DENVER CONTACT JAM

Community Agreements

Denver Contact Jam, a program of Wiggelruhm. Version 1.1, adopted September 2026.

Supersedes the Community Guidelines. “Space Holder” is now “Jam Support.”

These are the agreements we make with each other. They are not suggestions. When someone is asked to change their behavior, pause their attendance, or stop attending, these agreements are the standard that decision is measured against.

They are a living document. They will be wrong about something, and we will change them.

Our Values

Four values guide this jam.

These are what we practice, not what we have perfected. We are volunteers, and we will fall short of them. Naming them is how we hold ourselves to them anyway.

Curiosity: Playfulness, wonder, and the creative unknown move us. We show up open to new perspectives, stretch our imagination, and let inspiration guide us.

Consent: We build trust in our shared experience by exercising our agency with consistency and care. We listen, stay grounded, and hold both ourselves and each other accountable with kindness.

Connection: We give more than we take through collaboration, solidarity, and service. We tend to people, places, and things, so we are all left better than we were found.

Collective: We continuously practice becoming together. Through education, adaptability, and presence, we build resilience so we can expand toward liberation and walk each other home.

DCJ is a program of Wiggelruhm, and Wiggelruhm’s values remain the ground beneath ours.

Part 1: Core Agreements

These are the bedrock. Everything else in this document supports them.

Treat yourself and others with compassion. Listen and stay aware. Get clear, ongoing consent. Look for verbal and nonverbal cues, and check in if you are unsure. Stop immediately if consent is withdrawn. Honor boundaries and communicate openly.

Harassment of any kind is not tolerated.

Speak up and care for yourself if your cues aren’t being read. Talk to Jam Support if you need support.

Leave without explanation

You are free to exit any dance or any situation at any time. No explanation or justification is necessary, not to your partner and not to anyone.

Physical safety

Contact Improvisation carries inherent risk. Know your limits, take mindful risks, and stay aware of your surroundings.

Don’t push or lift partners beyond their skill level. Avoid grabbing, which can be unsafe and can feel violating. Learn to fall safely, and let others protect themselves. Build skill through classes so you can dance with confidence and care.

Sexuality

This is not a space for seeking romance or engaging in sexual behavior.

If sexual energy arises, shift the dynamic or leave the dance. No explanation is needed. Everyone in the room must feel safe witnessing what is happening around them.

Avoid intentional sexual touch, and do not touch under clothing without clear consent. Unwanted sexual advances are never acceptable and carry serious consequences.

If something feels wrong: stop the dance, leave, and reach out to Jam Support.

Power and awareness

Power imbalances affect how safe people feel. They are shaped by gender, race, age, ability, body size, experience level, social standing in this community, and more. Be aware of your position and how it lands on others.

Never use your power, intentionally or unconsciously, to influence or pressure anyone.

Forceful, aggressive, or intimate dancing, including cuddling, requires strong mutual trust and clear consent. You are responsible for how your actions affect your partner and the space.

Take radical responsibility

Be accountable for your actions, your energy, and how you contribute to the space.

Consider the collective impact

Even when something is fully consensual between two people, consider how it affects the room. Prioritize collective awareness alongside your own experience.

Part 2: Practices in the Space

Smaller agreements that make the space work.

Welcome others warmly. If you don’t know someone, introduce yourself. Acknowledge new faces with warmth and presence.

Ask before offering feedback. “May I offer you some feedback?” is both respectful and necessary.

Honor the dance floor as a silent space. No social conversation or phone use on the floor. Use the side yard for talking or digital engagement.

Be mindful of shared space. Please don’t lie down or stay stationary in the center of the floor. Use the upstairs area for rest, bodywork exchanges, or witnessing.

Pause when Jam Support is speaking. When someone is facilitating, give them your attention.

Ask when in doubt. If something is unclear, ask. Clarify rather than sit in confusion or assumption.

Dress. Wear clothing that fully covers erogenous zones. Shirts are required for all genders. This supports cultural sensitivity and equity. Suggested: knee pads, non-slippery clothing, long pants, and a spare shirt.

Photos and videos. No photos or video without the consent of everyone in the room. If you’re interested in capturing this form, talk to Jam Support. There will be dedicated jams for this.

Access needs. Sharing access needs is always optional. You’re welcome to share your name and, if you wish, your pronouns, injuries, or anything else that would help the group support you. No one is required to disclose anything. We aim to support diverse access needs, including sensory and hearing considerations. Talk to Jam Support and we’ll explore what’s possible.

Bodywork. Bodywork may happen only through clear, mutual consent, and must stay non-sexual. If bodywork is offered or received it should be:

  • explicitly agreed to by both people
  • easy to pause or stop at any time, without explanation
  • attentive to power dynamics and experience levels
  • appropriate for a public, shared environment where others are present

Bodywork is not an invitation for sexual touch, intimacy, or partner-seeking. If sexual energy arises, shift the dynamic or step away. When in doubt, ask for consent or check in with Jam Support.

