Panta Rei ~ 3rd Samothraki TangoContact retreat

Panta Rei ~ 3rd Samothraki Tangocontact Retreat 🌀 An 11-day TangoContact retreat on the magical island of Samothraki — with open-level workshops, a focused intensive seminar, nature time, and a lot of dancing. 📅 August 21–31, 2025 📍 Samothraki, Greece The third edition is here — and it’s been extended! More dancing and more time to enjoy the wild nature of Samothraki. With: 💫 Roxana Umpier & Cacu Lucero 🌟 Kasia Czech & Seran Vrana 👉 Register now: https://tangocontact.com/registration/ On our website, you’ll find everything — program details, venue info, and travel tips for reaching Samothraki. The journey isn’t simple, but trust us: it’s worth it. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 🌊 Theme: Panta Rei — “Everything Flows” Samothraki is a place where water flows all around — stunning waterfalls, endless natural rock pools, and ancient trees growing straight out of the rocks shape a wild yet peaceful landscape. Just like the flowing water, life within and around us is always in motion. During our time together, we’ll tune into this natural rhythm, deepening awareness and embracing the wonderful, transformative power it brings. 💃 What is Tangocontact? Tangocontact is a playful exploration of partnered dance in all its delightful forms. Imagine the structured precision and rhythmic fun of tango meeting the spontaneous, free-flowing movement of contact improvisation. This joyful blend brings out the best in both dance styles: open communication, warmth, trust, and endless opportunities to improvise and connect. Throughout the retreat, we'll enjoy guided sessions, creative explorations, and plenty of free dancing—all designed to nurture connection, spark creativity, and encourage personal growth. ✨ We can't wait to share this unique experience with you! ✨ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 📅 PROGRAM (detailed workshop descriptions at the end or at https://tangocontact.com/programme/ ) Wed 20/8 🕘 21:00 – Warm-up Milonga @ Rania Café (free) Thu 21 – Sat 23/8 📍 Open Workshops @ Old School of Therma Thu 21/8 10:00–12:00 – The contact points of a fluid embrace 19:00–22:00 – Approach to tangocontact Fri 22/8 10:00–12:00 – From massage to the dance. Restorative practices 19:00–22:00 – Entering the Space: Proposing Through Presence Sat 23/8 10:00–12:00 – Crossing pathways: The Playfulness of Changing Direction 19:00–22:00 – Spheric body in tangocontact 💰 Contribution for the workshops: Morning: 15€ | Evening: 25€ | Full pass: 100€ Sun 24/8 🎶 20:00 – Gran Milonjam (free contribution) Mon 25 & Tue 26/8 🌿 Free days + optional nature trips & workshops Wed 27/8 🕘 21:00 – Interlude Milonga @ Rania Café (free) 📍 Intensive Seminar @ Mariva Yoga Retreat Center 🗓 Thu 28 – Sun 31/8 | 💶 300€ (includes full retreat) | 👥 Max 25 participants Thu 28/8 17:00–19:30 – Colgadas y Volcadas 19:30–22:00 – Practica – Milonjam Fri 29/8 10:00–12:30 – Ganchos y boleos 17:00–19:30 – Alteraciones y rebotes 19:30–22:00 – Practica – Milonjam Sat 30/8 10:00–12:30 – Listening Bodies: Breath, Connection, and the Unexpected Dance 17:00–19:30 – Giros y soltadas 19:30–22:00 – Practica – Milonjam Sun 31/8 10:00–12:30 – Lifts and falls – Earth and air and the water in between 🎉 Sun 31/8 – GRAN MILONJAM – FIESTA FINAL 📍 Old School, Therma – 20:00 till late 💞 Open to all – by free contribution ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Get to know our facilitators: 💫 Roxana Umpier & Cacu Lucero Joy, Didactics, and Fluency These three words could be a brief summary of how we could describe ourselves and what we like to transmit in our classes. We are both in constant training, from Feldenkrais and Thai Massage, to Contemporary dance and Aguahara (aquatic dance and therapy). Inspiring our dance from the roots of tango as well as all the other different disciplines that we are doing in our lives. For more than 20 years we have been traveling around Europe and America, teaching in Tango Festivals, Tango Congresses, Contact Impro Festivals and Special Workshops. In Argentina, we teach in Mar del Plata, our hometown, and in Buenos Aires, as well as in other cities of the country. We organize Contact Impro Festivals (this year will be the 12th) and Tangocontact Meetings (this year will be the 8th). It is all about DANCING, SHARING and HAVING JOY. Roxana Umpierr Born in Mar del Plata, Roxana has been dancing tango for more than 26 years and teaching since 2000. She has studied Contact Impro, Body Expression, Body Therapies, and Aquatic Dance. Her movement is fluid, organic, and deeply embodied. She is a Massage and Aquatic Therapist (Aguathai), and she organizes dance festivals in Argentina and Brazil. Since 2007, she has traveled to Europe to teach in festivals and other events. Cacu Lucero Born by the sea in Mar del Plata, Cacu is in constant transformation, expanding his dance and learning. Tango lives in him — always evolving, always growing. Since 2005, he has taught in over 20 countries across Europe and America. Together with Roxana, since 2012, they’ve been developing Tangocontact — originally called “Experimental Tango” — as a space for research, creativity, and deep sensation mixed with strong technique and improvisation. 