
50-hour certification · Online + Ubud, Bali

Sound familiar?
Momentum gives you the structure, the skills and the confidence to start.
Inside Momentum
Inside a Momentum workshop in Uluwatu, Bali: the skills, the play, and the people you'll learn to hold.

Most contact intensives make you a better dancer. Momentum trains you to be the person who runs the class, hosts the jam and fills the workshop.
Built from more than 45 editions of the Momentum Contact Fundamentals workshop in Bali, Thailand and Canada since 2020.
In Level 2 you teach inside a live Momentum workshop and get feedback from Aalia on your teaching style.
How to hold a room, set a container and lead with integrity. The side most dancers are never taught.
Marketing, social media, sourcing venues and building sign-up forms, so people actually come to your class.
Momentum is one perspective on contact, not a rulebook. Part of your coaching is shaping the material to suit your community and your vision.



Before you teach
They don't need
They do need

Is this for you?
Not for you yet, if you're

Dancing contact and teaching contact are two different skills. Momentum trains the second one.Aalia Hashem
How it works

Level 2 · In person
You'll leave able to teach the Momentum Contact Fundamentals workshop. About half is contact improvisation skills. The rest is a whole set of movement practices you can share.

Bring contact home to your community
I'm ready to applyThe curriculum
Inclusive jam spaces, consent, community guidelines, music and injury care.
Holding a group, class design with timing and structure, ethics and challenging moments.
Marketing, social media, venues, sign-up forms and your dance bio.
Learn to facilitate and teach the Momentum skills with practice time and feedback.


Each level
Level 1 · Online · Self-paced
The online course. About 15 hours of learning in total, at your own pace. Open to anyone who intends to teach contact or host jams.
Level 1 · Online · Group cohort
Begins November 3, 2026
For accountability and more coaching with Aalia. We go through the course together, week by week.
Level 2 · In person · Ubud, Bali
35 hours over 7 days. An embodied, live training: you learn leadership by teaching together.

Graduates come from China, the United States, Russia, Portugal, Korea and Ireland
Graduates of ours have come from all kinds of backgrounds: retreat owners, tech workers, university students, a nurse, dance professionals, and yoga and somatic teachers. They found contact, fell in love, and wanted to share it with their own community.
This journey was about exploring my inner self and expanding the boundaries of my world. We learned the history and culture of CI, contact skills, and practical tools for dancing safely, plus marketing, space holding, and how to work with venues. It was more than dance: it prepared us to become independent facilitators.
Before, I wasn't sure if I had enough experience or confidence. But with Aalia's trust and guidance, it happened naturally. This training gave me not just knowledge, but clarity, confidence, and support. I feel so lucky to be part of this, and I can't wait to share it with my contact community in China. If you want to be a facilitator, join us. It's so worthwhile!
Beyond the technical skills, I really valued seeing how Aalia manages the group, the energy, and the flow of a workshop. I didn't realize how much thought goes into that. It's the difference between a good workshop and a great one.
I had the chance to both attend and teach during the Momentum Workshop, with lots of 1:1 time and an amazing community. Completing this training feels like a big win, and I'm excited to share it at my retreat centre in Portugal.

Ready to create more meaningful dance spaces?
Join the trainingKind words

Founder and lead teacher
Contact Improvisation has guided my life since 2018. In 2020 I founded the Momentum workshop, and I've since taken hundreds of dancers through their first steps in contact, in Bali, Thailand, Canada and beyond.
Students describe me as accessible, authentic, technical and strong, while being fun, approachable and present.
My journey began at Edam Dance Company, learning from the pioneers of Canadian contact. I've studied with over 50 contact teachers, and my movement background spans 20 years, from contemporary and swing to bodywork and qigong. I'm a certified 200-hour Kundalini Hatha yoga teacher, and Contact Beyond Contact Level 1 first brought me to Ubud in 2019.

