Life is Now!
News: we have participant coming from around 20 countries and 4 continents!!
Hello beautiful souls - movers - life travellers!!
Join us this summer in a unique and peaceful venue where the sea meets the sun and fresh air at the roots of mount Olympus into a respectful and caring community which seeks to connection with ourselves individually, with others and with Mother Earth.
A huge dance floor is constructed on the beach right next to the sea, where Ecstatic dance, 5Rhythms©, Azul, Mindful voice and Movement practices, Contact improvisation, Yoga, Bothmer movement meditation, as well as live DJ sets, Holistic Health approaches such as ZenThaiShiatsu massage & Homoeopathy.
Our goal and desire is to offer the opportunity to explore various arts and healing practices and to discover new ways of connection as this enables flow and life.
We will be staying in a beautiful hotel or camping with its private beach, with our dance floor right next to the waves, as well as a pool, a bar and a restaurant with amazing traditional Greek menu, prepared with love and care!
The festival takes place at the roots of mount Olympus in Northern Greece, very close to archaeological sites and mount Olympus itself, the abode of most of the Greek Gods.
Prices starts from 280€ amd we have very convenient prices for who will join both retreats!
Are you ready to dive in?
Become part of this unique journey!
Each one of us is important and we don’t want to miss you, your vibes and energy!!
Facilitators
Kareem Raïhani has been called many names for the ecstatic journeys he creates world wide on festivals, gatherings, retreats and ceremonies. More then 20 Years, Kareem shares his music world wide and mixes like no other different styles of dance music. Graduated at the Amsterdam High School of Arts – Contemporary Dance
Academy, Kareem started his artistic career as a professional theater dance performer.
Dagmar Cee
5Rhythms
Trained and authorized by Gabrielle Roth, Dagmar Cee has been teaching and organising the 5Rhythms® internationally (since 2005 on the Waves and since 2010 on the Heartbeat level). Her background is photography and Media Art. She is a 5Rhythms nomad and her homebase is Berlin.
“5Rhythms® are my medicine - a meditation that navigates me through times when I forget who I really am. That leaves me as a compassionate being connecting body, mind and heart and quietening my chattering ego. I love to share my medicine and my own research with people around the globe." D.C.
Ippokratis Veneris
Contact Improvisation
Teacher, dancer, choreographer, deepen and studies dance and other arts for more than 20 years. In his lessons of contact inserts elements from the various disciplines that has studied extensively over the years as: floorwork, release technique, experiential anatomy, applied anatomy, dupuy technique, acrobalance, martial arts, afro dance, ballet, alexander technic, chi kung, dance theatre and much more.
– In the past collaborated with the UNIVERSITY OF ROME “Roma 3”, department of “Philosophy of Education” giving lectures about “Pedagogy, C.I. and personal researches on teaching”.
- Received an open scholarship in Brussels (PARTS-ROSAS Dance Company) l.
– has been professor in the theatre school “il Cantiere Teatrale”.
- 2018 award: His work as choreography director for the Pina Bausch "The Nelken line in Rome". An international project of 25 dancers of 11 different countries. Receives the second award of Lazio Film Festival Commission.
– Has collaborated -teaching and making shows of improvisation- with the Italian National Organisation of Theater.
– Teaches regularly Contact Improvisation developing his own method.
– Teaches in different places around Europe.
– Has collaborated with Roberto Castello-Aldes for “Narrate” premium UBU as the best dance theatre production of the year in Italy and many others.
– Co-founder of CORE an association of choreographers of central Italy to promote the rights of the live performing arts
– Co-founder of RomaContact a collective of dancers who promote and give shows of improvisation and Contact Improvisation.
- Artistic director of Jam of Arte festival
– As a choreographer, dancer and improviser has organized and participated at many international events.
Cristina Crescenzi
Azul, Ecstatic DJ Dance
With over 15 years of experience in personal growth and mindfulness practices, she was the first Certified Teacher of Azul Conscious Movement in Italy, a practice derived from the 5 rhythms and trained in Hawaii by the method's creator, Amara Pagano.
Since 2017, she has been guiding Azul Conscious Movement practice and is part of the international school of Azul Conscious Movement, mentoring new teachers in this captivating approach.
As a conscious dance teacher and facilitator, she introduced Ecstatic Dance to Italy in 2015, a liberating form of dance originating from Hawaii over 20 years ago.
Co-founder of the Ecstatic Dance Italy project, she is a cornerstone of the Italian community.
Founder of the Silentwaves practice, since 2020 post-pandemic, as a response to emerging needs: reconnect with life, feel the connection with the body, others, and the nature.
Her talent lies in awakening the potential and uniqueness of individuals through body reconnection. Her passion is to share this journey of exploration and liberation with anyone desiring to connect with themselves through the power of conscious dance.
Aliki Dourmazer
Mindful Movement & Voice
Aliki Dourmazer is a performer, actress, director, vocalist and teacher of Physical Theater & Voice since 1999. She is the artistic director of ‘Present Being Performer Laboratory’ - Physical Theatre & Performance Laboratory in Thessaloniki where she teaches and directs. He is a graduate of BA 'Theatre Studies' and Master in Arts in 'Ensemble Physical Theatre', University of Huddersfield. She trained in psychophysical actor training and Ritual theatre by Phillip Zarrilli and Nicolas Nunez, ‘Ensemble Physical Theatre’ by John Britton and ‘Voice is the Body’ by Chris Coe.
