September 13 – December 13, 2025
Zagreb: Šestine Local Committee, Ribnjak Youth Center, Zagreb Dance Center

The autumn cycle of SomaHut gatherings begins on September 13 with a series of three study sessions led by Mia Štark, a dance and visual artist and trainee in the licensed School for Body-Mind Centering® program. The study sessions will take place on Saturdays, September 13, 20, and 27, from 11 AM to 1 PM at the Šestine Local Committee, Šestinski trg 10. The core of these study sessions is formed around questions and inspiration emerging from the educational program, connected with developing awareness of deep, often forgotten layers of the body and movement.

Participation is open to everyone, with a recommended donation according to individual possibilities. Due to organizational reasons, interested participants are kindly asked to register at: somahut.mmk@gmail.com.

In October, a workshop with guest artist Gabriel Hensche will follow, along with his lecture presenting the project how to love many in many ways.
Registrations: somahut.mmk@gmail.com

In November, we are expecting an intensive workshop weekend with Eszter Gal, dance artist, choreographer, educator, certified teacher of Skinner Releasing Technique, with more than 25 years of experience in the practice and teaching of contact improvisation*. The workshop will take place in collaboration with the Zagreb Dance Center.
*more information coming soon

Also beginning in November and continuing in December is a workshop cycle led by Ana Jelušić, dance artist and Feldenkrais practitioner. This series of workshops is based on the Feldenkrais Method® and will take place on Saturdays, November 15 and 29, and December 6, from 11 AM to 2 PM, at the Šestine Local Committee, Šestinski trg 10.

The autumn cycle concludes with the Annual SomaHut Meeting on December 13, 2025, also held at the Šestine Local Committee.

Schedule:
September 13, 11 AM – 1 PM / Šestine Local Committee / Mia Štark: somatic session cycle Where Does Bodily Experience Begin
September 20, 11 AM – 1 PM / Šestine Local Committee / Mia Štark: somatic session cycle Where Does Bodily Experience Begin
September 27, 11 AM – 1 PM / Šestine Local Committee / Mia Štark: somatic session cycle Where Does Bodily Experience Begin
October 4, 5 PM – 8 PM / Ribnjak Youth Center / Gabriel Hensche: how to love many in many ways, workshop and lecture
November 15, 11 AM – 2 PM / Šestine Local Committee / Ana Jelušić: Feldenkrais Method® workshop cycle
November 22 and 23 / Zagreb Dance Center / Eszter Gal – contact improvisation and somatic practice workshop
November 29, 11 AM – 2 PM / Šestine Local Committee / Ana Jelušić: Feldenkrais Method® workshop
December 6, 11 AM – 2 PM / Šestine Local Committee / Ana Jelušić: Feldenkrais Method® workshop
December 13 / Annual SomaHut Meeting

The SomaHut program is co-financed by the City of Zagreb, the Ministry of Culture and Media of the Republic of Croatia, and the European Union through the Erasmus+ programme.
It is organized in collaboration with the following partners: Šestine Local Committee, Voćarska Local Committee, Kontejner – Bureau of Contemporary Art Praxis, Zagreb Dance Center, Ribnjak Youth Center, Wiener Tanzwochen – ImPulsTanz, and Milvus Artistic Research Center (MARC).

An Erasmus+ project focused on the professional development and capacity building of the organization’s educational and teaching staff, empowering the local community through somatic / embodied practice and education, fostering decentralization and regional networking, and connecting the local community of somatic practitioners and educators with international colleagues and organizations.