🌟 Kasia Czech & Seran Vrana Our dance is centered around a joyful and creative interpretation of the music, achieved through a comfortable, adjustable embrace and an emphasis on communication between partners. We both dance as leader and follower, with a particular focus on active following, allowing each partner to initiate and guide the musical conversation. In our teaching, we use tools that encourage curiosity and a deeper exploration of movement. Body awareness exercises and student-centered methods help each participant understand the nature of tango movement and make it comfortable for their own body. Through games and group exercises, we stimulate creativity, reactivity, and out-of-the-box thinking — making spontaneity and pleasure essential ingredients in every dance. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Open Workshops Descriptions: (1). The contact points of a fluid embrace. Kasia & Seran Take the well defined structure of the traditional tango embrace and break it down to its essential structural elements, what is left is the contact points. After understanding how to have the contact points as reference, we will see how our embrace can transform during our dance while still offering us the desired stability (2). Approach to tangocontact. Roxi & Cacu We will study the basic principles of this discipline with concepts associated to tango and contact impro to understand some of the dynamics that make up this dance: freedom of movement, relationship with music, space, group. We want you to feel how much they share and enrich each other, expanding their limits and combining their particularity (3). From massage to the dance. Restorative practices. Roxi & Cacu The pleasure of entering into dance through massage, a possibility of studying the body by offering weight, investigating its insertions where we can go deeper and where we must become subtle, stretching, twisting, understanding the spirals and projections, as well as the moving energy. (4). Entering the Space: Proposing Through Presence. Kasia & Seran We’ll explore the subtle art of entering our partner’s space. What shifts when we create space and offer it with intention? We will see how presence can become a proposal and shared space can turn into a vast field of possibilities. (5). Crossing Pathways: The Playfulness of Changing Direction. Kasia & Seran Changes of direction within the flow of movement can spark playful improvisations and enrich our dance. Shifting direction becomes a tool for dialogue — surprising, responsive, and full of possibilities like leg crosses and boleos. (6). Spheric body in tangocontact. Roxi & Cacu The body as a sphere that expands in multiple directions, also within the duo and in the space between. From the spirals and circularity in our movements, from understanding the spheres that make up the head, chest, and pelvis, and the ways to associate or differentiate these spheres and move, we will address how to build a spherical body while dancing tango. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Intensive Seminar workshop descriptions: (1). Colgadas y Volcadas. The art of off-axis movements. Roxi & Cacu Discover new possibilities and comforts in what the COLGADAS and VOLCADAS offer. Discover new spaces in the body and their musicality. Also, experience the ability to fall in a controlled manner with another person and feel the dynamics and forces that inhabit these movements. ”Zero-point” energy optimization (2). El universo de las piernas. Ganchos y boleos. Roxi & Cacu How joints, muscle tone, awareness of support, and the forces within the embrace allow us to comfortably perform circular or linear Boleos, against or in the same direction of the movement. or even high or low Ganchos, circular ones and complex. And in this way, understand the dynamics and musicality associated with them. The understanding of “residual energy” to perform them. The activity of the support leg. (3). Elastics to explore the structures. The embrace and displacements. “Alteraciones y rebotes”. Roxi & Cacu Understanding the forces of tension and relaxation that occur in movements through awareness of the joints and grips of the hands and arms, as a powerful tool of interpretation while dancing. All of this allows for more advanced movements like ALTERACIONES or powerful, musical REBOTES (4). Listening Bodies: Breath, Connection, and the Unexpected Dance. Kasia & Seran We’ll begin by caring for our bodies, offering them the stretch and space they need. Through breath work, we’ll ease into a state of presence and deepen our connection — first with ourselves, then with our partner. From this place of awareness, we’ll explore how active listening to the body can give rise to an unexpected dance, shaped moment by moment in shared attention. (5). Giros y soltadas . Dinamicas y posibilidades. Roxi & Cacu Performing the turn in a shared manner with a dialogue between the two roles. Being able to perform the turn within a hug with high muscle tone, in an open hug, or including Soltadas in the turn, leaving the contact for a moment while expanding communication through sight and body awareness. (6). Lifts and falls – Earth and air and the water in between. Roxi & Cacu The embrace and the body of the partner can be the earth and the air to support the fall or flight and unfolding, as well as to enter and leave the ground, breathing and finding the fluidity that sustains these changes. What is our relationship with falling to the floor or being lifted by another body? How do we manage the subtlety to change levels during the tango code, within a hug, or in the dynamics of contact?