Offerings
The Re_Connection approach serves connection, reflection and reorientation. It can take place at very different scales: from short inputs to regular accompaniment. Scope, topic and frame are agreed together. We look forward to hearing from you.
To rise above oneself every day! At least for a moment; (…) alone or with another person who also wishes to become better. (…) Many are those who are wholly absorbed in political struggle, in preparing the social revolution. Rare, very rare, are those who, in order to prepare the revolution, wish to become worthy of it.
– G. Friedmann, in Pierre Hadot, Philosophy as a Way of Life (our translation)
For conferences, museums, festivals and symposia we offer adapted workshops — with body exercises, short thematic impulses and movement. Besides thematic workshops, we can also design phases of reflection, somatic exercises or units for arriving and taking leave.
Our core format is the regular Re_Connection session: a workshop engaging with a socio-political topic, built classically on three levels — body work, conversation, and movement with live music. These sessions currently take place regularly in Dresden. They can also be booked as workshops for institutions and groups.
Individually agreed deepenings, for example on sustainable political action, with more time for reflection and repetition.
Several days in one place, where appropriate involving the surroundings, with shared meals and room for longer processes.
For collective initiatives and organisations we design several sessions across a longer period, or one- to two-day workshops, in order to strengthen the group or to work on conflicts at several levels.
Several thematically connected events a few weeks apart, for example in neighbourhood centres or in institutions such as prisons or facilities for people with disabilities.
For whom
Individuals can join the open sessions in Dresden, for example — current dates under Events.
Cultural institutions and educational providers, for example museums, festivals, conferences, universities or providers of civic education, book individual formats or series.
Collectives, initiatives and groups can invite Re_Connection to come to them. Topic and frame are developed together. We talk openly about terms and are glad to hear from you even when the budget is small.
Teams and organisations approach us when reflection, collaboration or processes of change are at stake. Whether the format fits is something we clarify in a preliminary conversation.
Structure
A classic Re_Connection workshop in the short format of 2.5 to 3 hours follows several phases. It begins with arriving — in one's own body, in the space and in the group. From there the process leads step by step into the respective topic: body awareness and a philosophical or social-scientific impulse open the space for conversation, listening and shared reflection.
Movement can take up experiences from this engagement non-verbally and translate them into bodily expression. Integration, a closing round and a deliberately shaped farewell connect what has been experienced with everyday life, where the topics come to a close. The process is adapted to the topic, the group and the occasion.
Attention turns towards one's own body, the space and the group.
Body awareness, impulses and conversation lead into the shared engagement with the topic.
Movement and live music open a non-verbal level; integration and farewell lead back out of the workshop.
Ways of working
Every workshop is designed to suit its topic, group and occasion. What recurs is less a set of individual exercises than certain ways of perceiving, encountering and working together.
We turn our attention towards our own body, the space and the people in the group. Playful movement supports arriving, mobilises and loosens the body and creates first forms of contact and interaction — with no athletic or artistic ambition.
A short philosophical or social-scientific impulse opens the topic. Formats for conversation, writing or making invite people to relate personal experience and social levels to one another, without working towards consensus or a finished solution.
Alternating between individual perception, encounters in small groups and the experience of being a collective makes group dynamics tangible. At the centre are sensitivity for one another, cooperation, solidary ways of relating, and verbal as well as non-verbal forms of communication and listening.
Movement and live music open a non-verbal level of engagement. Impressions from body work and reflection can be taken up and carried further there. A shared close supports the transition out of the workshop and back into everyday life.
Simply shaped transitions and symbolic forms can give arriving, deepening and closing a common structure. They are chosen to suit the topic and the group, and they are invitations, not creeds.
Sound
The music of the sessions is created live: with instruments from various traditions, voice and live looping.
It is present in every phase — sometimes as a barely audible low drone beneath a conversation in pairs, sometimes as a structure for a walking meditation, sometimes as the carrying arc of free dance. Tempo, density and pauses follow what is happening in the group.
Our stance
The space is participatory and carried by everyone together. A few principles matter to us:
All exercises are invitations. Pausing or simply listening is possible at any time. A brief word about it gives us additional assurance.
Sometimes we work in pairs, or within the group process, with bodily elements oriented towards encounter. From eye contact through to touch, it is always the more reticent person who decides.
We work in a diversity- and trauma-sensitive way and try to make our events as accessible as possible. We welcome criticism, suggestions and information about particular needs.
Integration serves to loosen the grip of painful feelings, to consolidate cognitive insights, and to help us arrive back in everyday life.
What is shared in the room stays in the room. Shared agreements are named by us at the beginning and may be added to by the group and carried by consensus.
Blankets, earplugs, a place at the edge or stepping out briefly are ways to set your own dosage of intensity. Being willing to make a withdrawal or a break briefly transparent matters, so that a trusting frame is maintained for others too.
Taking part
Free dance works without choreography, without prior knowledge and without any artistic or athletic ambition. It is about movement, not performance.
Re_Connection works without therapeutic objectives and without a predetermined outcome. The frame is inspired by dance and movement therapy and is shaped in a trauma-sensitive way, but it does not replace therapy.
The topics touch on social questions, and many participants are engaged in initiatives, education or culture — but that is not a requirement. An interest in approaching a topic with head and body is enough.
All conversation formats are invitations.
Comfortable clothing you can move in easily, and something to drink. Everything else — cushions, blankets and other materials — is usually available on site, or we let you know in advance.
Open sessions take place regularly in Dresden. For institutions, groups and events we put together formats as needed.
FAQ
As a rule 10 to 25 people. Larger groups are possible by arrangement, depending on the format.
We need a room with a clear floor, ideally with daylight. Cushions and blankets should be available on site. Other materials we bring with us or agree in advance.
The live music comes with its own instruments; we send the technical requirements on request.
There are no fixed prices: fee and scope depend on format, place and organisation and are agreed for each enquiry.
The workshops usually take place in German. Individual formats can be run in English, or by arrangement with translation or in plain language.
Re_Connection usually works as a team of three — depending on the format also in a smaller line-up.
Write to us about what it is about — occasion, place, timeframe and desired format are enough to begin with. We will come back to you with questions or a proposal.
