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CONTACT FESTIVAL
SOUTH
AFRICA
JAN/FEB
2027
Guest Teacher
ARTEM MARKOV
with International
CONTACT FESTIVAL SOUTH AFRICA 2027
29 JANUARY - 06 FEBRUARY
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Immerse deeply in dance and nature
Learn new Contact Improvisation skills
Jams every night with live music
CI Intensive with international teacher
Connect with a vibrant community of dancers
Beautiful mountain surrounds and river for swimming
Pre-Festival:7-8Feb
Main Festival:13-17Feb
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Post-Festival:17-19Feb
GUEST TEACHER 2027
Artem Markov
THE HEART OF CONTACT: Somatics, Contact Improvisation, and Performance
During this intensive, we will explore contact with oneself, a partner, and the world through the lens of the Body-Mind Centering Somatic approach, as well as Contact Improvisation and performance techniques.
PART 1: Heart. Location, anatomy, and direct experience.
We will practice gentle co-presence, touch, and witnessing the partner.
- What makes the heart sing?
- What allows the rib cage to breathe widely?
- And how do we meet in communication with an open heart?
We will explore the very essence of gentleness and contact.
PART 2: Rib cage, sternum, and ribs.
One of the principles in Contact Improvisation (movement of bodies through touch) is the rolling point. Mutual listening helps us not to choose a goal or trajectory in space, but to listen to how the response of the tissues can lead to automatic responses. Such total presence in the here and now leads to greater honesty in bodily communication. We are not inventing where we are going — we are simply in dialogue.
Very often, the centre of body mass is considered to be the navel and lower abdomen, but in these classes we will shift the focus of attention to the rib cage. A similar centering is used in tango.
PART 3: Performance.
The ability to observe another person is a valuable skill of attentiveness, humanity, and co-presence. These qualities we will cultivate. And also the other side: to be visible, honest, capable of containing one’s own experience, not trying to turn a partner into a parent or psychotherapist — but also not hiding one’s experience. To be authentic does not mean to close one’s eyes. Through performance practices, we will explore how to remain sensing oneself, how not to fall out of contact, and how to stay in contact with the surrounding world. Can one not contradict the other?
We have arms and legs, proportions — this is the body as it is. We are conditioned by history and habits, and I do not want to reject or avoid it. I don’t want to fantasise too much, but I want to see a little more into what I already have. I want to cultivate the path of listening, and how through this attention we can learn to fly. Together.
MAIN FESTIVAL - CONTACT IMPROVISATION INTENSIVE with ARTEM MARKOV
TEACHERS
Contact Improvisation Intensive
ARTEM MARKOV
Artem began dancing Contact Improvisation in 2006 and has been teaching CI for 19 years. With a background of 25 yrs in Contemporary dance, he has also danced professionally in Ufa, Russia, with the performance group “White Label”.
He has taught workshops extensively around the world, including at Contact Festivals in Ukraine (2013), Ibiza (2015), Italy (2017, 2024) and Israel (2019).
Artem has also been engaged in body-work and movement therapy since 2006. He has participated in many somatic trainings and studied professionally at university. He is educated in Integrative Bodywork and Movement Therapy (IBMT dip.) and SomayicBody Training. He teaches at the SomayicBody Training program, and also conducts his own somatic courses.
Artem says: "For me Contact Improvisation is a prism through which I look at my own development and patterns. Coming to the studio every day I have time to connect with myself and be visible to the group. This feeling of belonging opens my heart."
Contact Improv & Festival Organiser
THALIA LARIC
Thalia is a dancer, teacher and community leader. She's been teaching Contact Improvisation for 16 years and contributed significantly to growing the practice in South Africa.
She hosts regular classes and jams in Cape Town and also runs a Contact Improvisation Facilitators Lab.
She is a certified teacher of Skinner Releasing Technique and holds a Masters degree in Choreography.
She travels regularly to international CI events, and has studied with Nancy Stark Smith, Kirstie Simson, Lucia Walker, Jori Snell, amongst many other influential teachers.
She has danced professionally with various South African theatre companies and founded several dance platforms including Underground Dance Theatre and MusicDance CapeTown.
Her approach to movement is to create space to listen deeply to embodied experience, to allow time for softening, and to cultivate autonomy, freedom, connection and joy.
