THE LIVING BODY

IMPULSE, ACTION, AND PLAY
April 17-20, 2025

A retreat for living an active, present, and embodied life.

Join us for a residential weekend workshop focused on improvisational movement, embodied awareness, and building trust with others. Our workshop takes place over two and a half days of scheduled programming, from a welcome dinner on Thursday evening to a goodbye breakfast on Sunday morning. We will share a variety of exercises that are designed to cultivate attunement towards impulse and the experience of being inside a living body. This retreat takes place at Big Raven Farm in the heart of Southern Minnesota’s driftless region. It includes full housing and amenities, meals, a ten acre landscape, and the opportunity to step away from daily routines to practice building skills for living an active and engaged life.

This is a workshop for performers and non-performers alike, and does not require any previous experience. It is designed to be amenable to all age groups and levels of ability.

Space is limited, so reserve your spot early!!
We are excited to have you join us.

PRICING

We are interested in offering this experience to EVERYONE regardless of payment capacity, but that said, we are renting a beautiful residential farm and retreat space for this event. The pricing that follows includes lodging and meals.

The ‘supporter’ rate, i.e. the rate that accurately reflects the cost of the experience, is $800

The ‘standard’ rate is $580

The ‘I can make this happen’ rate is $350

If none of these rates work for you, please reach out to us and we can make arrangements as needed.

ABOUT OUR WORK

Virginia Twins is a dance/theater collective that has been producing devised performances and developing retreat-style experiences for almost 6 years. Our practice draws on a variety of sources, including the work of Jerzy Grotowski and those in the lineage of his later years, in which there was a shift towards participatory and experiential work. We have taken up a central component of Grotowski’s practice called the VIA NEGATIVA, in which the way towards finding a deeper connection with others and with oneself is by removing psychosomatic ‘blockers’ or ‘judges’ that we use to shield ourselves from vulnerability. What does it mean to be fully present with yourself, with another person? We are interested in this question as a starting point in the journey towards creating a more collaborative and caring world.

For questions about the retreat, please contact:

Artemis Brown
artemisbodywork@gmail.com
(503) 708-7839