Welcome
We would like to spend a week with you in silence, deeply connecting with ourselves, with each other and with the stunning nature of the Sunshine Coast Hinterland.
Why are we doing this?
90 per cent of our communication is nonverbal, thanks to all the little signals we send through our mimic, body posture, and adjustment of orientation and distance.
When there is silence, all our senses wake up to feed and support us. The nervous systems have it easier to talk to each other to create safety and connection. Usually, we don’t notice it. Within the silence, we might sense more of this profound human intelligence.
People who attend a silent CI retreat often appreciate the sense of clarity. We can hear our impulses connected to our needs more quickly and directly. Some encounters feel surprisingly like a talking dialogue, and later, it is hard to believe that no words were needed.
There is a sense of being present and alive on a journey while feeling held by and embedded in a group.
It is a setting where we build up resilience to move through uncomfortable situations, grow trust in our capacity for inner processes, and be more fully human.
When
Sunday 6 April 2025, 4pm (arrival from 1pm) to
Saturday 12 April around midday
Where
On a 140 acre property with multiple options for camping, a small dam, connection to the Conondale National Park. It is a school camp with basic facilities and lots of nature. We will dance on Aikido mats in a tent hall, which is rain-proof and has only some walls, so we’ll stay connected with nature while dancing.
243 Booloumba Creek Road, Cambroon QLD 4552
What
On the day of arrival and the first day we’ll slowly sink into silence. There will be opportunity to speak and familiarise with what to expect. In the coming days, we will be in silence without words and we can all really be with our inner world, connect deeply to what is going on inside. Is that comfortable and relaxing? Or is it a challenge and discipline?
There will be some scores and facilitated sessions to dance and a lot of free jamming. In the breaks, we can meditate and delve more deeply into our own world, or non-verbally connect with others. Nature is always available.
On the second last day, words are invited back, so we can harvest the insights and benefit from hearing each others journeys.
The inspiration for coming together like that was seeded last year in Norway. Alessandro Rivellino, Ann Kristin Holten, Auri Ladeira and Mario Blanco created a beautiful space to meet and dance in silence. We will use different ways of coming together, diving into the silence and coming out of it, but I want to share my deep gratitude for the work they have been and are putting into their silent contact retreats. Their next one is happening in Oslo in July 2025.
Who
This retreat is for contact improvisation dancers with enough experience to find their own way in jams. Some experience around silence or meditation is useful, but not essential.
Joerg Hassman & Alexander Kohl (Alec) will facilitate and hold space for this retreat. Most of you will know us, as we would have invited you. If someone else has invited you, please ask them about us. For Joerg, you can also check his website.
How much
$950 fully catered, inlcuding a bed in a tent dome dorm or camping with your own tent (there are also some limited double and single rooms available).
Book your place by filling out the form below.
Email on 28 March 2025
There are only eight days until we come together. A beautiful group (just under 30 people) has formed, and we have been excitedly planning.
It is so beautiful to see how the vision of this Retreat is growing and, with it, our trust in each other. In this email, we want to give you a sense of the arrival at the venue and the flow of the first day. And of course a list of things to bring.
When arriving, we wish to enter directly into a minimal verbal world. Which words are really needed? There will be quite a bit of information sharing, and there will be moments for small home group sharing and hearing each other in the circle. But we’d love to let go of chatter habits on arrival.
Below is an “anticipated travel journal.” It wants to give you a feel for how we’d like to journey together through these days. It also includes a few practical issues, like how the days are structured, how to deal with the silence, and what support there will be if the struggle is too great to be alone with…
We encourage you to find a quiet moment in the next week to read the “Travel Journal”.
We’ll use the progression of the seasons of the year to support our journey through the days. If you have little objects or postcards that represent a season in a way that speaks to you, please bring them with you.
What to Bring
- water bottle (there is beautifully filtered rainwater available)
- headlamps, battery/solar lamps (there are solar lights in the domes)
- changes of dance clothes (there is a washing machine and dryer)
- warm clothes for the evening jams
- toiletries
- hat & sunscreen
- mosquito repellent
- swim gear
- towels
- sheets
- sleeping bag & pillow (if you need it)
Optional
- sarongs, fabric, and cushions to add beauty
- bits for the “season altars”
- books on contact improvisation, sile
nce, and meditation that really fill your heart (while we encourage moving away from all words – even the written ones – this heart-filled library might support some in this journey - if you bring a tent, you can borrow a mattress from the domes
Arrival
Sunday, 6 April from 1 pm at 243 Booloumba Creek Road, Cambroon
https://maps.app.goo.gl/
Departure
Saturday 12 April around 1 pm (before lunch)
If you have any burning questions, see whether an internal answer appears or whether you want to send them to us.
In silence
Joerg & Alec
Email on 3 April 2025
Three days until we meet…
Here are some of the answers to the question we got from the last email:
Fully Catered
We will be fed by Di with yummy vegetarian meals that take care of any dietary requirements. There will also be fruit available throughout the days to snack on. Tea is always available (and some simple coffee bags). And beautiful, filtered rain water.
Dance Space
Our dance space is in a tent hall with Karate mats on the ground. Soft on the feet, but springy enough to walk properly. We have to be in socks or barefoot at all times.
Footwear
It might be wet, but most pathways are gravel and it should be possible to get around without gumboots. If you have sensitive feet, it might be good to bring some thongs to easily get to our dance space. For one day, you might need walking shoes that get dirty and wet (but if your feet are used to it, you can also go barefoot).
Digital Free Week
We invite you and strongly encourage you to put away all digital devices for the week to give mind and body space to delve into self-awareness. At the same time, we understand that some things need to be organised. So there is wifi available. The password is Camp4552. If you choose to use a device, please do it away from the others.