Morning Practice & Festival Organiser
TASHA SAHA
Tasha is a yoga teacher, meditation instructor and retreat facilitator whose offerings centre around restoring the body and being to their innate harmony and intelligence, and creating the space and awareness for radical mental and spiritual transformation. Her sessions invite us into the present moment where we can experience ourselves as we are- outside roles, responsibilities and the expectations and projections of self and others, and into the miracle of our bodies, the tenderness of our hearts and limitless consciousness.
Our daily morning practice asks us to fully inhabit our own bodies and breath, as the steady ground of presence for contact with one another. With fine attention and great compassion we will tend to and prepare bodies and minds with movement, meditation and breathwork, cultivating and aligning to a soft, strong and grounded centre from which to move.
Tasha has studied and danced Contact Improvisation intensively for the past 7 years and considers it a central part of her spiritual practice.
MUSICIANS
At Contact Festival South Africa our exceptional musicians create soundscapes both expansive and intimate for our evening jams. All three musicians are CI dancers as well as dedicated teachers/ longstanding members of the CI community.
Live Music
ANWAR McWHITE
Live Music
ANDREW VAN DIEMEN
Live Music
DAVE GARDENER
VENUE
HEARTH & SOUL ECO FARM
is a beautiful retreat centre in the heart of the Overberg
surrounded by trees and mountains with a river for swimming -
a creative and inspirational sanctuary just 2 hours drive from Cape Town
GETTING THERE
Hearth and Soul, the venue for the festival, is in the Overberg, Western Cape, South Africa. The nearest airport is Cape Town International, 2 hours from the venue, and the town of Hermanus and Stanford Village are nearby. A week before the festival, a Whats App group will be created for ride sharing, with many opportunities to travel with members of our community coming from Cape Town. If required, a shuttle from the airport can be booked directly with an independent transport company for approximately 1500ZAR each way. If you would like to arrive early to the venue, or stay on after the festival, please contact Hearth and Soul for availability.
FESTIVAL PROGRAMME
PRE - FESTIVAL WORKSHOP
CAPE TOWN
23rd & 24th Jan 2027
Saturday 10:00 - 17:00
Sunday 14:00 - 21:00
Main Hall
Observatory Community Centre
WEEKEND WORKSHOP with ARTEM MARKOV: FLYING AXIS
In contact improvisation, we are accustomed to playing with the fall of the central axis, which is called the small dance. The fall of the vertical axis is one of the main tools that initiates movement in space.
In somatic approaches based on BMC (Body-Mind Centering), we utilize the material of human embryonic development to see how new forms and new possibilities of movement are nurtured within us. In this workshop, we will explore how regressive body techniques can expand our potential for movement in contact improvisation.
Form and movement are inseparable containers. But what if the vertical axis is not the first body-organizing structure to appear in the body? We will play with different axes and directions of movement. Physicality, technical skills, subtlety, pleasure, depth, strength and lightness. Can these qualities be in your dance at the same time?
In this workshop we will learn
- how to be lighter in dance;
- how to maintain movement, and not freeze;
- how to be steady while dancing;
- how to find resolution and joy from our own strength.
Additionally, we will learn to recognise movement direction, the vector of movement. In a way, this direction can also be called an axis. Can we allow movement to flow through our entire body and surf on the waves of movement? Yes! We will explore this together.
MAIN FESTIVAL
29th Jan - 2nd Feb 2027
Hearth & Soul Eco Farm
Overberg, Western Cape
Arrive Friday 4pm
Depart Tuesday 2pm
For more info on the
Intensive with Artem Markov
click here
>>
Dancers from South Africa and abroad come together to share, connect and expand through the practice of Contact Improvisation. Guest international teacher, Artem Markov, leads us in a five day immersion that will transform your dancing experience. The Festival also offers daily morning practice, outdoor sessions, bodywork and evening jams with live music, as well as free time for resting, connecting, walking the land and swimming in the river.
The CI intensive and workshops focus on enriching and refining the dance through deepening attention. We will learn detailed techniques of lifting, flying and falling, exploring momentum and refining subtle understandings that open new movement possibilities, bringing effortless flow to the dance.
