Continuum Practice Workshop with dancer, choreographer and teacher Sylvain Méret

Saturday, 9 May 2026, from 10:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. / Sunday, 10 May 2026, from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.

SomaHut Festival 2026

The fluidity of Gel/Sol, movement practice and composition from expression to dissolution.

Sylvain Méret is a dancer, choreographer, and Continuum teacher. A graduate of the Bordeaux School of Fine Arts, trained in contemporary dance at PARTS and then in CODARTS dance therapy, his career has developed in France, Europe, and particularly in the Netherlands and South Korea.

The fee for participation in the Continuum Practice Workshop is €90, or €60 with an early registration discount (until 30 April 2026).

To participate in the workshops, registration is required at somahut.mmk@gmail.com

An experiential anatomy workshop for children

Saturday, May 9, 2026, from 3 to 4 PM

SomaHut festival 2026

Facilitators: Marina Brajdić and Zrinka Šimičić

In this workshop, participants – children aged 6 to 10 – will get to know their bodies through play, movement, touch, and imagination. A special focus of the session will be our bones, the connections between them, and their role in the functioning of the entire body. This workshop is an introduction and preview of the Experiential Anatomy for Kids program, which is launching soon at SomaHut.

To register for the workshop: somahut.mmk@gmail.com

Led by: Zrinka Šimičić, dance artist and certified somatic practitioner and developmental movement educator (CMA-SP, RSME, IDME).

The workshops will be held according to the following schedule:

24 January, 10 a.m.–2 p.m.: IMMUNITY AS A PROCESS
14 February, 10 a.m.–2 p.m.: EMBRYONIC DEVELOPMENT – Simplicity in Complexity
14 March, 10 a.m.–2 p.m.: CELLULAR AND INTRACELLULAR STRUCTURES

Venue: MO Šestine, Šestinski trg 10, Zagreb

The content of the workshops is based on the Body-Mind Centering® approach and learning, the LBMS system, the principles of Bartenieff Fundamentals, and the facilitator’s many years of personal experience in researching and teaching somatic movement.

The workshops are intended for everyone who wishes to:

• – deepen their experience and knowledge of the body and movement for professional or personal reasons
• – connect with the resources of their own body for survival, maintaining balance, and learning
• – dive into the vast wealth of knowledge and experience stored in the body before birth, at the very beginning of embryonic development
• – become aware of some of the fundamental structures that build our body

1st workshop in the series: IMMUNITY AS A PROCESS

The immune response ensures the balance and health of the organism through a complex process of intercellular communication, evaluation and learning through relationship with the environment. An appropriate response requires a process and time: not to rush, to rest, to store information, but also to be ready to encounter what is new and unknown.

Through the immune system, the body learns about itself: what it needs and what benefits it, what it does not need and what may harm it; what it recognizes as part of itself and what as a potential threat; where what I call “I” ends and the other begins, and whether the boundary that defines us is clear or imagined.

Drawing on the study of anatomy and physiology, in this workshop we will embody some of the principles that can support the awareness and strengthening of the immune system.

Starting from personal experience of the body, movement and touch, we will open some of the questions that form the basis of understanding immunology from a somatic perspective: questions of boundary, identity, dynamic balance, relationship and proportion.

2nd workshop in the series: EMBRYONIC DEVELOPMENT – Simplicity in Complexity

In this workshop we will return to the very beginnings of our existence and, by embodying some of the processes that shaped us, rediscover the extraordinary intelligence, complexity and clarity that guided our path – from cell to community.

3rd workshop in the series: CELLULAR AND INTRACELLULAR STRUCTURES

The theme of this workshop will guide us toward awareness of the fundamental structures that build our body – cells and intracellular parts; their structure, function, mutual relationship and connection with particular systems and the organism as a whole.

What can this dive into the microworld of our body teach us about ourselves as individuals and as a community?

Registration

It is possible to participate in each workshop individually or in the whole series.

The recommended donation is €50 per workshop. If you are able, please pay the full amount; if not, donate what you can. If you are currently unable to pay anything and would still like to participate, you are welcome. Your donation supports the continuation and development of the SomaHut initiative and programme. One of SomaHut’s goals is to make somatic work accessible to everyone it can empower, support and inspire.

Please register your attendance by e-mail: somahut.mmk@gmail.com

GROUND UNDER THE EAR

MO Šestine, Šestinski trg 10

15.11., 29.11. and 6.12. 2025. from 11 am to 2 pm

Recommended donation amount: 20-40 euros, or according to your capabilities

Applications: somahut.mmk@gmail.com

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In this workshop series, we explore walking through listening — opening up space for experiencing our own movement as a living part of the environment.

Through three sessions, we explore the concepts of grounding, safety, and freedom in movement, exploring them through three different “steps”: forward, left-right, and backward.

We will listen to the ground, the sounds of the space, and our own body in motion, and explore how listening and touch support safe and free movement.