Balance individual and collective needs. Your needs matter. The group’s needs matter. Both are true. Practice holding the balance.

Cultivate awareness and connection. Practice attention, generosity, compassion, and curiosity. Ask yourself: how can I be a supportive partner and a supportive member of this community?

Part 3: Health and Safety

Illness

Do not attend if you have or suspect a contagious illness that can spread through touch, breath, or bodily fluids. Cover wounds and skin conditions securely, wash your hands often, and clean your clothes and gear after dancing. Return when you are fully non-infectious.

Injury and emergencies

Contact Improvisation involves real physical risk, and injuries happen. If you are hurt, or you see someone get hurt, tell Jam Support immediately. Do not wait until after the jam.

  • First aid kit: the janitor’s closet
  • Ice packs: the kitchen freezer
  • Emergency exit: the front door
  • Nearest urgent care: AFC Urgent Care Denver Speer, 777 E Speer Blvd #100. (303) 733-4000

Jam Support carries the emergency procedure and will lead the response. If you have relevant medical training and want to help, say so.

Weapons

Weapons of any kind are not permitted: firearms, knives, batons, or any object intended to cause harm.

Personal safety items such as pepper spray are permitted only if they stay secured in bags or personal belongings, off the dance floor, and unused during the event.

If a weapon is visible, carried on the body, or creating concern for others, Jam Support may ask the person to secure it, remove it from the space, or leave.

This policy exists to support a felt sense of safety for everyone.

Part 4: When Something Goes Wrong

Telling us

Jam Support is a resource for anything from an interaction that felt a little “off” to serious harm. Not every situation needs Jam Support. You’re also welcome to talk directly with the person involved, or lean on a trusted friend.

You can:

Anonymous reports are welcome, and anonymous doesn’t have to mean out of touch. If you use the anonymous form, you can leave a way for us to reach you and still keep your identity from us. A burner email works fine, and you’re welcome to make one just for this. That way we can follow up, ask what you want to happen, and tell you where things landed.

If you leave no way to contact you at all, we still take it seriously, but we usually can only respond with community-wide measures rather than address something with a specific person.

Tell us what you’re comfortable telling us. You don’t owe us a complete account to be taken seriously.

What happens next is described in the Protocol for Responding to Harm, which is posted in the space and on our website.

What Jam Support can and can’t offer

Jam Support are volunteers who love this form. They are not therapists, mediators, or investigators, and we don’t ask them to be.

What they will do: listen without judgment, take what you say seriously, be clear about what happens with the information, and help you figure out what you want.

What they won’t do: provide counseling or ongoing emotional support. If that’s what you need, we keep a list of resources and referrals. Ask any Jam Support member, or find it on our website.

If you are asked to leave

Any Jam Support member can ask you to leave a jam. They can do this on their own judgment, without discussion and without explaining themselves first. It takes effect immediately. This is rare, and it exists so that nobody has to wait for a meeting to feel safe.

Being asked to leave a jam is not the same as being asked not to come back. After any removal, Jam Support will meet and reach out to you. Until then, please don’t return. If we haven’t been in touch within four weeks, the pause lifts on its own.

A lasting boundary on your participation is a separate decision. It’s made by Jam Support together, following the Protocol for Responding to Harm, and you’ll be told what it is and why.

Exclusion based on patterns elsewhere

A pattern of harmful behavior in this community or another may be grounds for a boundary here, even if nothing has happened at this jam. We may also set a boundary indefinitely when we don’t have the capacity to provide ongoing monitoring or support.

When we do this:

  • the decision is made by Jam Support together, not by one person
  • the person will be told, unless telling them would put someone at risk
  • they may ask us to revisit it after one year

If someone refuses to leave

We do not involve the criminal legal system in our response to harm. Jam Support will not initiate contact with police or criminal courts on behalf of the jam.

In the rare case that someone refuses to leave and presents an immediate physical danger to people in the space, Jam Support may call for emergency assistance.

You always retain the right to pursue your own legal options.

Part 5: About This Document

Who Jam Support is. Jam Support are volunteer members of this community who hold the container of the jam: facilitating opening circles, welcoming people, modeling these agreements, being available during the jam, and responding when harm occurs. Jam Support is invite-only. Everything else about how DCJ runs is in the Jam Support Handbook, available on our website.

Jam Support is held to these agreements too. Because they hold more power in the space, they are held to a higher standard. Their additional commitments are written in the Jam Support Handbook, which is public.

How this document changes. Anyone can propose a change: talk to Jam Support or email us. Proposed changes to this document are posted publicly at least four weeks before they are decided, so the community has time to respond. Jam Support makes the final decision after that comment period.

With gratitude. These agreements were inspired by the Boulder Contact Lab, whose community guidelines helped shape our own, and by the Chicago Contact Improv Sunday Jam.

Related documents: Protocol for Responding to Harm · Jam Support Handbook · Resource List

This jam exists in relationship with Wiggelruhm and the community it serves.

Version 1.1, adopted September 2026 by Denver Contact Jam Support