Having entered the world of Yoga and other spiritual practices since 1996, they have been a significant influence in the understanding and the shaping of her teaching approach on the basic principles of Physical Theatre. She has co-organised and attended ‘5 Rhythms Dance’ workshops with Cathy Ryan and she has been using elements of this moving meditation in her work. Energy awakening, mindfulness and the journey of self-awareness fuel and inspire her artistic steps.
In collaboration with Angeliki Tasovali, Tai Chi and Qigong instructor, she organizes and teaches in the Retreats "Holiday Retreat Balance and Bliss" and "Spring Retreat Transformation and Growth" where she teaches 'Mindful movement and the Expressive Body'.
Ecstatic Dance D.J
AlReem Behzad
Bothmer Movement Meditation, 5Rhythms and HSE informed Yoga.
A sculptor and theatre director with a dedication to therapeutic movement. Reem is a certified 5rhythms teacher and Yoga instructor, with a vast background in various body-mind practices including Dance Psychotherapy, Bothmer, Authentic movement and Hannah Somatics (HSE).
Body-mind practices have the capacity to alchemise what is unprocessed within us and to inform us. This sort of alchemy can never be achieved with the mind alone. My chosen tools are the ones I found to work most powerfully on me, namely the 5rhythms and Bothmer “Gymnastics” otherwise know as Bothmer Movement Meditation.
It will be a great honour for me to introduce you to the practice of Bothmer at this coming Sundance Festival. You will explore and learn a finely studied sequence of movements designed to align the body, mind and soul, bringing you into presence within yourself and your relation to the world around you.
Mridu Pavlos
Ecstatic Dance, From Separation to Unity
Mridu is the founder of Ecstatic Radiance - a Community Healing Movement. At Ecstatic Radiance, together with friends, he co-creates & shares the gift of healing and self-development. Meditation & awareness is the base of Ecstatic Radiance with an opening to all directions and healing modalities, always with deep respect and love towards any form of life.
He facilitates spiritual work for human growth, combining methods using body & mind. He is a Mentor and trainer of (FSTU) From Separation To Unity—Heart Consciousness Evolution and an Ecstatic Dance DJ and facilitator.
In his Ecstatic Dance sessions, Mridu flows between movement and stillness, between Body and Heart. Selecting music and sounds from all over the world, he creates the space for the individual to let go of the mind, allow the spirit to align in harmony, and arise into an Ecstatic, Blissful, and Healing state.
He was born in Greece; In 2007, he visited the Osho Afroz Meditation Center,
where he met a new way of life through Meditation & healing. He fell in love with the
conscious way of living and working with people.
Holistic approaches
Francesco Paterna
ZenThaiShiatsu massage, Yoga, CiGong
Francesco Paterna is a 28-year-old ZenThaiShiatsu therapist, renowned for his holistic approach to health and wellness.
ZenThaiShiatsu, a massage technique originating in Australia, uniquely combines Zen Shiatsu, Thai massage, and Remedial massage to promote physical, emotional, and spiritual balance.
Alongside his therapeutic practice, Francesco is also a dedicated Yoga and QiGong teacher, emphasizing the connection between mind, body, and spirit. His expertise and compassionate approach help clients achieve optimal health and harmony.
Kyriaki Kyriakidou
Yoga Synergy, Free Vinyasa Flow, Homoeopathy
I founded Aum Home Yoga studio in 2013, even though my first contact with yoga was in 1991. I dropped it for a decade to explore dance, jazz & classical ballet until I accidentally bumped into kundalini yoga which linked well with my then spiritual practice (a sufi order).
In the following years I practiced many kinds of yoga and meditation some of which stuck with me as my daily routine (Kriya Yoga, Theravada Vipassana) for years.
In 2021 I was certified a Yoga Synergy teacher and this reformed my practice into a more feasible flow, like a dynamic meditation.
I have taught twice in a TCM and Qi Gong Seminar in Bulgaria (2014) & I have been in the organizational and teaching team in the International Yoga Day, Thessaloniki (2016, 2017).
Besides the body-mind studies, I have been a solely follower of homoeopathy for more than 20 years, for my own health restoration and because I saw radical effects on me, with min. effort, no side effects, long term results with slight, or no recurrency, I became a homoeopath, Dip Hom ACH.
Malu Barben
Craniosacral therapy
Malu combines her abilities of clairsentience with an in-depth expertise as a certified craniosacral therapist.
Since more than a decade my calling has been to assist clients in all sorts of physical and mental healing processes. In this work I am supported by a team of spiritual guides, among them my great grand mother.
Thanks to the precise instructions of those beings of light, it becomes possible to facilitate helpful shifts in body, mind and soul precisely and yet playfully, always in accordance with your needs, uncovering and addressing deeper origins of inconsistencies or blockages in the body. This works through all levels of body, mind and soul, as well as through all timelines and aims to support you in shifting your reality into a lighter, healthier and more loving state.
Jam of Arts Festival
Before the SunDance Festival will take place on the same space the Jam of Arts Festival from 23 to 29 of August
The festival is dedicated to Contact Improvisation, Somatics, Feldenkrais, Ilan Lev method, improvisation and much more!
We have spacial prices for who wants to join both festivals!
For more informations visit: www.jamofarts.com
The location
The roundabouts
A 45min drive will get you to mount Olympus, where you find the beautiful Orlias waterfalls, while a little further away, you will reach the Enipeas waterfalls. On our free day of the festival, we can all share the cost of minibuses to visit them both. (Beow, a video shot by ourselves)
We will be hosted in a beautiful hotel & camping with private beach, pool, bar and the dance floor will be next to the sea and with amazing greek traditional food made with love and care!