The workshop series could be of particular interest to anyone interested in movement, especially passionate walkers or those who find walking difficult. Also to physiotherapists and occupational therapists who want to enrich their practice in creative ways, and to professionals who work with visually impaired and blind people through education or therapy.

The workshops are open to everyone, regardless of previous experience!

More about the workshops:

Workshop One: A STEP FORWARD OR TWO

15.11.2025. 11-14 h, MO Šestine, Šestinski trg 10

In this workshop we will focus on exploring forward walking, as a type of walking that is most familiar to us. Individually, in pairs and together as a group, we will explore how we hear the ground beneath us and how we put ourselves in motion with it. We will study how we push ourselves off the floor, work with listening to ambient sound and see how listening organizes the skull and build a second floor – the ‘floor’ of the skull that cooperates with the floor of the ground. We will explore how relying on sound can support free movement and a sense of security in movement.

Second workshop: LEFT-RIGHT STEP

29.11.2025. 11-14 h, MO Šestine, Šestinski trg 10

This organization of walking is less common for humans. We use this gait every now and then, but for specific needs, for example when we are squeezing through a narrow passage. We used to move this way often when we were babies, getting up to walk, and still holding on to walls and objects in space, a little uncertainly. When we integrated forward walking, this lateral gait remained inscribed in our nervous system. With every step we take, a ‘sideward walk’ or lateral flexion also occurs. In this workshop, we will listen to how we hear the wavy movement to the side and how we hear the sound of the environment, and how this complication contributes to the return of the forward walking familiar to us.

Third workshop: A STEP BACK

6.12.2025. 11-14 h, MO Šestine, Šestinski trg 10

Walking is interesting and fun for many and we often do it at least through a step or two, but it also arouses the fear of falling for many. Precisely because we do not have direct access to vision, we rely on proprioception, touch and, above all, hearing. These sensations become much more pronounced than when we walk forward. We will discover how waves of movement through the skeleton unfold in this direction, how we can build a sense of trust in the environment and our own movement, and how we can be grounded even when we perceive it to be dangerous.

SomaHut 2025

workshop

Zagreb Dance Center, Ilica 10, Zagreb

November 22 – 23, 2025

Saturday, November 22nd 10:30 AM — 4:30 PM (break 1-2 PM)

Sunday, November 23rd 10:30 AM — 3 PM (break 1-1:30 PM)

The workshop is open to all interested parties, regardless of previous experience.

Applications at: somahut.mmk@gmail.com

‘In proposing the content of this workshop, I will draw on the Skinner Releasing* technique as well as over 25 years of experience teaching and dancing improvisation, including contact improvisation. Each class will begin with a ‘fine tuning’ that will lead us to practice contact skills before moving into guided or open group dance to deepen the experience. Curiosity in exploring the wonders of ‘release work’ will guide us to clear, specific, and perhaps even energetic dances.’

The material will include:

– awareness through relaxation – flexibility and autonomy; work on chest volume, spinal articulation, leg freedom, exploration of hand movements, center awareness

– exploration of the path from conscious touch to movement

– opening, creating, entering, moving through and being in space

– dance with skills such as disorientation, falling, flying, safe landing

* Skinner releasing technique is a somatic dance technique developed by Joan Skinner. It uses image-guided floor work, graphic representations and movement study with the aim of relieving tension and supporting ease of movement, softly interweaving and integrating technique work and the creative process.

** Contact improvisation is a dance form in continuous development that involves physical contact between two or more bodies while simultaneously paying attention to touch, giving and receiving weight. The improvisational aspect meets physical data such as gravity and centrifugal force. Embodied knowledge of anatomy can increase range of motion. Attention to detail and relying on the support of one or more partners offers unique mobility options.

Eszter Gál is a dancer, Registered Somatic Movement Educator (MSME/T), researcher and certified Skinner Releasing Technique teacher. He has been teaching somatic techniques, contact improvisation, composition, improvisation and performance practice for more than 30 years. She is a co-founder and lecturer in the SODA program (Somatic Dialogues Academy) in Budapest.

As a teacher, choreographer and performer, she collaborates with Tánceánia, an inclusive dance company. Her artwork and teaching methods have been influenced by: Eva Karczag, Mary Overlie, Yoshiko Chuma, Mark Tompkins, Keith Hennessy, Stephanie Skura, Martin Keogh, Nita Little, Nina Martin, Benoit Lachambre and Peter Pleyer. In 2020, he joins the Cranky Bodies company. As part of his doctoral studies, he is researching the Hungarian heritage of contact improvisation.

The registration fee for the workshop is 120 euros,

and with an early registration discount of 100 euros.

The registration fee for the unemployed, pupils, students, and retirees is 90 euros,

and with an early registration discount of 70 euros.

The early registration discount is valid for applications and payments made by 7.11.

The SomaHurt 2025 program is co-financed by the City of Zagreb, the Ministry of Culture and Media of the Republic of Croatia, and the European Union.