Emergency Number
To further support the ability to let go, there is an emergency number that you can give to your family. If anyone calls for you, you’ll receive a note and can then call them back. The number is 0412 485 582.
Others on Site
There will be a few other people on-site with us (Di in the kitchen, James in the office, young James working on the property and Jared looking after equipment maybe a group leader for a day. They are all beautiful people, very curious about us in silence for that long. There might also be a food delivery. Nothing to do, just wanted to let you know.
See you on Sunday.
Joerg & Alec
An Anticipated Travel Journal
This is meant to give a taste of our coming journey. Some of it might not come true…
When does a jam start? It is a question that I like. Does it start when I feel I am dancing? Or when we sit in the beginning circle? When I arrive in the space? When I am leaving my house? When I get up in the morning?
When will or did your Silent Contact Retreat
Preparing for less verbal time and more awareness of yourself. What’s moving in you? More awareness for how you receive others, for resonance and responsiveness. More awareness for your inner flows.
How will it be when you arrive at the venue? Excitement to see people you know, insecurities, and lots of unknowns. We hope that we won’t compensate for all these inner movements with chatter. Instead, we want to feel them more than usual …
Connecting to Essence
What really wants to be articulated through words? What other ways of acknowledging and welcoming each other are there? It will be a dance of sensing our habits, not getting stuck in shoulds & shouldn’ts, making sweet and brave choices and doing what feels just right to us in each moment.
You’ll be welcomed and shown around. Find your sleeping spot and set up your nest. You can hang out a bit, go for a walk, and welcome others. We’ll meet at 4pm for an acknowledgement of country and a first circle to tune into the journeying together. A few other bits to help us land. Then dinner and a first jam. Autumn lets go of our lives from outside, from our journeys, of the words.
A first night in the sounds of nature.
The first communal thing for the new day is a morning yoga session, followed by our delicious breakfast. Silence will expand today. We’ll use words to understand the process of travelling through the days … and for our sharings later.
Then we’ll meet in a circle. We’ll follow the seasons of the year as an inspiration and support for our journey together. We’ll drop into winter on Monday (the first full day). White, grey and blue might be the dominating colours, our beginning to tune into stillness, depth, inner spaciousness, and essence.
We can keep sitting in the circle with open or closed eyes. We can wander around, look for things we want to bring into our dance space for this day, maybe make a small drawing, or contribute something brought from home. We’ll gather in the dance space and put it all together like on an altar for the day.
Then it is time for dancing. Most of us are familiar with the Underscore, which will be underlying our morning dance. Don’t worry if you don’t know it. You’ll get the vibe from this first one from the other dancers around you. Many elements of this open dance structure will intuitively emerge in very satisfying jams.
Lunch and a looong break to follow your needs. Check out the dam, rest, go for a walk…
The afternoon session will always be „properly“ facilitated. On the first day, we still use words to set up some basic formats to re-use in the coming non-verbal days.
A last verbal sharing in our home groups.
Then dinner and an open dance frame. We’ll often use some simple group scores in the evenings to open the dance.
We’re not here to serve the silence – we want the silence to serve us.
From Tuesday to Thursday, we imagine being silent. „Silent“ for us means a non-verbal way of being with each other throughout the days. The voice is not dead. We wish it to be part of our body with sighing, crying and laughter, moaning and all nuances of life that might now and then pop out of our mouths.
These sounds come and go without the need to create voice and rhythm improvisations. A soundscape emerges effortlessly from our movements. We can inhale them with our senses. We don’t need to consciously make them. They signify our humanness and “being in this together”.
When do we miss spoken words? When do we replace them with gestures? When is it helpful, and when is it unnecessary? We wish to observe when a desire for a conversation appears, and we start to dialogue with sounds and gestures or writing down words. Let’s remind ourselves that this retreat invites inner conversation. Some of us might feel discomfort. Can we be with that?
Our ways to relate to each other outside the dance will probably happen through doing things together. Or through a more subtle way of tuning in, noticing smaller signals of the bodies that we usually don’t read so easily… it might take time.
Time to research awkwardness. Inviting more of the unknown. How much of our social behaviour do we need in our days together? How honest and transparent can we be? Can I NOT smile back when that feels true? Can I sit down next to someone without asking with gestures for permission?
When does writing support our process? And when can I hold things in myself without writing them down, trusting that thoughts will stay with me, transform or leave me in an unpredictable way richer than before?
There will be a worry box where you can place written notes that Joerg & Alec review daily and respond to with a note. It is your choice whether to use it. Or not.
How do we self-regulate and ensure that everybody is seen and supported?
Many of us will pass through challenging moments. Journalling, drawing, going for walks, meditating, asking to be held, chopping wood, and pulling lantana are options to process and regulate.
We have two communal resting areas in the dance space. One invites you to be left alone, and the other is for when you are open to interact, potentially be in touch, hang out, and co-regulate.
When someone sits out longer while we dance, I can sit next to them for a while. I am not intrusively checking in; I have no intention of fixing them, just being there. Maybe they come closer, ask for a hand, coming with me when I leave again – or not. I have acknowledged them.
We’ll meet once daily in our home groups of four people to be seen and acknowledged, 5 minutes per person. We’ll get insights from each other’s journeys through these days and share ours. This sharing will be with words for the first and last two days. The three silent days in the middle – Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday – we’ll share without words in stillness, movement or shared action, in touch or without.
On Friday afternoon, the second last day, we’ll invite spoken words again in our home groups
Saturday is our last day. We’ll dance, for sure. But we’ll also have a longer time to hear, see, and feel each other in the circle and harvest together.
Before lunch, we’ll say goodbye – we’ll see if we need words for that 🙂