Mascher Space

Contact Improvisation Research Labs w/ @nicole_bindler 🗓️ Every Thursday in May, 7-9pm 📍1170 S. Broad St.—ring “rear studio” to enter 👾 All levels of experience are welcome 💸 Suggested price for our events = $15, though we offer a sliding scale of $10-$20. Please pay cash or Venmo ([at]derek-freeh) at the door 😷 Please note that May 7 is mask required. May 14, 21 & 28 are mask optional. *** In these May Thursday classes Nicole will spontaneously develop CI activities based on questions that participants bring. We’ll use Body-Mind Centering practices, improvisation scores, and classic CI exercises to support our research. Bring whatever you’re chewing on and we’ll work it out! *** Nicole Bindler is a dance-maker, Body-Mind Centering® practitioner, 500 hr yoga teacher, Polestar Pilates practitioner, myofascial bodyworker, writer, and activist. She has practiced contact improvisation since 1997, and she is a registered Master Somatic Movement Therapist through The International Somatic Movement Education and Therapy Association. Her work has been supported by numerous grants and fellowships, and presented on four continents. Recent projects include curating an evening of Palestinian dance films; somatic research on the embryology of the genitalia from a non-binary perspective; a workshop on neuroqueering embodiment; co-producing the Consent Culture in Contact Improvisation Symposium at Earthdance; and a solo dance, The Case for Invagination, in which her scars speak candidly about trauma and desire.

April Contact Improv Classes w/ @vervetdance Thursdays April 16 & 23, 6:30-8:30pm 📍1170 S. Broad St.—ring “rear studio” to enter 👾 All levels of experience are welcome 💸 Suggested price for our events = $15, though we offer a sliding scale of $10-$20. Please pay cash or Venmo ([at]derek-freeh) at the door 😷 April 16th is mask required. April 23rd is mask optional *** These classes will focus our attention into different layers in our body and in the space for more sensitive and nuanced dancing. On 4/16, we will tune into different inter-related layers of our body: the skin, fat, fascia, muscle, bone, and organs, maybe more systems in ourselves and in each other. This clarity of layer, depth, weight will allow for clearer communication which supports attunement and potentially more adventurous dancing. On 4/23, we will continue with this exploration with more focus on fascia (the connective tissue of the body)- feeling into our own fascia and its varied textures and incredible intelligence will support moving with more awareness of self, other, and the space. Both classes will have the theme of attention on self and other and finding a union or a balance. We may also play with attention to other aspects - architecture, space, breath, senses. With keen attention, we support sensitivity for clear and supportive dancing, but also the possibility of quickly changing qualities or states. *** Loren Groenendaal (they/she) is a Philadelphia-based dance artist and educator, specializing in contact improvisation (CI), contemporary modern dance, and creative dance. Loren has been dancing CI for 26 years and teaching CI since 2009 to adults in the communities of Philadelphia, Boston, and Baltimore as well as a guest at Arcadia University, Juniata College, Towson University, University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG). Loren facilitates creativity, curiosity, and playfulness for students of all ages.

🪻🪻🪻 4/2: Class (6:30-8:30pm) w/ @leahsteindanceco 4/9: Class (6:30-8:30pm) w/ @leahsteindanceco 4/12: Jam (4-6pm) 4/16: Mask-required class (6:30-8:30pm) w/ @vervetdance 4/19: Jam (4-6pm) 4/23: Class (6:30-8:30pm) w/ @vervetdance 📍1170 S. Broad St.—ring “rear studio” to enter 👾 All levels of experience are welcome 💸 Suggested price = $15; sliding scale of $10-$20 Cash or Venmo [at]derek-freeh at the door 😷 For our mask required events, we require kf94 or higher filtration masks & provide masks at the door Other opportunities for ci this month: *Saturday 4/11: The Underscore w/ @vervetdance , 11:30-2pm. Email [email protected] to sign up 🌊👁️🦅

