Embodied Ecologies 13th Contact Improv Retreat in Costa Rica w Moti & Taina

Embodied Ecologies — 13th Annual Contact Improv Retreat in Costa Rica w/ Moti &Taina Belonging Through Embodied Relationship—with Community, Place, and the Other-Than-Human World February 18-27, 2027 @ Goddess Garden, Cahuita, Costa Rica INFO/REGISTER: www.contactimprov.com/costarica Questions: [email protected] This retreat invites us into a nine day exploration of movement, relationship, and belonging. Rooted in Contact Improvisation and informed by somatic practice, ritual, and ecological awareness, we will dance in studio spaces and wild places alike. Our journey begins in San José, where we join the annual Maratón de Contact, a vibrant gathering of Costa Rican and international dancers. Through classes, jams, and shared practice, we cultivate relationships that bridge local and global Contact Improvisation communities, creating connections that continue throughout the week and beyond. From the city, we travel together to Costa Rica's lush Caribbean coast, where movement investigations unfold in the rainforest, on Caribbean beaches, among giant trees, and in warm tropical waters. Here we explore the body not as something separate from nature but as an expression of it. Together, we will investigate what becomes possible when movement is approached as a practice of belonging through embodied relationship—with people, place, and the more-than-human world. Through touch, movement, imagination, ritual, and attentive presence, we cultivate practices of listening that deepen our connection to ourselves, one another, and the living environment that holds us. Classes, site-specific explorations, ritual gatherings, evening jams with live music, and community practice weave together a rich experience of embodiment, creativity, and connection. Contact Improvisation serves as our primary movement language, while the retreat itself opens into a broader exploration of reciprocity, play, presence, and participation in the living world. This retreat is for those who wish to deepen their dancing while exploring movement as a pathway toward relationship, wonder, and belonging. Thanks to our diversity scholarship every year we fund 2 - 5 Costa ricans & Central Americans to join us. Donate here: https://www.gofundme.com/costa-rica-contact-improv-dance-scholarship-2027 *** SCHOLARSHIPS AVAILABLE FOR COSTA RICA AND CENTRAL AMERICAN RESIDENTS - APPLY HERE: https://forms.gle/LsPAhz5h5eQUcmY88 Cost includes: ❉ 9 Nights accommodations ❉ Morning warm-ups ❉ Daily Contact classes and Jams ❉ 3 healthy nutritious meals per day ❉ Transportation to and from San Jose to Goddess Gardens Pricing tiers: ✾ 6 person dorm: $1550 ✾ Triple: $1790 ✾ Double: $1990 ✾ Private Rooms: $2690 For details and registration: www.contactimprov.com/costarica or e-mail: [email protected] Pura Vida! Moti MOTI ZEMELMAN, MFA As your host and teacher I bring 37 years of CI experience to share. Based in Massachusetts, I've taught and performed across USA, Canada, Costa Rica, Mexico, Europe and Israel. This will be my 15th year teaching in Costa Rica! My teachings emphasize the importance of cultivating a deep and embodied sense of presence, as well as developing a compassionate non-judgmental relationship with oneself. My workshops and classes offer a space for individuals to explore movement and embodiment in a supportive and non-competitive environment, and are open to people of all ages, backgrounds, and levels of experience. Over the last 15 years in my desire to integrate communication and intimacy skills in teaching and life I have studied Non-violent communication, Tantra, Butoh, Byron Katie's "The Work" and Betty Martin's "Wheel of Consent". I have been both a teacher and a board member at Earthdance Retreat Center in Plainfield, MA where I co-directed the Touch&Play Festival for 6 years. I am a featured dancer in Sanford Lewis' documentary film about CI "An Intimate Dance." I also design and moderate the international Contact Improv resource website www.contactimprov.com TESTIMONIALS: Moti's intensive was hands down the best contact dance intensive I have ever taken. Moti was able to create a space where community could flourish and where we were able to explore ourselves at so many levels. Contact dance was the vehicle through which we delved deeper into ourselves and what in means to be in community with each other. I cannot recommend his teaching enough. - Rosemary Macadam (Toronto, Canada) This Retreat was an absolute highlight in my over 30 years on again off again CI dance life. Moti is a sensei, a true master teacher, who has fed my love for CI on a very deep level and has brought out new curiosities and inner explorations into my being a CI practitioner, who wants to see this form spread to the edges of the earth. - Cornelia Hoehle, (USA/Germany) The combination of a paradise jungle/ocean location and Moti’s loving, experienced teaching made this a contact improv dancer’s dream. - Bobby Dolan, (MA, USA) Moti's classes were always engaging and challenging without pushing me to wear out my aging body! Thanks for attuned pacing that seemed to work well for the younger bodies as well. - Beth Dennison (MA, USA) Moti's CI workshop has been one of my favorite CI expeditions, and I would love to go again! The diverse array of offerings, and being in a beautiful jungle with amazing CI dancers from Costa Rica/Central America, you are always in a dance of inter-connectedness, not just with bodies, but with nature (even the jungle sounds), and culture! Magical, playful, delightful...mmm! - Moé Kishida (Japan/France) Este retiro fue una experiencia hermosa. El lugar y la naturaleza que lo rodea son hermosos... La oportunidad de compatir con gente de otros países que está en la misma frecuencia de uno, gente sensible, abierta, es maravilloso... Y por supuesto la belleza y dulzura de Moti, junto con su enorme experiencia enseñando CI... Todo esto hace de esta experiencia algo digno de vivirse al menos una vez en la vida. - Emmanuel Ramírez (San Jose, Costa Rica) Fue una experiencia maravillosa, de gran crecimiento y aprendizaje. Sentir el cuerpo vivo y en movimiento, concentrarse en la pequeña danza, alejados del mundo por unos días para descubrirnos y abrirnos a la maravilla del contacto. Asistir a este retiro fue una experiencia que como artista escénico y ser humano, es invaluable. Gracias. - Marianna Musso, (Argentina) Una experiencia transformadora en todos los niveles. Bailarines de todas las edades y con distintas experiencias creando, jugando, improvidamdo, volando!!!!!..no hay palabras para describir la belleza, la apertura, la diversión. Co- crear movimiento, co- crear experiencias, co-crear comunidad. Cada célula de mi cuerpo desea volver el próximo año para seguir transformando no sólo mi cuerpo sino mi mundo interior, mis creencias y mis limitaciones. Gracias infinitas moti por esta oportunidad única y maravillosa!!! - Virginia Delbino (Tinamastes, Costa Rica) Info in Spanish - Para ver la información de este evento en español haga clic aquí: http://www.contactimprov.com/costaricaspanish.html