I host the Faces of CI podcast, founded the Contact Body online school, and direct dance films shown at Canada's Contact Dance Film Festival. I've been invited to teach at Bali Dance Festival, Georgia Silent Contact Festival, Towards CI50 Conference, Bali Bloom and Arcana Koh Phangan.
I've trained in facilitation and leadership with Rick Smith, an American teacher who has trained teachers across the United States and many of Bali's facilitators. Teaching runs in my family: my mom was a school and university teacher, and my dad taught driving, flying and hang gliding. In Human Design, my purpose is the Left Angle Cross of Education, a life devoted to teaching.
Influences

Investment
Level 1 · Self-paced · Online
$500USD
Instant access
Level 1 · Group cohort · Online
$800USD
Begins November 3, 2026 · small group
Level 2 · By application
$2,000USD
Please note for Level 2
You need Level 1 and at least one year of contact practice to join Level 2. In Dancing Deeper Still, Martin Keogh, one of Aalia's contact teachers, suggests a year of dancing before teaching, and Aalia studied for nearly two years before she began. Level 1 has no requirement, so you can start now, build your practice alongside it, and join Level 2 later.

For dance teachers of all kinds
Not a contact teacher? Maybe you teach tribal fusion, women's dance, salsa, swing or hip hop, or you're an ecstatic dance DJ. Learn leadership, facilitation and ethics as a dance teacher, plus the business of dance and all our marketing materials, without the contact improvisation material. Online and self-paced.
$269USD
If you'd like to get to know Aalia and how she teaches.

Free training · 35 minutes · YouTube
What Momentum teaches, who it's for and who it isn't for, and the mistakes it helps you avoid.

Free class · 25 minutes · YouTube
Move with Aalia and feel how she breaks down a skill for her students.
Level 2 venue
Our private studio for the week, in central Ubud. Modern rooms are available on site for around 500,000 IDR a night if you'd like to stay where you train.



Before you apply
Anyone who intends to teach contact or host jams. There's no experience requirement for Level 1. If you teach another dance style, Teaching Dance Essentials may be a better fit.
Level 2 is by application, and we accept dancers who already have a contact practice of at least one year, about 40 hours, so they're invested in the form. In Dancing Deeper Still, Martin Keogh suggests around a year of dancing before teaching, and Aalia studied for nearly two years before she started.
Training to teach something you haven't embodied yet is like going to a yoga teacher training as a brand-new yogi. We want facilitators who carry what they share in their own bodies. Accepted dancers receive an acceptance email after the intake form.
No. Even experienced contact teachers find new tools in Level 1, and it means everyone arrives in Bali with the same foundation in hosting, leadership and the business of dance.
No. The early bird price for Level 2 is the only discount, and we don't offer scholarships, work-trade or exchange places.
At our private studio at Rasa Yoga in central Ubud, Bali. Modern rooms are available on site for around 500,000 IDR a night, and booking them is optional. Rasa has a small café with coffee and matcha and an open kitchen for guests, but meals aren't provided.
The week is full, so there isn't much time for sightseeing. Aalia lived in Bali for four years and taught in Ubud and Uluwatu from 2020 to 2024, and she's happy to share local tips once you're accepted.
No. Level 2 covers the training only, so you can stay on site or anywhere else in Ubud that suits you, from rice-field villas to simple homestays.
Momentum technique classes, facilitation labs and teaching practice, ending with a celebration together, like a sauna and dinner night out. You'll get the full schedule a week before.
Every call is recorded, so you can catch up in your own time.
Yes. Use any of the practices freely in your own classes. If you build workshops on this material, please credit it as the Momentum Contact Method and share that you trained with Aalia.
All sales are final and non-refundable, so please book mindfully. If we cancel a training, you'll receive a full refund.

Still on the fence?
If you still have questions and you're serious about joining, message Aalia on WhatsApp with your time zone and three times that work for you in the next week. She'll confirm one.

Podcast · Spotify
Aalia has hosted the podcast since 2019, talking with contact facilitators in Canada and Asia about the practice. Guests include Kirstie Simson, Leilani Weis and Andrew Harwood.

Online courses
Our two mini courses based on the Momentum online school: Solo Body, Move What's in You and Two Bodies, Contact Partnerwork Principles.
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