Project activities include:

Professional development activities

1. Learn Functional Integration from Moshe Feldenkrais – Explore the original FI material with Jerry Karzen

June 13–15, 2025

Feldenkrais Institute Vienna

participant: Ana Jelušić

2. Reflexes, Reactions, Responses (RRR)

June 27 – July 3, 2025

Somatic Movement Education Program of the School for Body-Mind Centering®

moveus GbR

participant: Mia Štark

3. Subcellular System, Psychophysical Integration, Professional Development

September 13–28, 2025

Practitioner Program of the School for Body-Mind Centering®

moveus GbR

participant: Zrinka Šimičić Mihanović

Activities for disseminating and sharing acquired knowledge within the organization and in collaboration with organizations in other cities in Croatia

WHERE THE BODILY EXPERIENCE BEGINS

a series of somatic sessions led by Mija Štark

September 13, 20, and 27, 2025

Community space Šestine, Šestinski trg 10, Zagreb

THE GROUND BENEATH THE EAR

a series of workshops led by Ana Jelušić

15 and 29 November and 6 December 2025

Community space Šestine, Šestinski trg 10, Zagreb

FROM CELL TO COMMUNITY

a series of Body-Mind Centering® workshops led by Zrinka Šimičić

24 January, 14 February and 14 March 2026

Community space Šestine,  Šestinski trg 10, Zagreb

FREE SPINE – THE SPINE AS A CHAIN

Facilitator: Ana Jelušić

January 20, 2026, Filodrammatica, Rijeka

In collaboration with the Prostor Plus association from Rijeka

SOMATIKUM PRAKTIKUM – LISTENING TO FLUIDS

Workshop facilitator: Mia Štark

February 28, 2026, Youth Center Zadar

In partnership with the Zadar Dance Ensemble

THE BODY’S AXIS – EXPLORING THE SPINE THROUGH SENSATION AND MOVEMENT

Facilitators: Mia Štark and Ana Jelušić

February 6 and 7, 2026, ELeMent Center, 49 J.J. Strossmayer Street, Osijek

Organized in collaboration with the association “ELeMent, Center for Recreation and Education” from Osijek

BASIC NEUROLOGICAL PATTERNS OF MOVEMENT AND BODY CONNECTIVITY

Facilitator: Zrinka Šimičić Mihanović

February 24, 2026, DV Varaždin, Dravska 1, Varaždin

Organized in partnership with Varaždin Kindergarten

IMMUNITY AS A PROCESS

Facilitator: Zrinka Šimičić Mihanović

February 28, 2026, Ferdo Livadić Music School, Samobor

Organized in partnership with TRUPA TO association from Samobor

ONE TO ONE SOMATIC AND STUDY SESSIONS

with Zrinka Šimičić, Ana Jelušić, and Mia Štark

at MO Šestine, Zagreb

Activities for the dissemination and sharing of acquired knowledge in an online format

SOMATIC WORK NOTEBOOK

Activities focused on networking and collaboration with international partners and organizations.

ŠkArt, Montenegro

Nagib, Slovenia

minima somatica, Italy

Szome, Hungary

moveus GbR, Germany

Feldenkrais Institut Wien, Austria

9 and 10 May 2026

KONTEJNER / BUREAU OF CONTEMPORARY ART PRACTICE

Odranska 1/1, Zagreb

SomaHut is an initiative launched in 2020 under the umbrella of the Zagreb-based art organisation Multimedijalna koliba. It is dedicated to connecting people and to the development and dissemination of knowledge arising from the exploration of the phenomena of body and movement through different approaches, disciplines and fields of human activity: art, science, education, care…

This year’s SomaHut festival is a two-day event which, on 9 and 10 May, gathers international and local artists and somatic practitioners in the premises of KONTEJNER in Zagreb, Odranska 1, to share through performances, workshops, ‘warming up the audience’ and conversations with visitors the results of artistic processes, as well as the impulses and questions that guide their research.

The festival is centred around an interest in the body as a place of conditioning, imperatives and fears – fear of stopping, of the future, of the unknown – but also of their continuous processing, transformation and opening of new possibilities. For two days, KONTEJNER will thus become a space of encounter, socialising and exchange of somatic experience, performative possibilities and knowledge.