Workshop and lecture

by

Gabriel Hensche

October 4th, 6–9 PM
Ribnjak Youth Center

What if we start practising love not only within our romantic relationships, our families or with our friends but with Ourselves, Other/s and Other Other/s? What happens if we understand love, not only as something that concerns us privately but also as something that we can practise collectively. What if we start to understand love not as something that happens to us, but also as something that we can actively practise. And what would a collective practice of love towards Ourselves, Other/s, and Other Other/s eventually look like?

How to Love Many in Many Ways is a set of games and exercises that playfully challenge the way we see and practice love and with whom we share it. Starting with the question of “How to Love Many in Many Ways” Engy Mohsen and Gabriel Hensche developed 12 exercises that can be played with Yourself, Other/s, and Other Other/s. The players can be objects, plants, animals or people that share a completely different worldview or come from a different context.
In this workshop, Gabriel Hensche will guide you through a selection of these exercises that delve into both the social and somatic realms. No prior knowledge is required, and participation in these activities is entirely optional. While the workshop will be conducted in English, we will ensure that non-English speakers can fully engage and participate.

Register by email: somahut.mmk@gmail.com
Participation is free, with donations welcome according to your means.

Body-Mind Centering® morning classes

with Zrinka Šimičić, certified educator of somatic and developmental movement through BMC® and certified movement analyst – somatic practitioner through LBMS.

On Wednesdays from 8:30 to 10:00 a.m. at the Zagreb Dance Center (Ilica 10) and are open to everyone, regardless of previous experience.

Body-Mind Centering® is an integrative approach to movement based on an experiential model of psychophysical learning about different body systems, their anatomy and physiology, as well as developmental movement. Its goal is to connect factual knowledge with personal experience. The BMC® approach begins with awareness of cellular and sub-cellular structures, tissues, and organs as a pathway toward activation and outward action with greater support and more choices. The founder of this approach is Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen.

The price for a single class is €15, and for a full month €45.
A 30% discount is available for unemployed persons and members of UPUH and PULS (discounted price: €10 for a single class, €30 for a monthly pass).
Two free places are available for people facing physical, economic, or other difficulties.

For additional information and registration: somahut.mmk@gmail.com

Body-Mind Centering ®  /BMC ® are registered service mark of Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen, used with permission

Workshop with Mia Štark and Ivona Eterović

Sunday, May 25, 2025, from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m., SomaHut Festival

How do organs sound and what kind of music do they create? This is the shared question of artists Ivona Eterović, musician and producer, and Mia Štark, dance/visual artist and current participant of the BMC® education program. In this workshop, together with the participants, they will try to discover some of the answers to it.

After exploring the body through movement guided by Mia, drawing on the BMC® approach, participants will be encouraged to release themselves into discovering (or imagining) the sounds of their inner world, and then, together with Ivona, shape a short composition of the body — revealing how they sound together, as one organism.

The workshop is open to everyone, regardless of previous experience, age, or physical condition.

To participate in the workshop, registration is required at: somahut.mmk@gmail.com

The recommended participation fee for the workshop is 10–20 euros, depending on possibilities.

Interdisciplinary workshop of movement and animation with animation artist Michaela Müller and Zrinka Šimičić

Saturday, May 24, 2025, from 4 p.m. to 5:30 p.m., SomaHut Festival

This intermedial workshop of movement and animation emerged from a dialogue between animation artist Michaela Müller and dance artist Zrinka Šimičić. The facilitators will introduce participants to the basics of their respective media: Zrinka will guide them through the fundamental spatial and dynamic aspects of movement, while Michaela will introduce the principles of animation (stop motion) and painting on glass.

As the result of a collective improvisation by all participants, a short animated film will be created, rounding off this shared experience of listening, expression, and collaboration.

To participate in the workshops, registration is required at: somahut.mmk@gmail.com

The recommended participation fee for the workshops is 10–20 euros, depending on possibilities.

Workshop with Melita Lovričević, jazz vocalist, music educator, and music therapist

Saturday, May 24, 2025, from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m., SomaHut Festival

Freedom and fluidity; the ease of listening and connecting with one’s inner and outer voice; the shaping, direction, intention, and projection of the voice — these are some of the interests that led to the concept of Alchemy of Voice by jazz vocalist, musician, author, educator, and music therapist Melita Lovričević.

She builds her artistic work on similar questions, exploring vocal improvisation and the inner and outer voice through sound, body, emotion, psyche, and society. In doing so, she develops a method that, as she describes it, “liberates voices”.

The workshop is intended for anyone who wishes to gain a new experience of exploring the voice through its connection with breath, thoughts, emotions, and movement — to become aware of the palette of often overlooked textures, noises, tones, and nuances of sound; to soften the critical process toward one’s own voice; and to immerse themselves in a space of greater ease and pleasure.

To participate in the workshops, registration is required at: somahut.mmk@gmail.com

The recommended participation fee for the workshops is 10–20 euros, depending on possibilities.