Contemplative Contact Retreat

CONTEMPLATIVE CONTACT RETREAT (CCR)

 

Quinta Ten Chi, Sintra, Portugal

1 – 8 November 2025

​​​

 

CCR is a simple yet powerful invitation.

​

A week of intimacy beginning with your own body, facilitated through silence and collective rituals, a sense of safety and care extends from self to other, opening space for insight and transformation through meeting.

​

CCR is a refuge from the fragmented, fast-paced, over-stimulating modern world. It is a space to cultivate a mind–body that is collected, whole, and aware — in the dance and in daily life.

​

We work within the empty-full form that is Contact Improvisation, supported by contemplative stillness and movement practices:

​

· Silent Group Meditations
· Contemplative Dance Practice (CDP)
· The Discipline of Authentic Movement
· Scored & Focused Jam Spaces
· Fully Silent Days

​

Contemplative here means an orientation toward stillness, depth, and awareness. The word comes from the Latin contemplari — “to gaze attentively.” In Aristotle’s terms, the contemplative life is one focused on truth, wisdom, and inquiry.

​

Empty hours are an essential part of the gift: time to harvest the summer, listen, reflect, and to witness the small everyday miracles that reveal themselves when we are empty and attentive enough to notice and received them fully.

​

​

Contact Improvisation as a Contemplative Practice

 

The invitation is to bring a contemplative lens into the dance.

 

Contemplative here means an orientation toward stillness, depth, and awareness. The word comes from the Latin contemplari — “to gaze attentively.” In Aristotle’s terms, the contemplative life is one focused on truth, wisdom, and inquiry.

​

 

Schedule

 

The Skeleton – a clear structure to support the individual and collective process

 

• 07:30 Silent Group Meditation

• 08:30 Breakfast

• 10:00 Contemplative Dance Practice into CI

• 13:00 Lunch & Rest

• 16:00 Authentic Movement

• 19:00 Dinner

• 20:30 Scored Focus Jam

 

 

The Space

 

Quinta Ten Chi is nestled in the forested landscape of Sintra’s lush green micro-climate.

A space for embodied arts, movement, and meditation — and also the home of our families.

We share a large wood-floored dojo surrounded by nature.

 

 

For whom

 

The retreat is designed for those with a background in contact improvisation and/or meditation, curious about silence and embodiment.

​

This is not a beginner-focused retreat; there are no “technique classes.”

​

Guidelines will be introduced at the start to clarify the non-verbal agreements of Contact Improvisation.

 

 

Price

 

Basic Costs (food & accommodation, no income for organisers):

 

• 280 € – Own Tent / Van

• 310 € – Shared Dorm

 

+ Suggested Contribution for organisers:

100 – 300 € (sliding scale from low-income to generous supporters of our work & families)

 

 

Any Questions?

 

📧 contemplativecontact@gmail.com