The Salisbury Centre

Contact Improv Classes
2026-07-07 12:30 - 14:00, 2026-07-21 12:30 - 14:00, 2026-08-04 12:30 - 14:00, 2026-08-18 12:30 - 14:00, 2026-09-01 12:30 - 14:00, 2026-09-15 12:30 - 14:00, 2026-09-29 12:30 - 14:00 (Europe/London) | Studio, The Salisbury Centre, 2 Salisbury Road, Edinburgh, EH16 5AB, United Kingdom
Dates changed – now Monthly

A class for adults to learn and practice contact improvisation: a dance form that brings awareness to body-mind, gravity, touch, weight sharing, autonomy and collaboration.
When:
Now Monthly , on Tuesday 12:30 -14:00

First session on 29th April
Last session on 30th September

Room:
Studio
Accessibility:
All rooms at the Salisbury Centre are accessible. The Salisbury Centre’s kitchen door and toilet are now wheelchair accessible. The studio is located upstairs and is accessible via a chair-lift. The Garden can also be accessed by wheelchairs via a movable ramp via the Art Room Annex. Please let the organisers know in advance of any access requirements.
About the Event:
In these classes we will introduce principles of Contact Improvisation such as dancing with touch, gravity, points of contact, shared weight, and awareness of body and space. We will explore dancing in and out of contact with one another and research falling, flying and rolling together with a curious and playful attitude. The class will begin with an opening circle to talk through safety and expectations, progress through embodiment, guided exercises and scores, and finish with a short jam and closing circle. We will work in pairs, groups, or by ourselves, and there will be moments for music, silence, discussion and feedback. We hope these classes offer a space for individual and collective growth, where we can exchange ways of being and relating that include listening and responding with presence in an embodied and spontaneous way.

To prepare for the class, wear comfortable clothing. No previous experience in CI, movement or dance is necessary, just come with your curiosity! Please arrive on time for the opening circle.
Facilitator(s) Bio
Pamela and Sky are friends who have been collaborating as dancers, performers and researchers in CI. We have danced Contact Improvisation for many years, been organising CI events in Edinburgh with monthly classes and jams at Dance Base. We are both contemporary dancers and body therapists with an interest in nurturing community.

Write Yourself
2026-07-09 18:30 - 20:15, 2026-07-16 18:30 - 20:15, 2026-07-23 18:30 - 20:15, 2026-07-30 18:30 - 20:15, 2026-08-06 18:30 - 20:15, 2026-08-13 18:30 - 20:15, 2026-08-20 18:30 - 20:15, 2026-08-27 18:30 - 20:15 and 5 more dates | Library, The Salisbury Centre, 2 Salisbury Road, Edinburgh, EH16 5AB, United Kingdom
Course Dates
Thursday 18th September – 6th November, 6.30 – 8.15 pm
Course Description
Write Your Self is an invitation to connect with yourself through different portals such as mind, body, sensation, intuition, memory and relationship to self and others. This is a closed group of up to 12 participants so that we can develop a safe and supportive enough environment in which to settle into ourselves, our stories, and our here-and-now experiences. There is a balance between writing time and space to reflect and share in groups which you are encouraged to do in a way that feels right for you.
Each week has a theme – for example, The Writing Body – which gives form and substance to the writing prompts for that session. The prompts have been carefully developed to offer both space to roam and containment, you will learn to attune to what is emerging in you in response to the prompt while holding it loosely enough to allow the writing to guide you. Time limits and suggestions about how you might work with the exercises offer support and structure where you need it.
I have been developing this course for the past three years and it has now had 5 successful runs. Each time, I learn more about the materials and methodologies for facilitating a writing group as well as the mysteries and magic of writing. In addition to our time together in the group, you will receive an introductory text before each session, prompts to use in between classes to help you develop a writing practice, and further resources related to writing and the course themes (books, podcasts and other media). I very much look forward to sharing all of this and writing with you!
The course also runs online starting Monday 8th September – see booking information for both in person and online delivery below.
Course Fee
Sliding scale pricing £255, £225, £195 for an 8 week course. Please choose which price feels appropriate to your income and/or current circumstances
More Info and Booking
There is a detailed course description and link to book here.

Drop In Dream Group
2026-07-09 19:30 - 21:30, 2026-07-23 19:30 - 21:30, 2026-08-06 19:30 - 21:30, 2026-08-20 19:30 - 21:30, 2026-09-03 19:30 - 21:30, 2026-09-17 19:30 - 21:30, 2026-10-01 19:30 - 21:30 | Wellspring Room, The Salisbury Centre, 2 Salisbury Road, Edinburgh, EH16 5AB, United Kingdom
When:
Frequency: Fortnightly
Day & Time: Thursdays : 19:30-21:30
Room: Wellspring Room
First Session: 2nd October
Last Session: 11th December
About the Event:
This is a drop in dream group for anyone who has a dream that you want to explore. You do not have to have any previous experience of working on dreams to attend, just bring your dream and your curiousity. You can come to every session or drop in every so often.
I work on dreams by asking questions and unpicking the dream with your help. Only the dreamer knows what the dream is about, no one else. I will also invite others in the group to ask appropriate questions of the dreamer. I will give homework to do eg, dialoging with a dream figure, symbol immersion, putting it into the muscles and describe how to do that by reading some of my own work on my dreams. So there will be a teaching element to this group.
If the group is large,(8 max) then we may not get round to hearing everyones’ dreams but you will hear how to do it yourself by listening to the dreamwork and dreams of others to hopefully be inspired.
Everything that is shared in the group is absolutely confidential so that we create a safe space for exploring dreams.
How to attend:
Book via Eventbrite or email aw20alison@gmail.com
Suggested donations :
This event is on a suggested donation sliding scale. Please decide in what category you fall and what you might be able to contribute. Tiers are:

