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Contact Improvisation Retreat in Costa Rica
❀ with Moti Zemelman & Taina Lyons ❀
Feb 18 - 27, 2027
Goddess Garden Nature Retreat, Cahuita, Costa Rica
www.thegoddessgarden.com
- Scroll down for registration details -
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
This retreat invites us into a week-long 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.
Pricing tiers:
✾ 6 person dorm: $1550
✾ Triple: $1790
✾ Double: $1990
✾ Private Rooms: $2690
Early-Bird Price - $200 OFF - Register by SEP 1st
*** SCHOLARSHIPS AVAILABLE FOR COSTA RICA AND CENTRAL AMERICAN RESIDENTS
APPLY HERE: https://forms.gle/LsPAhz5h5eQUcmY88
Donate here: www.gofundme.com/f/costa-rica-contact-improv-dance-scholarship-2027
Cost includes:
❉ 8 Nights accommodation
❉ Morning warm-ups
❉ Daily Contact classes and Jams
❉ 3 healthy meals per day
❉ Excursion to the Cahuita National Park
❉ Transportation to and from San Jose to Goddess Gardens
TO REGISTER:
1. Paypal to moti@contactimprov.com - (add 3% fee)
2. Venmo to Moti-Zemelman
3. Send $300 deposit check to:
Moti Zemelman
7 Union St
Brattlebboro, VT 05301
Credit card payments also possible - call or email to arrange
413-475-2651 moti@contactimprov.com
(if paying with Credit card add 3.5% fee)
Refund Policy: Deposits are non-refundable but may be applied toward a future one of Moti's retreats (restrictions apply) within one calendar year from date of retreat. 50% of balance paid is refundable before Dec 31, 2025. No refunds after Jan 1, 2026.
...and here's the REGISTRATION FORM to fill out
Thanks to our diversity scholarship every year we fund 2 - 4 Costa ricans & Central Americans to join us. Donate here:
www.gofundme.com/f/costa-rica-contact-improv-dance-scholarship-2027