After an incredible run, the time has come for our beloved financial coordinator to begin making their transition out of their member coordinator role. With that being said, this means Mascher is on the search for a new financial coordinator! Could that be you?! Send a letter of interest and resume to [email protected]

WORKSHOP ALERT! 🚨 DANCE THIS MESS AROUND [IMPROVISATION FOR MOVERS] David Appel will be leading a workshop at Mascher. More info below and register through our link tree in bio! LOGISTICS: Date: Saturday, April 18th (4/18/2026) Time: 11am-2pm Location: 1170 S. Broad St. Philadelphia, PA 19146 (Mascher Space Cooperative/Headlong Dance Theater) Cost: $30-$60 Sliding Scale (please place yourself appropriately, there are no questions asked) Accessibility: There are a few steps to enter the building, the restrooms are down a flight of stairs. This workshop will not require masking or rapid testing. If you have any questions about access, please reach out to [email protected] About the workshop: "Here are some elements to be considered: accessing the well of movement possibilities at our disposal; articulating our subsequent choices with ever-increasing ease, depth, subtlety, and fullness; nurturing a fluid capacity for change, including the mobility of weight; paying attention as we engage structures toward developing a greater sensitivity within ourselves and to each other; fostering a more acute awareness of the space we’re dancing in and enlivening; and cultivating a more open and sturdy conduit between our inner sense and what’s out in front of us, as we proceed forward. That’s a lot, but there is crossover. The point is to ride the music of the body in motion—with art, craft, curiosity, and joy—so as to wholly encounter wherever we find ourselves, alone and together. Especially now...let’s ask/entertain questions and see what we find!"

Every Sunday in March! 3/1: Class (5-7pm) w/ @leahsteindanceco 3/8: Class+jam (3-6pm) w/ @tgutherz 3/15: Jam (5-7pm) 3/22: Mask required class+jam (5-7pm) 3/29: Jam (4-6pm) 📍1170 S. Broad St.—ring “rear studio” to enter 👾 All levels of experience are welcome 💸 Suggested price = $15; sliding scale of $10-$20 Cash or Venmo [at]derek-freeh at the door 😷 For our mask required events, we require kf94 or higher filtration masks & provide masks at the door Other opportunities for ci this month: *Saturday 3/21: The Underscore w/ @vervetdance , 4-6:30pm. Email [email protected] to sign up 🌊👁️🦅

Announcing February Spiral Body Techniques® Classes for Philly dancers! @mollyshanahanmadshak @harleetrautman Harlee Trautman and I will teach weekly SBT® classes at Mascher Space @mascher.space on Thursdays at 12:30pm and Sundays at 5pm. Sliding Scale $15-$20 per class, Drop ins welcome, no one turned away for lack of funds. Link in bio for details! These classes are intended for advanced and intermediate contemporary dancers, with all levels welcome to participate, making mindful adjustments to suit their abilities. Spiral Body Techniques® (SBT) is the dance and movement framework developed by choreographer Molly Shanahan. The February SBT® class series at Mascher will be taught by Kalila Kingsford Smith and Harlee Trautman, both certified Essential Level SBT teachers. Essential Level Spiral Body Techniques® classes introduce and develop foundational movement principles, emphasizing increasing whole-self dancing, articulation and coordinated availability of the ball-and-socket joints, and moving with a dynamic center through the release and reengagement of musculature. All phrasework in SBT is spontaneously composed, so both the teacher and the student are practicing learning the phrase at the same time, generating repeatable phrases of increasing complexity with an emphasis on building trust in body intelligence more than “getting the steps right.” We will practice the somatics of sensing and exploring these movements in order to “really dance” the more complex phrasework. Photos by @ladyredphotos