The Saturday programme begins with the CONTINUUM PRACTICE WORKSHOP led by Sylvain Méret, dance artist, movement and dance therapist, educator and somatic practitioner, whom Zagreb audiences have already had the opportunity to encounter through the Improspekcije festival.

In the afternoon there will be an experiential anatomy workshop for children between 6 and 10 years of age on the theme WHAT ARE BONES FOR?, led by Marina Brajdić and Zrinka Šimičić.

The evening programme brings the performances SHIFT INTO AN UNKNOWN PAUSE by Anja Bornšek, dance artist and somatic movement educator, VOLUME OF MEMORY by Tina Valentan, dance artist and trainee in expressive therapy at the Tamalpa Institute, and HOW CAN WE WATCH? by dance artist Ana Kljujev, a final-year undergraduate student of Contemporary Dance at the Academy of Dramatic Art in Zagreb.

On Sunday morning the CONTINUUM PRACTICE WORKSHOP continues, while the afternoon programme begins with a discussion on SOMATIC EDUCATION AND THE SOMATIC IN EDUCATION, bringing together members of the SomaHut study group, teachers from the Department of Dance at the Academy of Dramatic Art, somatic practitioners, educators and everyone interested in the processes of embodied learning and teaching.

The evening programme presents the performance work KONTAMINA by Mateo Babić and the ritual performance FLUID i T by Sylvain Méret.

SCHEDULE

Saturday, 9 May 2026

10:30-13 h CONTINUUM PRACTICE WORKSHOP with Sylvain Méret

13–15 h Lunch break and social gathering in the KONTEJNER courtyard

15–16 h WHAT ARE BONES FOR? Experiential anatomy workshop for children with Marina Brajdić and Zrinka Šimičić

18 h  SHIFT INTO AN UNKNOWN PAUSE, performance-experiential work by Anja Bornšek, with an introduction to the performance by Tina Valentan

VOLUME OF MEMORY, performance work by Tina Valentan, with audience warm-up  by Anja Bornšek

21 h  HOW CAN WE WATCH?, performance work by Ana Kljujev

Sunday, 10 May 2026

11 – 14 h   CONTINUUM PRACTICE WORKSHOP with Sylvain Méret

14-16 h Lunch break and informal gathering in the KONTEJNER courtyard

16-17:30 h Round table: SOMATIC EDUCATION AND THE SOMATIC IN EDUCATION

19 h  KONTAMINA, performance work by Mateo Babić

20 h  FLUID i T, work-in-progress performance by Sylvain Méret

Conversation with the performers and the audience

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

All other programmes are free of charge, with donations according to your possibilities.

To participate in the workshops, please register at: somahut.mmk@gmail.com

Initiator and programme director of SomaHut: Zrinka Šimičić

Festival programme and organisation: Zrinka Šimičić and Mia Štark

Assistance in organisation and promotion: Lara Šercar

Production: Multimedijalna koliba in collaboration with KONTEJNER – Bureau of Contemporary Art Practice

Visual identity: Vanja Cuculić

Production: Multimedijalna koliba, 2026

The SomaHut 2026 programme is co-funded by the City of Zagreb, the Ministry of Culture and Media of the Republic of Croatia, and the European Union.  

SomaHut is part of  INTERLACE: Art and Action in Contemporary Dance Education, a project funded by the European Union, Erasmus+. INTERLACE aims to provide dance educators with learning environments and peer-to-peer exchanges for knowledge transfer and for developing inclusive methodologies for teaching creative dance to diverse local communities. The INTERLACE project provides dance educators with an environment for learning and peer-to-peer exchange, with the aim of transferring knowledge and developing inclusive methodologies for teaching creative dance in local communities.

Views and opinions expressed are, however, those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or OeAD-GmbH. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.

Sunday, 10 May 2026, from 4:00 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.

SomaHut festival 2026

A round table conversation with members of the SomaHut study group, teachers at the Department of Dance at the Academy of Dramatic Art (ADU), somatic practitioners, educators, and everyone interested in processes of embodied learning and teaching.

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