Jennifer McLeish-Lewis has been a teacher of Contact Improvisation since 2006. Since 2000 she has studied and has had an ongoing practice under master improviser and contact teacher Peter Bingham. She has also trained with international teachers such as Ray Chung, Andrew Harwood, Chris Aiken, Karl Frost, and Karen and Allen Kaeja. Jennifer was a performer from 2002- 2012 with the contact based company MACHiNENOiSY in Vancouver, directed by Delia Brett and Daelik, performing in works inspired and underpinned by Contact Dance. In 2005 Jennifer was a performer in Karl Frost's improvised participatory performance, Axolotl, a show that toured the west coast of Canada and the U.S.A. She taught at Leviathan Studio in 2012 and 2013, and was a guest teacher at the Elsewhere Canadian Improvisation Festival in 2013. Her unwavering commitment to Contact Improvisation has led her to teach classes and workshops in Vancouver, Victoria, Calgary, Nanaimo, Kelowna, Montreal, Lasqueti Island, Salt Spring Island, Cortes Island, Croatia and Mexico. As a student of EDAM and Peter Bingham, Jennifer takes her place in the lineage as second generation to the originators and innovators of this postmodern partnering form.
James-Amzin is a contemporary dancer, tap dancer and improviser from Vancouver Island, BC, grateful to be born and based on stolen native land. James-Amzin’s aim in dance is to materialize the internal preposterousness. James-Amzin views dance as one of the last socially acceptable bastions of modern magic practice. He grew up performing in community theater and dance competitions, training in dance for the last 15 years as well as teaching contemporary and tap dance since 2018. He is a 2020 graduate of Modus Operandi Contemporary dance training program under the direction of David Raymond, Tiffany Tregarthen, and Kate Franklin. James-Amzin premiered a 33 minute dance-theatre solo choreographed by Jennifer Mcleish-Lewis at The Vancouver International Dance Festival in 2024. James-Amzin and Jennifer are continuing to collaborate, bringing work to Saltspring Island, Victoria, and Montreal. James-Amzin received the EDAM training scholarship in 2024 to study contact improvisation under Director Peter Bingham and the members of the EDAM company. For James-Amzin, dance is the materialized and shareable aspect of his spiritual practice that aims to elucidate the internal landscape.