Join us this August for our annual Summer Retreat
in-person at Hampshire College!

While many of you have probably heard that Hampshire College, sadly, is closing in December 2026, we have confirmed that our Retreat is still happening at Hampshire this summer. We don’t know where the Retreat will be in summer 2027 but we know where we’ll be this summer. 

So come practice with us where we have held our retreats since 1989. We'll celebrate Hampshire’s two beautiful, air-conditioned, sprung-floored dance studios and its 800-acre campus, surrounded by woods, meadows, and hiking trails. This setting in rural New England provides us with a wonderful backdrop for the week with plenty of places to gather for meals, movement, and conversations. 

Together, we’ll move and be still, imagine and share, discover and reflect. There will be daily guided movement meditations with Daphne, accompanied by John Sprague’s evocative music; hour-long round-robins with creative forming time and sharing in peer and/or faculty-led small groups; contemplative dialogues on CD/AM; and workshops with Alton and Daphne working with CD/AM in additional ways (such as moving outside, working with other media, and engaging with partners).

The campus is only a few hours from New York and Boston with nearby train stations and Bradley International Airport just 45 minutes away. There are a variety of housing options in the area and we’ll connect participants interested in sharing housing and/or carpooling.

Prerequisites

Experience: Participants should have approximately 30 hours of mentored Authentic Movement (AM) moving and witnessing practice, be able to practice for longer sessions, and maintain safe boundaries. While the retreat is designed for those who have studied Authentic Movement with us, we welcome those who have the same depth of experience with other AM teachers — email us if you would like to apply to attend.

Covid Protocols: We will require participants to confirm their negative rapid (Antigen) Covid tests leading up to and during the Retreat. A positive test will mean you may not attend the retreat. Masks will be honored but not required, and we’ll ask all to self-monitor for symptoms daily. 

We recognize that Covid is less in circulation these days and that many in-person gatherings and retreats have stopped requiring testing. However, given that we will all be living in the wider Pioneer Valley during our week, that several amongst us (including ourselves!) have vulnerable medical conditions, and this is likely to be our last Retreat at Hampshire, we want to be especially careful. We see this testing as a simple and inexpensive act of community care. We ask for your support.

Program Details

Faculty: Daphne Lowell and Alton Wasson

Dates: August 9-14, 2026

Location: Hampshire College, Amherst, MA

Schedule: 

• Sunday 3:00-6:00pm

• Monday-Thursday 10:00am-1:00pm and 3:00-5:00pm

• Fri 10:00am-1:30pm

Tuition (sliding-scale):

• $700: Program Cost

• $800: Help Others Attend

• $600: Financial Assistance