First week from August 10 to 15, 2026
With Alice Dutreuil Nouchimowitz
ANIMAL ANCESTRAL
Back to the Instinct…
See the detailed programme of the week
What does “Instinct” mean to you? Getting back to it means we have moved away from it in the first place…
For my part, the proposal of “Back to the Instinct,” made by the festival, inspires me to dive into our animal body.
Instinct allows animals to sense a storm coming from miles away, to anticipate, to take shelter, so that life can continue. Instinctively, we can perceive what is in the process of emerging and is not yet visible, and adapt to what is not planned or predictable.
It is the instinctive body that allows us to face danger and take risks, and also to create life. It contains our personal and collective stories. By allowing us to find food, shelter in which to restore ourselves, to listen to the cycles of life within and around us, it makes survival and life possible.
This week in the heart of nature will therefore be an invitation to dive more deeply into our animality. Through the sharpening of our senses and perceptions, moments of connection and “in vivo” exploration, we will develop our capacity to dialogue coherently with what is present, in terms of rhythm, speed, gesture, tone… Through times of massage and movement we will allow our bodies to release tensions, to be more supple, open, available to what is present. We will invite listening, play, “rough-and-tumble” to re.find the pleasure of a body that communicates in an engaged way with itself, with the other and with what surrounds it. We will also form a pack, and co-create the dance.
photo credit: Hélène Toulet
ANIMAL ANCESTRAL
Back to the Instinct…
See the detailed programme of the week
What does “Instinct” mean to you? Getting back to it means we have moved away from it in the first place…
For my part, the proposal of “Back to the Instinct,” made by the festival, inspires me to dive into our animal body.
Instinct allows animals to sense a storm coming from miles away, to anticipate, to take shelter, so that life can continue. Instinctively, we can perceive what is in the process of emerging and is not yet visible, and adapt to what is not planned or predictable.
It is the instinctive body that allows us to face danger and take risks, and also to create life. It contains our personal and collective stories. By allowing us to find food, shelter in which to restore ourselves, to listen to the cycles of life within and around us, it makes survival and life possible.
This week in the heart of nature will therefore be an invitation to dive more deeply into our animality. Through the sharpening of our senses and perceptions, moments of connection and “in vivo” exploration, we will develop our capacity to dialogue coherently with what is present, in terms of rhythm, speed, gesture, tone… Through times of massage and movement we will allow our bodies to release tensions, to be more supple, open, available to what is present. We will invite listening, play, “rough-and-tumble” to re.find the pleasure of a body that communicates in an engaged way with itself, with the other and with what surrounds it. We will also form a pack, and co-create the dance.
photo credit: Hélène Toulet