Don’t Stop Me Now An Evening of Contemporary Dance Set to Queen Join a dynamic lineup of Philadelphia dance makers for a high-energy evening of contemporary dance set to the music of Queen, performed beneath Philadelphia’s largest disco ball. Bold, theatrical, and a little over-the-top, this fun and festive performance celebrates one of the most iconic bands of the 80s. Icebox Project Space: 1400 N American St Tuesday, February 10, 8:00 PM Choreographers: Megan Bridge · Silvana Cardell · Anna Drozdowski · Terry Fox · Curt Haworth · Megan Mazarick · mik phillips and lu donovan · Paige Phillips · Vitche-Boul Ra · Meredith Rainey · Paule Turner · Raphael Xavier Tickets: $10–$20 sliding scale https://bit.ly/4jtVJSJ Beverages available for purchase on site Twelve dances. One iconic soundtrack. Philadelphia’s largest disco ball.

✨✨✨ Sunday 1/11 (4:30-6:30pm): Jam Sunday 1/18 (4-6pm): Jam Thursday 1/22 (6:30-8:30): Class w/ @liam.h.b.shaffer (mask required) Sunday 1/25 (3-6pm): Class & Jam w/ @miryam.moves Thursday 1/29 (6:30-8:30pm): Class w/ @nicole_bindler Sunday 2/1 (3-6pm): Class & Jam w/ @miryam.moves 📍1170 S. Broad St.—ring “rear studio” to enter 👾 All levels of experience are welcome 💸 Suggested price = $15; sliding scale of $10-$20 Cash or Venmo [at]derek-freeh at the door 😷 For our mask required events, we require kf94 or higher filtration masks & provide masks at the door Other opportunities for ci this month: *Saturday 1/24: The Underscore w/ @vervetdance , 4-6pm. Email [email protected] to sign up 🌊👁️🦅

December Class Series w/ @tgutherz Thursday Classes: Dec. 11 & 18, 6:30-8:30pm Sunday Class + Jam: Dec. 14, 3-6pm 📍1170 S. Broad St.—ring “rear studio” to enter 👾 All levels of experience are welcome 💸 Suggested price for our events = $15, though we offer a sliding scale of $10-$20. Please pay cash or Venmo (derek-freeh) at the door 😷 All events this month are mask optional Resilience — the ability to bounce back from adversity or challenges. The ability of a substance or object to spring back into shape, elasticity. The ability to recover from, or adjust easily to change. The capacity of a body to return to its original size and shape after experiencing compressive stress. We will approach Contact Improvisation as a tool for increasing resilience and deepening our whole-body listening. We will practice sharing centers and explore what it means to “network” in a physical way, using everything that exists in the space as fuel and using each other for support and inspiration. Malleable bodies in dialogue with gravity—shape shifting, shifting weight, shifting attention. Each body with its own unique abilities and curiosities—what happens when two forces of nature collide? Or three or four or five? We will engage with questions of independence & interdependence and enjoy the power of our imagination to change our quality of experience. *** Tamar Gutherz is originally from Lynchburg, VA and has a BFA in Modern Dance Performance from University of the Arts. She currently teaches Gyrokinesis, Modern Dance and Contact Improvisation and works as a freelance performance artist in the Philadelphia area. #contactimprovisation #contactimprov

❄️❄️❄️ Thursday Classes: Dec. 11 & 18, 6:30-8:30pm w/ @tgutherz Sunday Class + Jam: Dec. 7 & 14, 3-6pm w/ @tgutherz 📍1170 S. Broad St.—ring “rear studio” to enter 👾 All levels of experience are welcome 💸 Suggested price for our events = $15, though we offer a sliding scale of $10-$20. Please pay cash or Venmo (derek-freeh) at the door 😷 All events this month are mask optional Other opportunities for ci this month: *Saturday 12/6: The Underscore w/ @vervetdance , 4-6pm. Email [email protected] to sign up *Friday 12/12, 3-6pm: CI workshop with @liliannakane at @outpost_paperboxstudios 🌊👁️🦅

It's Giving Tuesday! All of us at Mascher are so grateful for the continued support! Donate today and help us stay running and able to continue providing space and experiences for the artists of Philadelphia. Thank you for being with us for 20 years! Link in bio! <3