SENSING BODIES
March 11 - 20, 2025
A transformative cultural retreat in Gamboa, Brazil
connecting joyfully with self, community and nature through dance, rhythm and movement
Let's move and be moved together.
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Come connect, expand and transform through joy-filled dancing, sensing, listening and creating.
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Join us for a 10-day artistic retreat in the south of Brazil. We are gathering in Gamboa, a beautiful seaside community near Florianópolis, Brazil to explore and share dances and rhythms.
On the menu:
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folkloric and ancestral dance lineages from Brazil, Africa and Europe
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exploration of and co-creation with nature
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experimenting with tools and traditions for artistic creation
Sensing Bodies is open to all who are inspired by bodies, movement, creative process, and performing arts.
This program is a training intensive, a creative process, a retreat, a confluence, and a magical meeting place.
This is a response to our hearts’ desires for connecting and relating in new and ancient ways.
What made this experience for me was the dynamism that came from combining such different movement modalities together, allowing everyone to feel at times comfortable in their familiar movement concepts, and at other times totally exposed to the rawness that comes from discovering the unfamiliar.
- participant, Sensing Bodies Retreat 2023 (Brazil)
Who is this for?
Does your heart desire connection, joy, movement and community?
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Do you want to move and be moved in new ways?
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Are you curious about experiencing connection with ancestors, lineage, and land?
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If the answer is yes, this space is for you.
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We welcome people with different experiences, backgrounds, trainings, careers and passions. This program is especially for:​
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Artists of any discipline
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Bodyworkers
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Healers
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Dance enthusiasts
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Cultural workers
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Anyone interested in bodies, movement, creation, culture
What will you get?
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Training with globally acclaimed faculty
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Transformational immersive experience
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Space to relax and recharge in nature
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Co-creative artistic process
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60 hours of structured program time
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Connection with self, others, and environment
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Exchange of knowledge, practices, traditions, and skills
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Meeting space for sharing various body-based artistic perspectives
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Networking with participants from many places, experiences and backgrounds
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Daily free time to explore the vicinity, share and discuss with others, and rest
“A gentle but deep dive into the sensorium of nature, community, dance and discourse.”
- participant, Sensing Bodies 2019 retreat (Canada)
Sample Schedule
subject to change
Daily classes offer improvisation, somatic practices, cultural exchange, and creative process. This is a time and space to connect with self, others and our natural environment.
9:00am -
9:15 am
Daily opening
9:15am - 11:15am
Class in studio
11:15am - 2:30pm
Lunch & break
2:30pm - 4:00pm
Class in nature
4:00pm - 4:15pm
Break & snack
4:15pm - 6:15pm
Co-creation session
6:15pm - 6:30pm
Daily closing
6:30pm -
Dinner & free time
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I really liked everything, I think the articulation of all the classes was perfect, each workshop was different, but an incredible connection was achieved!
- participant, Sensing Bodies 2023 retreat (Brazil)
“I received what I needed even though I didn’t know what I needed. Space and permission to get curious and explore the gap.”
- participant, Sensing Bodies 2019 retreat (Canada)
Hello Friends!
I'm Damarise, and I love to bring people together. I love to set people in motion. I love to create spaces for people to gather, learn, share and move together. Over many years as a dancer and dance teacher, I have travelled extensively, studied with masterful teachers and shared experiences with so many wonderful people from all walks of life.
I've attended a ton of fantastic dance intensives and dance retreats in North America, Europe, Africa, and South America.
Since 2014, I've been producing workshops, events and retreats. It all began from my desire to learn from my teachers, and to create opportunities to share their work with others. I discovered that I'm good at organizing. I know how to welcome people. I know how to care for people. I know how to create a light and easy sense of community.
My mission is to spread joy through dance and movement. My desire is to connect with others, simply and with heart.
When I approached the faculty of Sensing Bodies to produce a retreat with them, I did so intuitively and with a sense that this project is alive and needs to happen now. When I get that feeling, I know it's best to honour it and follow it.
Join us! Let's gather in celebration and joy.
Damarise Ste Marie - Artistic Director & Producer