A mouth watering description of what wonderful delights await us all in the Tango Medicine Retreat. From food, to sensory fairies, music, sauna, and of course classes and the practica :) and what to bring to be nice and cosy...
We will begin with a Mate to share as we wait for everyone to arrive and settle in, we have responsabily fouraged herbs from a Condor Reserve in the mountains of Argentina, espicially for this experience, link here, tasting flavours of the wild, and the indiginous roots of the land where Tango was born. Weaving indiginious knowledge and flavours to complement our experience at the retreat, and by doing so supporting the wild places that are in danger of fires, which would wipe out valuable medicines and gorgeous flavours.
MUSIC
We call him the Kasique, which translates to the chief, his name is Martin, and he adopted Drew and I in his beautiful welcoming Milonga Tango Terra, we ended up collaborating endlessly with him, creating magic at every turn...We are so honord to announce our dear friend is coming to play for us at the retreat, it is a real pleasure to have a real bandonion (the argentine version of an accordian) it is one of the hardest instruments to play, and there are very few in the UK. Martin is pure Tango down to the bone, his milonga creates a wonderful friendly true to Buenos Aires vibes.
Henry and his Van Frank are a delicious duo that spread joy by taking a beautiful piano, digereedoo, han drum and more with them on thier adventures, every moment with Henry is a sensory delight, and he will be honoring us his gorgeous humaness and delicious improvisations on the majestic grand paino of the main hall, we are in for a treat.
And of course Drew will be singing his interpretations of Tango songs, and beautiful celtic vibes. We will also open a space for all musicians to improvise together, true to the grass roots of Tangos origin, where immigrants, natives, and slaves came together with all they knew to communicate through the universal language of music. This is an ode to the orgins of people from everywhere coming together to bond and play.
FOOD
Yummies for Your Tummies: Meals
We have literally climbed mountains in argentina to fourage herbs, become part of a growing revolution called Crops not Shops, and found a meditating zen chef, and divine dancing wild woman with menu writing fetishes to create a food experince that is kind to our health & the health of our earth.
To truely understand the magic that will be condured to produce our meals at the retreat, I need to tell you the strories of how I met our cooks; Seline and Dave, both I met in Buddhafields.
Dave:
A sweltering heatwave hit the UK summer, the food crew were preping organic meals in an off the grid solar powered field kitchen for over 300 crew, what should have been chaos was compleate joy, "DING", a chime sounds a minutes stillness, followed by the words " Dinner is served with Love", and so it truely was served with a beautiful beaming smile of a kitchen crew who is loved, nutured and empowered. That is Dave, a divine condurer of nourishing environments. It is a pleasure to be part of anything with him, so for those who come on an affordable exchange ticket, they are in beautifully loving hands with Dave, enriching the experience for everyone.
Seline:
The first time I saw Seline she was dancing, free, naked and wild. Her eyes fierce and undomesticated, but spoke like she graduated from finishing school with honors. I then tried her food in the middle of a field with the bits and bobs she could find - for the whole crew and our babies... and I literally dribbled like a new born. The flavours, the love that went into the food, like grandma food with sass. When I spoke to her about food she oozed a passion that inspieres the foodie within, she writes out menus for pleasure. And she rose to the challenge to design a vegan, gluten free, organic menu with as much locally grown produce as possible during whats called the 'hungry gap' in March. No small feet, but she did it, the menu is exquisite, with touches of South Aemrican influences.
We have sourced UK grown Quinoa, fava beans, black badger beans (replacing chickpeas), Apple balsamic viniger, Oats, and many other British grown legumes & yummy sauces from the wonderful company of Homedodes, who dedicate themselves to sourcing and growng locally.
We are also brining back herbs and spices that are responsably wild foraged in the forest in Argentina, helping to support indiginous plants and where they grow and who looks after them from devasting fires and irresponsible farming practices.
Anything that is not locally sourced will be attained from fair trade organic, cooperative food companies.
TANGO MEDICINE
We have been enabling the Creation a beautiful, healthy, kind, inclusive and welcoming enviroment to learn or practice your tango. From assuring divercity, to creating comfort and options for people from all walks of life to come together and enjoy.
With all day workshops that teach in enjoyable ways to learn tango, and are complemeted by dance therapy techniques, and teach both roles.
We have invited people involved in dance therapy, phychology, sound healing and more to complement the experince of the practice. Like Malena, who has worked with the elderly, people with disabilities, boasts a degree in the history of arts, an MA in dance, and teaches Tango queer in Bristol. Malena will be attending the retreat, and has a divine perspective of Tango (as well as all movement) as a tool for healing.
We also have Olga, a psychologist & passionate dancer attending. She is currently working on merging the both practices and will be learning Tango Medicine at this retreat to encorporate the practice into her theraputic repetoire. She will be writing a short analysis for our blog to better understand the impact of what we do.
HEALTH
Part of what makes this Tango retreat different is the focus on health.
- We have interviewed a tango dancing Cardiologist who has danced a for over 25 years, she has encorporated her heartfull knowledge to tango practice, and we have adapted and designed the movement regime to suit healthy heart practices.
- We have access to Sauna to ease muscles
- Hosted in nature with a sustainable concious community
- Local organic, vegan and gluten free food
And finally to top it all off, we have glorious Michelle documenting the retreat, so that in fututure the medicine of Tango can be understood, and hopefully we can apply for a grant to enable even more people to reep the benefits of dancing and creating a kind community.
ENDING WITH A DANCE & DINNER
To close this beautiful event, we will open the space up to Milonguros to come dance with all of us in a practica hosted at Coed Hills. Feel free to invite friends & family. We will be cooking a "Olla Popular", which translates to the Pot of the people, each person brings a veggie to add to the giant pot, and together we create an abundant dinner for all :) The tradition is practiced in Argentina to feed the community, bond and no one is left hungry :) Link to RSVP for the Sunday Practica
What to Bring
As we will be in nature, living off grid, and it is March so still chilly, here are a few tips as to what to bring:
Hot water bottle, we have a few on site but worth bringing Incase
Prep for rain, it's Wales, so assume it will be wet. Wellies, an umbrella or rain coat
Towels for shower and for the sauna, there are no towels on site.
Torch as there are no lights from main hall to the cabins
Biodegradable beauty products for the showers, the water from the showers run into a natural plant filter, if you use harmful soaps/conditioners it kills the plants.
If you want to be part of the "Olla Popular" (por of the people) ritual on the Sunday, bring an organic vegetable 🥰
If you have any further questions feel free to contact us thelovingcollaborative@gmail.com