CONTACT FESTIVAL SOUTH AFRICA
POST - FESTIVAL
2 -4 February 2026
Hearth & Soul Eco Farm
Overberg, Western Cape
Arrive Tuesday 3pm
Depart Thursday 3pm
CI JAM IMMERSION
Two more days of dancing together! An opportunity to integrate skills and experiences from the Main Festival and deepen in practice and community. Through jams, scores and discussion, we will explore different ways of directing awareness within the dance, sustaining interest, creativity and presence. We will explore approaches to witnessing and observing Contact Improvisation, noticing composition from within the dance and through observing each other. Combining technical exploration with spontaneity, to create a profound connection to ourselves, each other, and the space around us.
The programme includes an 8 hour jam, an opportunity to stay in process for an extended time, noticing the shifting states of the collective experience and our own attention.
We treat the process as an opportunity to deepen in authenticity, presence and connection.
* The Post Festival Jam Immersion is not open to beginners unless you have joined us for the Main Festival.
For Ticket pricing and Accommodation options, click here >>
ACCOMMODATION
The following options are available for the Festival and Post- Workshop:
SHARED ROOM- with ensuite bathroom, for 2-3 occupants, single beds
PRIVATE ROOM - with ensuite bathroom, single occupancy
DORM ROOM- for up 6 occupants, shared bathroom
CAMPING - tent and bedding provided by you, camping bathroom
SCHEDULE
Contact Festival South Africa 29th Jan - 2nd Feb 2027
Post - Festival Jam Immersion 2nd - 4th February 2027
TICKETS
Tickets for Contact Festival South Africa are limited, and having been full to capacity last year, we expect them to be in high demand. Please complete Registration and purchase your tickets early if you know you would like to join us.
PRE - FESTIVAL
Workshop with
Artem Markov
Saturday 10:00 - 17:00
& Sunday 14:00 - 21:00
Main Hall
Observatory Community Centre
23 & 24 January 2027
OBSERVATORY - CAPE TOWN
2 DAY WORKSHOP
2000 ZAR SA Residents
125 Euros International
The cost of your ticket includes all workshops and jams. Please bring a water bottle and your own lunch.
MAIN FESTIVAL
29 January - 02 February 2027
HEARTH & SOUL - OVERBERG
SHARED ACCOMMODATION
7400 ZAR SA Residents
450 Euros International
PRIVATE ACCOMMODATION
8600 ZAR SA Residents
530 Euros International
CAMPING & DORM
6600 ZAR SA Residents
410 Euros International
The cost of your ticket includes 4 nights accommodation, meals, tea, and all classes, workshops and jams.
If you purchase a Camping Ticket, you are required to bring your own tent, sleeping mattress and bedding.
POST - FESTIVAL
Jam Immersion
02 - 04 FEBRUARY 2027 -
HEARTH & SOUL - OVERBERG
SHARED ACCOMMODATION
3500 ZAR SA Residents
220 Euros International
PRIVATE ACCOMMODATION
4500 ZAR SA Residents
270 Euros International
CAMPING & DORM
3000 ZAR SA Residents
190 Euros International
The cost of your ticket includes 2 nights accommodation, meals, tea, and all classes, workshops and jams.
If you purchase a Camping Ticket, you are required to bring your own tent, sleeping mattress and bedding.
MAIN FESTIVAL &
POST - FESTIVAL
SHARED ACCOMMODATION
9600 ZAR SA Residents
600 Euros International
29 January - 04 February 2027
HEARTH & SOUL - OVERBERG
PRIVATE ACCOMMODATION
11200 ZAR SA Residents
700 Euros International
CAMPING & DORM
8500 ZAR SA Residents
510 Euros International
The cost of your ticket includes 6 nights accommodation, meals, tea, and all classes, workshops and jams.
If you purchase a Camping Ticket, you are required to bring your own tent, sleeping mattress and bedding.
To receive payment instructions and reserve your space, please complete the registration form.
Payment is to a South African Bank account or via Wise.
PAST FESTIVALS
CONTACT FESTIVAL SOUTH AFRICA 2025
Intensive Teacher- Serafima Darova
CONTACT FESTIVAL SOUTH AFRICA 2024
Intensive Teacher- Jori Snell
