in Ubud, Goa, Koh Phangan and Miami. Dates, venues, facilitation and contribution are confirmed by text before you commit.

The sources behind this article