discoveryma2024 | Touch&Play Archive

THE FIRST SPRING SWIM

TOUCH&PLAY MASSACHUSETTS

DISCOVERY WEEKEND

Earthdance, May 9-12, 2024

Registrations is now closed

An intimate space to

Dance & Play for the new and old alike

DANCE & EMBODIMENT

We delve into the depths of our being, connecting with our physical, emotional, and energetic bodies. Tapping into the rich reservoirs of energy that reside within we find integration, empowerment, and a deeper sense of wholeness.

CREATIVITY & PLAY

In our journey, we view creativity as a never-ending playground to engage with life, and Eros as a powerful creative force that fuels our exploration and expression.

KINK & SELFEXPRESSION

We embrace the diversity of desires and identities, fostering an environment where individuals can authentically explore their unique landscapes.

RELATIONSHIPS & COMMUNITY

We recognize the importance of building supportive, nurturing connections with others, cultivating spaces where vulnerability is celebrated and relational growth is encouraged.

YOU BELONG HERE

Touch&Play is an international movement – a sexy, adventurous, embodied and deeply heart-centered family – that has found its way to the USA in western Mass.

Touch&Play invites individuals to explore their authenticity and relational dynamics in safer and supportive spaces. It acknowledges that embracing life is not just about celebrating strengths and virtues, but also about acknowledging one’s limits, and shadows, fostering a holistic journey of self-discovery and growth.

Our Discovery Weekends are filled with inspiring offers that form the bedrock of the Touch&Play work. In these smaller gatherings programming is focused on a single track creating a strong group field and a deep shared journey. Our schedule while structured has flexibility to shift to the needs and alive wishes.

We’ll start by exploring the Touch&Play’s de-CIDE Consent Framework, empowering everyone to communicate our boundaries and desires in an effective and authentic way.

We’ll delve into Contact Improvisation, inviting sensuality and sexuality into our dances when it feels right.

For the adventurous, there’s a safer space to explore Rope, Role, Power, and Sensation Play.

Participants can step into leadership with an afternoon dedicated to community offers.

Evenings will be more open to invite self-guided exploration.

With immense love for this project and the spirit of co-creation, we extend this invitation to newcomers and those approaching with a beginner’s mind. Welcome home to our diverse community of dancers, somatic explorers, and embodied humans.

The Journey starts here

With curiosity, playfulness, and vulnerability, we seek to deepen our connections with ourselves, each other, and the natural world, cultivating emotional, somatic, and erotic intelligence along the way.

STEP IN YOUR LEADERSHIP. BE PART OF THE MOVEMENT

About Touch&Play

While Classical Contact Improvisation asks what happens when two physical bodies meet in space, Touch&Play asks what happens when two alchemical human beings meet in space.

We will research, experimentially (both experimental and experiential), these questions around the nuances of our relational bodies.

The first Touch&Play gathering took place in 2010 in Berlin focussing on an exploration of The chemistry of Contact Improvisation.

The current frame is a wider one and is described as an exploration of “The relational body”. Contact Improvisation is one of the many tools we use for this exploration along side dance, kink,, somatics, tantra, authentic relating, NVC. our values center on play, authenticity, inclusion, embodied consent and community.

The first Touch&Play in the US happened in 2016 and has since been an annual retreat held at Earthdance. We seek with curiosity, play and vulnerability how to individually and collectively dismantle the systems of oppression that live in our bodies, minds and spirits to seed peace in our world. We awaken more vibrantly our emotional, somatic and erotic intelligence.

The team

Our discovery weekends are created and held by a small team of core facilitators. The facilitators are normally elders from our community with a intimate knowledge of the culture and praxis that form the roots our the Touch&Play work.

The participants – a group of dancers, movers, somatic learners, spiritual magic makers, embodied humans, vulnerable deep-divers, and relational explorers – are also invited to propose an offering during the gathering

We call in this community, expanding within and expanding throughout, to gather in a new creation.
you are warmly welcome, to come as your full, unfiltered, beautiful self.

with Anna Maynard & Daniel Hayes

Testimonials

★★★★★

"Touch&Play turned out to be the sweetest bunch of folks ever! People were welcoming, fun, playful and respectful, from the organizers right on down. The teaching teams had great things to offer, and a wide variety of things, so i think everyone found topics of interest. I’ll be back!"

Betty Martin

Developer of The Wheel of Consent

Come On In

It’s time to play

Venue

The gathering will take place at Earthdance Creative Living retreat center in Plainfield in the Pioneer Valley of Western Massachusetts.

We are grateful to continue hosting this event at Earthdance – an arts organization, rental and retreat center that hosts workshops, artist retreats, and community programming. It is situated on unceded Nipmuc territory in the hills of Western Massachusetts. At its foundation are dance, somatics, movement research and interdisciplinary arts training with an awareness towards social justice and community building.

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Facilities

Earthdance is embraced by acres of private woods.

A wood-fired sauna sits just feet from a cold plunge into the quarry.

Two large beautiful dance studios, communal dining area and lots of open, outdoor space await.

The venue provides 2 lodging options: Campsites and shared dorm rooms.

The Apple Orchard and 125 acres of forest provide ample space for personal tent camping. Campers have access to the shared bathrooms in the main Farmhouse which include indoor and outdoor showers.

The Gratitude Lodge (a.k.a. the Earthdance dorm) is connected to the Farmhouse by a short wooded trail. The Gratitude Lodge offers an assortment of large and small rooms featuring dormitory-style bunks and beds (twin & queen size). The dorm also has shared common area and bathrooms.

COMMUNE SPACES

Indoor dance spaces

Communal dinning room

Cozy living room

Sauna

SORROUNDINGS

125 acres of woods

Spacious grassy area in amongst apple orchard

Swimming quarry

Vegetable and herb garden

Shop 10 minuts by car

ACCOMMODATIONS

Dorm-style bunks and beds.

Campsites available.

Earthdance assumes no responsibilities for the activities of the Touch&Play Event as a renter of its facilities.

Nourishment

Delicious Food. Organic and ocal products. Mainly vegetarian meals.

A snack and tea station is available at any time.

There is a guest fridge available to store any personal supplemental foods you may need or wish to bring.

We will gather information around food sensitivities prior to the event and incorporate that into our meal planning. The kitchen team will do their best to accommodate special dietary needs related to intolerances.

Economic contribution

Different ticket options:

EARLYBIRD / STANDARD / ABUNDANT

COMMUNITY MEMBERS: Limited discounted tickets available for people who have already attended past Touch&Plays. Join us to help seed the T&P culture to new folx!

SUPPORTED: We have a handful of lower-cost Equity and Access tickets available. We prioritize participants who hold marginalized identities (e.g. BIPOC, dis-abled, queer) for these tickets.

COMMUTER: for those who leave onsite.

ASSISTANCE: Work-Exchange positions are not only a way to attended the gathering; they are truly essential to our event running smoothly…. and so gratefully appreciated.

The discounts are limited and will be offered to the first requests.