£5 – Concession Tier 1
£15- Sustainable Tier 2
£18 – Generous Tier 3

Note: For those unable to contribute financially, please get in touch with the facilitator to claim a free OR subsidised ticket. Please email aw20alison@gmail.com
Room:
Wellspring Room which is on the ground floor and there are no steps. There is also an accessible toilet on the ground floor.
Accessibility:
Please, it is important to let the organisers know in advance of any access requirements. : Please email aw20alison@gmail.com
About the Facilitator:
I have worked on my own dreams for 45 years. I joined a dream group in my twenties at Wellspring with Hilary Scaife and then subsequently trained with Hilary and Strephon Kaplan Williams who wrote the Dreamwork Manual.
I have a degree in psychology and a counselling certificate. The way I work with dreams is informed by Carl Jung.
My dreams have taken me on many unexpected paths and for 10 years I sculpted and exhibited animal forms from my dreams without doing any art training. I now run dream groups and do individual sessions online and at home.
I worked with Emaho, a shaman from New Mexico for 28 years and I am an initiate of Brid of Scotland and Brigid of Ireland.
More About Donations:
Participation in our community-led events is on a voluntary ‘by donation’ basis. This means that nobody is expected to make a payment if they cannot afford to do so.
Any donations received will be shared between the Centre and the facilitator, helping to make the events’ programme sustainable
For events which are Drop-ins you can donate on the day by:

Bringing cash
donating online on www.salisburycentre.org/donate (Please use reference “EVENT NAME“).
Card payment option available at the entrance hall (Please enter the event name before making payment)

“What donation tier might be best applicable to me?”

Concession Tier 1

This tier is for those who are students on a low income, carers, or single parents. It is also for people who are unemployed or underemployed, navigating financial hardship, or facing systemic barriers. If you rarely spend on extras or feel stressed about meeting basic needs, this tier exists so that you can still participate. Your presence matters, and you are welcome here.

Sustainable Tier 2 Choose this tier if you have stable employment or a regular income, are able to meet your basic needs and some wants, and can occasionally go out or put a little money aside. At this level, you don’t often worry about making ends meet.

Generous Tier 3This option is for those with a comfortable income or savings, who may own their home or have access to family wealth. You might go on holidays, eat out regularly, or shop for pleasure. Contributing at this tier helps support the wider community and those accessing the concession rate.

Diasporic Longing & Rhizomatic Belonging (Exhibition)
2026-07-13 15:30 - 18:30, 2026-07-20 15:30 - 18:30, 2026-07-27 15:30 - 18:30 | Art Room, The Salisbury Centre, 2 Salisbury Road, Edinburgh, EH16 5AB, United Kingdom
About the exhibition
Opening times throughout July

Mondays 3:30 – 6:30pm
Fridays 4:30 – 6:30pm

This exhibition translates my recent dissertation, rooted in arts-based methods/research, into a multisensory, collaborative display. It explores how queer diasporic individuals in Scotland use personal objects – such as a great-grandmother’s ring or a rice bowl – as conduits for negotiating diasporic identity and reimagining belonging and memory in the face of cultural displacement.
At its core is the concept of diasporic longing (a term offered by a participant), a phrase I understand as a sensuous, persistent ache that permeates my participants’ experiences of frayed histories and ephemeral homes. Drawing on ecological metaphors such as the rhizome (multi-rooted identity) and the siphonophore (a collective organism of interconnected parts), the exhibition reimagines personal objects and art as expression – as sites of rupture, transformation, and creative reassembly. In doing so, it challenges and uproots traditional narratives and invites new ways to reimagine and perform selfhood.
The exhibition features artworks by participants alongside my own visual responses – including collage, cyanotypes, photography, and a small video installation. It is an ode to queer immigrant and refugee communities in Scotland who have made me feel at home.
About the artist

Marlene Ayumi Ito is an artist and writer, and a soon-to-be graduate in Social Anthropology & Sociology from the University of Edinburgh. Their work explores queer diasporic identity, memory, and displacement through material culture and art practices. Working primarily with objects, collage, and film, they create installations and artworks that collapse personal narrative with political and historical resonance. Marlene’s practice gestures toward a horizon of liberation, envisioning freedom for Palestine, Congo, Sudan and the dismantling of imperial and colonial structures that continue to oppress.
Donations
The Salisbury Centre has generously offered this space free of charge. Donations are warmly welcomed and help support the Centre’s ability to continue hosting local artists, teachers, and community groups.
40% of donations go to the Centre and 60% to the exhibition organizer.
To donate:

Bring cash during your visit
Pay by card at the Centre (tap the pen icon on the screen to add “creative connections” as the reference)
Donate online at www.salisburycentre.org/donate using “creative connections” as the reference

This is an invitation to practice Dana (generosity). Please give what you can – no one is turned away for lack of funds.
