Habitat for movement
and ease

A Myoreflex practitioner acts as a detective, working with the client to unravel the biomechanical pathways and history of their pain. A session involves pressure on muscle insertions and active movement to stimulate reflex arches for self-regulation of myofascial tone. Kerstin combines Myoreflex with her vast knowledge of movement to benefit the client. She collaborates closely with Myoreflex founder Dr. Kurt Mosetter and heads the Viennese training program for Embodied Myoreflex Practice. Myoreflex sessions are the core of the health weeks, allowing for support throughout the healing process. Our body-oriented practices promote healing through muscle and fascia-based body-work and movement sessions, but our approach to being well does not end there.

Bollywood Dance 

is the essence of Indian Bollywood films that has retained the flavour of musicals. Constantly influenced by the changing trends, Bollywood Dance culture borrows from both traditional and western pop dance culture. It deals with the complexities of the traditional Kathak footwork and Mudras (hand gestures) along with some groovy folkdance moves from across the countryside. We explore the wonderful world of Abhinaya (facial expression, some may call them face contortions) and the world of Mujra – the controversial sensual dance of the tragic courtesan of the 1970s, then master the urban cool routines of the current chart busters. The music is loud and so are we. There is a dress code: anything colourful, glistening and happy.

Inside Out  

Inside out is a technique developed by Terence Lewis for the participants to create their original dances by exploring the inner hidden landscapes of their subconscious and conscious minds. The process involves practices like meditation and breathwork, decoding individual patterns, tarot readings, spirit animal identification, and using spontaneous dance combustion to unleash your artistic potential! From these exercises and processes dancers will delve deeper into their psyche and use the generated material to create a deeply honest dance vocabulary. Terence’s mentoring will guide towards and culminate in an informal sharing of the artistic process at the end of the retreat.

Glenna Batson - Encountering the f/old 

Folding is the substrate of worldly engagement, a living continuum of dimension and depth. What can a f/old be? Anything and everything…but above all, folding is a catalytic process of change. This play shop offers an immersion into the multi-materialities of bodily fold/folding as an impulse for freeing fresh states of embodiment. Rooted in the perceiving, somatic body, the f/old practice offers a sensory-rich field, free from cultural constraints. Glenna will gently guide the group into fleshy portals to greet the unknown, deepening into folding dynamics, as they hover, loom, dissolve and resolve into new layers of communicative power. Through partnering with the corporeal, the environment and with mixed media (paper/fabric/debris), participants will uncover eclipsed states of being. What emerges will be a rewilding of our dormant and hidden selves. No specific movement or somatic training is necessary to join in this divine entanglement.

Kerstin Kussmaul- Rewilding your matrix
let your fascia talk to your nervous system 

By bringing "matrix" and "rewilding" together, we transform our awareness of the self as part of an environment. We apply the concept of rewilding, traditionally associated with restoring ecological balance, to our inner environment - the extracellular matrix, which is part of the fascial (= connective tissue) system. We focus on the connection of the extracellular matrix to the autonomic nervous system as a "knowing with"; a simultaneous sensing from within and without. The aim of the workshop is to expand the fields of action, the perception of ourselves as actors in an ecosystem - human and beyond the human components - and to generate somatic artistic acts.

Through tactile experiences, improvisation and easy-to-learn techniques such as rocking, we expand the possibilities for experience and action within ourselves.  Repetition and variation become a rhythmic dance that keeps our nervous system moving dynamically and makes it easier to let go. The profound effects of this journey are not only on ourselves, but also on the collective group dynamic. 

We let the echo of this exploration reverberate in the world to foster a sense of lightness, creativity and artistic expression. Last but not least, to embrace a sense of connection with our immediate environment.

Glenna and Kerstin will interweave their teaching to engage the group in a somatic journey, one oscillating between the many expressions of folding and fascia. 

After The Gold Rush is a post-apocalyptic, country chorus line-dance Spaghetti Western. Yes, that's right, we are making a film!!! It is going to be the greatest DIY collaborative art project of your life! We have an amazing inspiring set, Artis Umbria, Italy! There will be daily Yoga and Country Line Dance class to ground and inform our bodies in this experimental process, but then, anything goes! We are going to create a multi-layered artistic experience based on everyone’s desires and passion together! No film, performance or movement experience necessary! This retreat seeks to affirm the collective alchemy of transforming our daily lives into art, where everything can be fuel for the creative fire! We will lean into the genre of the Spaghetti Western for inspiration and direction. Bring a cowboy hat, cowboy boots, a western belt, a leotard and your favorite color tights. That's our costume!

Some of the things we might or might not do:

Film how the villain arrives at the local train station. Borrow the neighbour‘s horses for decor. Make a hand-based line dance on a historic tea time set table. Sing together with piano. Or ukulele. Or a cappella (without instruments). Go line dancing at night at the summer village fests in the area. Do a spaghetti western movie night. Discuss how a queer-feminist spaghetti western might look like.

The primary prospect of this meeting is to accompany individuals to relate to their own selves and reflect on their needs, resources, ideas; to relate their physical and social environment in playful and joyful ways.

This week WE will dive deeper into the layers of our presence; to seek a conscious yet liberated and sovereign place to move from. Together WE will be tuning into our physical, emotional and mental foundation(s). WE will be working with the sensations and anatomical make up of our bodies, directing our awareness to inner and outer stimuli.

Being WITH and focusing on our self, other beings, and the abundant nature around us; training tuning in and out… Being WITNESS to our self, other beings, and the stimulating environment, training care and response-ability… Towards spontaneity and creativity.

It will be important and necessary for us to be willing to co-create a container that allows each one to transform, discover/recover, reconnect to their potential as artist, researcher, teacher, facilitator, student; to be a curious being on this planet. There will be a clear time-space frame to hold what is being born in our togetherness. We are invited to reach out to other means of expression (movement, drawing, sound, sculpting, writing…) to encounter our own inner and outer landscape from a new, different perspective.

“Every Body Knows” and “Hunting Gathering Cultivating” sessions will be our main practice islands; beyond this many modalities ranging from Wheel of Consent, Somatic Experiencing to Contact Improvisation, Authentic Movement, Expressive Arts Therapy to Instant Composition will be at our service.

Looking forwards to this joyfully serious, seriously joyful week that WE will co-create!

Dao Yin training will wind and unwind the tissues with particular attention given to the spine and the various connections running through the torso to the arms and legs.

Qi Gong benefits from a Dao Yin pairing. Where Dao Yin will open the pathways, Qi Gong develops the quality of what travels those pathways. Both Dao Yin and Qi Gong rely on the strength of the lower Dan Tian. “Tian” translates to “field” which in the case of the lower Dan Tian refers to a containment (Yin) field that holds the activating (Yang) Qi.

Shifting our focus, sensorial and creative responsiveness then flourish through rigorous physical and improvisational training rooted in Butoh Dance.

Following the inherent spiral pathways within the body, this workshop develops the efficiency and connective strength of our tissues.  With observation, the beauty of our construction emerges. We aim to produce elastic, tensile strength in our expression, whether quotidian or flamboyant. 

With a stable foundation, enter the unknown. Become wild. Let go into chaos or serenity. Presence allows us to open, to fly through the clouds of the mind and smooth out the nerves. Becoming receptive, opportunities visit us. Disciplined explorations, deconstructions and compositions develop the skills for clear, decisive and playful responses to the moment.