From December 29th to January 4th, join us in a new year retreat
in Contact Improvisation Dance with Manuel Rochette,
guest facilitators Niku Dhillon, Maeve Iredale and more.

The retreat will include a harmony of classes, jams, solo exploration,
potlucks, saunas and a new year celebration. 

Constellating The Senses

A great opening, a quiet transcendence.
An availability to touch the unknown, a desire to reach anew.
A sense of awe that makes our eyes widen, our pupil dilate and lets clarity come in.
We have opened, and closure is no longer a reflex but a choice.
Awareness expands through the senses - the body, its expression.

In this 6 day immersion, we will dance with these questions in mind:
What lies at my fingertips that I overlook, misread, or avoid?
Can I move with truth and authenticity while welcoming complexity?
How do I widen my capacity to meet whatever arises in each moment?
Where does simplicity shift into complacency in my dance?
How available am I—body and mind—in this unfolding conversation?

Physically, we’ll explore into the pelvis as a communication tool, the delight of centre to centre connection,
the joints expressive movements, poly-centricity, and the role of the eyes and spine in our choice making.
We’ll be investigating into our limitations and natural tendencies, strengthening and modulating patterns.
We’ll be bringing in authentic relating, authentic movement, vocal exploration,
blindfold research, and labbing to deepen in the practice of contact improvisation. 
This retreat will be aimed at a yin/yang balance to access both inner and outer worlds of our dance. 

 BEFORE YOU SIGN UP:

This retreat is for dancers with a grasp of the fundamentals of Contact Improvisation. If you have doubt on your abilities, please reach out. 
Please be aware that this retreat will include extended moments being blindfolded, some extended time in a non verbal space as well as vocalization practices.

~~:~~:~~:~~ BIO ~~:~~:~~:~~

Manuel Rochette is a dancer, facilitator, founder and one of the hosts of Salt Spring Island Contact Improvisation Festival in Canada.
With 20 years of experience with the form of Contact Improvisation, his personal studies got him in touch with teachers such as Martin Keogh, Angelika Doniy, Alicia Grayson, Ray Chung, Scott Wells, Vega Luukkonen, Kira Kirsch, Paul Singh, Andrew Harwood and more.

His facilitation approach is at the nexus point where skills, states, play and spontaneous composition merge. 
His dancing style aims at creating true connection, ever-changing pathways, opening to novelty and modulating patterns.
Curiosities of the moment: A relentless sense of connection with self, duet and group, accessing poly-centricity, how to increase availability & generosity with the body, and the relation between lingering, pause, punctuations, and continuity of movement.
Manuel is also a DJ and a gardener from which he sources inspirations and metaphors. 
https://www.contactimprovisationsaltspring.com/

Niku Dhillon is a dancer and facilitator - currently teaching Contact Improvisation in Victoria and Event Design and Facilitation for students located around the world.  His facilitation aims to warmly invite groups into deeper connection through intentionally guided experiences, practices, and play. His 12-year journey with Contact Improvisation began with studying Contemporary Dance at the University of Calgary, deepening with teachers Martin Keogh, Alicia Grayson, Nita Little, Ray Chung, Andrew Harwood, Chris Aiken, and more. He approaches dance with a desire to be present, dynamic, connected, playful, and curious - marvelling at the compositions of kinetic poetry that emerge, often in harmony with deeply beautiful states.  ~ What is it to live more fully in and through the dance, improvising at the edge of the unfurling now? ~Niku also delights in reverting to the ways of a jovial child and aspiring to co-cultivating a brighter future.

Maeve (Marley) Iredale is a composer, jazz pianist, vocal coach, community choir leader, improviser, dancer, meditation instructor and mother. Drawing from a rich background in sacred clowning, contact improvisation, somatic meditation, and the vocal improvisation lineages of Rhiannon and Bobby McFerrin, Maeve leads her vocal circles with a playful, inclusive spirit and a deep belief that singing and dancing are at the core of human freedom. 

A lifelong dancer steeped in the practice of Contact Improvisation, Maeve is passionate about exploring the relationship between voice and body. She guides participants through body-centered vocal warmups that invite the authentic voice to emerge from a state of openness and ease. Her teaching emphasizes curiosity, deep listening, and connection - both within oneself and with others.

Through a series of dynamic and improvisational exercises, Maeve offers tools to free the voice and cultivate spontaneous musical dialogue. Participants are invited to co-create rich, evolving soundscapes that weave movement, rhythm, and melody into shared moments of discovery and expression.
https://marleydaemon.ca/

~~:~~:~~ INFO AND REGISTRATIONS ~~:~~:~~

Tuition

(Includes some meals, see details below)
$520- Economically deprived, students and underemployed.
$570 - Economically challenged: artists, farmers etc..
$610 - Professional rate: Happily sustained, supports the art
(or anything in between welcomed)

Deposit of 250$ upon registration required to save your spot.
Paid by email transfer to ssicontactfestival@gmail.com
International student can use Paypal at the same address.

Payment to be completed by December 15th
Deposit refundable (-$50 admin fee) until Dec 1st
Non-Refundable after Dec 1st.
In case of cancelation of this gathering for natural reasons, all deposits will be refunded minus $50 for admin fee.

~~:~~:~~ THE TIME FORMAT~~:~~:~~

-Days will start at 10am and will go into the evenings/night.
-Three days of investigation and dancing (Dec 29-30-31)
-New year eve celebration party on the 31st at night.
-New year day: rest day, laundry day, nature day. 
-Three more days to deepen the material (Jan 2-3-4)
Other Activities will include nature exploration, saunas and potlucks.
The new year celebration will be open to the community and will include music with louder music while remaining a CI container. 

REGISTER HERE

FOOD:
6 lunches & 4 dinners will be provided. Participants take care of their own breakfasts.
Some evenings will be potlucks. We'll have tea and coffee and snacks to provide all day. 

ACCOMMODATION:
If you have a friend on island, we recommend you contact them. We make an effort to find a place for every dancers but the very affordable choices are sometime slim pick. A few local people will be offering small spaces, common space accommodations for a reasonable price.
We are also presently looking for a big rental house that could host many dancers.
Let us know what is your preference and budget but plan for $30-$70 per night. 

VOLUNTEER:
With the intention to keep the cost down, we kindly ask that every participants offer 1 or 2 volunteer shifts in the kitchen.
We are including this as part of the practice however it it non mandatory.
We will have a sign up sheet. No dancing will be missed.
Also, a few discounted tuitions for more major help in the retreat are offered. Inquire if interested. 

PHOTO CREDIT: Lynda Allen

We acknowledge and are thankful for the lands and waters of Salt Spring Island which have been and continue to be home to Coast Salish First Nations and Metis peoples.  We are grateful to the Cowichan Tribes, Saanich Nation, Tsawwassen First Nation, Hul’qumi’num Treaty Group, and the Hwlitsum Claim for this land to be danced on, in utter respect for its inhabitant and the ecosystem that nourishes us.