Ruslan Baranov (born in 1973) is a dancer, performer, choreographer in the field of contemporary dance and CI teacher.

Ruslan studied dance in the best choreography schools in Kiev. Worked in Ukraine’s high-ranked national dance companies: Virsky Folk Dance Ensemble, National Folk Chorus named G Veryovka, National Dance Ensemble « Hopak ». Performed in musicals “Dracula” (Czech Republic) and «KEEP COOL» (Switzerland). Worked as a stage director in various night shows and as a dancer in Kyiv Modern Ballet. In 1999 he participated in “Vienna Summer Dance Week” “Dance Web-99” where he discovered Contact Improvisation, Flying Low technique and Axis Syllabus. In 2000 he started teaching CI and contemporary dance in Ukraine.
Traveling around the world with workshops and seminars in CI and contemporary dance has become a permanent activity for Ruslan. He is the organizer of the Kiev CI Club, JAM CHAOS Festival, Kiev International CI Festival, “Contact Session in Crimea”, CI WinterFest in Carpathians, Festival of Dance Improvisations “PushOK” and Improvisation Nights “Impro Store”. He directed numerous dance and improvisation performances, including “H2OOO”, “Bardo of the present life for ordinary creatures” “Black and White”, “BaletKI”, “oKI doKI”, “Improvisation without I”, “KALEIDOSCOPE”. Ruslan teaches CI in Kyiv National University of Culture and Arts.

To stay where our backside is. To be engaged in what is happening in front of our nose. And to be happy in the middle.

Perhaps the most important in everything we do is the motivation or our mindset. That’s why it is very important to find the meaning for ourselves, or simply to say – the interest in what happens to us and in what we are doing. And as our classes will be occupied by contact improvisation, we will try to look for our own interest in it. In CI we are free in many senses and we do it voluntarily, so do we like what is happening or not, we are happy or not – is entirely our choice. We will learn to experience each moment to the fullest, as a fresh, new, exciting, and bringing us joy and inner satisfaction. We will try not to jump over or run through some parts of our way with “eyes closed” (without noticing the charms, beauty and opportunities). As the sages say: if you go – go, if you eat – eat, if you live – live. This view will give us a relaxed and conscious stay in every moment of our dance and demonstrate that contact improvisation – is actually Dance of Joy and Spontaneous Game of Space.