Contact: Land • Water • Spirit
Wed, Mar 10
|Sundari Gardens
A Contact Improvisation Retreat & Jam on Hawai'i Island
Time & Location
Mar 10, 2027, 4:00 PM HST – Mar 13, 2027, 9:00 PM HST
Sundari Gardens, Kalapana, HI 96778, USA
About the event
Contact: Land • Water • Spirit
Event Details
Contact: Land • Water • Spirit is a 4-day Contact Improvisation retreat and jam on Hawaiʻi Island devoted to dancing, listening, slowing down, and restoring connection: with our bodies, with one another, with the natural world, and with spirit.
Together we’ll move between land and warm water, structured classes and open jams, physical skill and deep rest. We’ll explore weight, gravity, touch, momentum, listening and play, while allowing the particular landscape and rhythm of Puna to become part of the practice.
This retreat honors the heart of Contact Improvisation: learning through dancing together.
🌍 Land
Contact Improvisation on land forms the physical foundation of the retreat. Through clear, progressive teaching, we’ll explore weight, gravity, structure, momentum, falling, lifting, touch, and the constantly changing conversation between two bodies.
Alongside technique, we’ll use playful scores and group explorations to build trust, spontaneity, and connection, creating pathways from structured learning into the freedom of the jam.
🌊 Water
Warm water invites us into an entirely different relationship with gravity, effort, and one another. Falling becomes suspension. Weight becomes buoyancy. Movement slows down, and listening becomes more subtle.
In small-group sessions, we’ll explore the particular intelligence of moving in water: yielding rather than pushing, allowing ourselves to be supported, and discovering new possibilities for movement, connection, and deep listening within the fluid environment.
🔥 Spirit
Spirit lives in the spaces between doing: in stillness, rest, attention, play, and the experience of being together without needing to accomplish anything.
Contemplative practice, restorative explorations, time in nature, and spacious transitions throughout the retreat invite integration and a return to a more human pace. We make room to listen to what the dance, the body, the land, and one another are revealing.
What to Expect
Contact Improvisation classes
Clear, progressive explorations of weight, gravity, structure, momentum, falling, lifting, touch, and relational listening, with accessible pathways for newer dancers and deeper technical inquiry for experienced practitioners.
Warm Water Contact
Small-group sessions in a body-temperature pool exploring buoyancy, suspension, yielding, support, subtle listening, and the meditative qualities of moving together in warm water.
Play, Scores & Jams
Play-based scores and group explorations build connection, spontaneity, and communal awareness, gradually opening into spacious Contact Improvisation jams.
Morning Practice
Optional yoga and Contemplative Dance Practice offer ways to arrive in the body, settle attention, and begin the day together.
Rest & Integration
Evenings slow the rhythm down. Restorative practices, sound, stillness, and simple forms of togetherness create space to integrate rather than continually adding more.
Lunch + Spacious Breaks
A nourishing lunch is provided each full retreat day, with generous time to eat, rest, wander the gardens, connect, or simply do nothing.
The Land
Our gathering takes place at Sundari Gardens in Kaimū, surrounded by lush tropical gardens, ocean views, open lawns, and the extraordinary volcanic landscape of Puna.
About Shannon
Shannon Sahaja is a somatic educator, dance artist, and movement facilitator with more than two decades of experience exploring the body as a source of intelligence, creativity, and connection.
She holds a BFA in Dance from SUNY Purchase and has studied extensively with many of the early pioneers of Contact Improvisation, including Nancy Stark Smith. Her teaching brings together a deep understanding of the mechanics of weight sharing with curiosity, play, attunement, and improvisation.
Shannon is also a longtime yoga teacher and meditation practitioner. Eight years of living and teaching at Harbin Hot Springs, along with her mentorship with Angela Farmer, deeply shaped her approach to embodied practice.
From 2017–2024, Shannon helped hold and cultivate the community of Ecstatic Dance Oakland while teaching Yoga and Contact Improvisation.
Her work includes Experiments in Communal Play, Nesting & Resting: The Art of Togetherness, Contact Improvisation intensives, retreats, and other embodied explorations.
Shannon creates spaces where technical learning and physical intelligence meet playfulness, presence, connection, and the unexpected.
Register -----> HERE
Our Venue
Our main event spaces at Sundari Gardens will be on an big open air dancefloor with grassy knolls and panoramic ocean views, the community kitchrn, and our hilltop spa with heated watsu pool.
Housing Options
All rooms come with quality furnishings, bedding, fan, access to a kitchen. Staying on site also gives you access to our spa and full 10 acre property full of party guests and activities.
Tiers of housing options available are:
BYO Tent
Shared Budget Room with Shared Bathroom
Shared Premium Room with Shared Bathroom
Premium Private Room with Shared Bathroom
Premium Private Room with Private Bathroom
Premium Room with Private Bathrooms
Transportation Options
Private airport pickup for Kona ($180 each way) or Hilo ($75, each way)
Food Options
There will be catered meals with meal plan options TBD
Tickets
Budget Shared Room – Twin Bed
A shared budget-friendly room with two twin beds. This gives you one bed, buy two for you and friend. A simple, comfortable option for guests who prefer affordability while still enjoying the full experience.
From $250.00 to $300.00
$250.00
+$6.25 ticket service fee
$300.00
+$7.50 ticket service fee
Premium Shared Room– Twin Bed
A shared premium room with two twin beds. Ideal for guests who are comfortable sharing a room while enjoying upgraded amenities and a serene retreat setting. This is for one bed, buy two for both or find a roommate and let us know later who you wish to be sharing space with. Otherwise, we'll put folks with like-gendered folks as we see fit.
From $325.00 to $400.00
$325.00
+$8.13 ticket service fee
$400.00
+$10.00 ticket service fee
Room with a Shared Bathroom
This room is a large King or Queen bed with expansive ocean views and a shared bathroom.
From $530.00 to $645.00
$530.00
+$13.25 ticket service fee
$645.00
+$16.13 ticket service fee
Room with a Private Bathroom
This room has a large King or Queen bed with expansive ocean views and a private bathroom.
From $560.00 to $675.00
$560.00
+$14.00 ticket service fee
$675.00
+$16.88 ticket service fee
BYO Tent
Bring Your Own Tent and have access to community bathroom, shower and kitchen.
From $160.00 to $200.00
$160.00
+$4.00 ticket service fee
$200.00
+$5.00 ticket service fee
Hilo Airport Shuttle
Hilo is an hour away from our venue. This shuttle includes a 30 minute stop a the grocery store on your arrival. Uber and Taxi do not service the island consistently, but an Uber would typically be $80 each way. To complete this registration, please respond to the form sent with your airport details.
From $80.00 to $155.00
$80.00
+$2.00 ticket service fee
$155.00
+$3.88 ticket service fee
Kona Airport Shuttle
We are 2.5 hours away from the Kona Airport. This ticket includes pickup and grocery store stop for 30 minutes. Uber and Taxi do not service the island consistently, but an Uber would typically be $250 each way. To complete this registration, please respond to the form sent with your airport details.
From $180.00 to $340.00
$180.00
+$4.50 ticket service fee
$340.00
+$8.50 ticket service fee
Total
$0.00