Somatic Arts
Somatic Movement & Somatic Writing
Urban Retreat — June 22–26 | Budapest
Before technique, before concept, before form: there is the body.
This retreat is an invitation to return to it. Through somatic movement and somatic writing, we explore how sensation, emotion, and intuition can become the foundations of artistic creation. For five days, artists gather to listen, observe, experiment, and rediscover their own singular ways of expressing through movement and words.
—Anna Ádám
Founder of the School of Disobedience
This 5-day urban retreat introduces the two core methods of the School of Disobedience: Somatic Movement and Somatic Writing. Both practices are grounded in what we call somatic art — an artistic approach where the body becomes the primary source of creation. Instead of starting from external concepts, aesthetic expectations, or technical virtuosity, we begin from the living body: sensation, intuition, desire, memory, and emotion. Through movement and writing, participants learn to listen to the body as a place of knowledge and artistic decision-making. This retreat invites artists to explore how movement and language can emerge from the same embodied intelligence.
The method
Participants learn how to transform lived experience into artistic form. This process focuses on three fundamental elements: emotion — attention — intention
It is not therapy. Personal material is not processed for healing but transformed and sublimated into artistic work.
The somatic methodology can very well support the creation of authentic, honest, and generous artistic work. In many ways this retreat functions as a ground zero practice: a space to temporarily step away from academic formatting and reconnect with your own voice, perception, and singularity as an artist.
The 2 practices
The retreat combines two complementary somatic practices:
Morning practice
Somatic Movement — Dance & Performance with Anna Ádám (3h / day)
Morning sessions take place in the studio and focus on Somatic Movement, combining elements of contemporary dance, performance art, improvisation, and choreographic composition. Through repertoire fragments, improvisational scores, and somatic attention practices, participants explore:
• movement emerging from sensation and emotion
• the choreographic dimension of performance art
• improvisation as a tool for composition
• attention, intention, and performative presence
• working with autobiographical material through the body
Afternoon practice
Somatic Writing with Fruzsi Kovai (3h / day)
Afternoon sessions focus on Somatic Writing, where language emerges directly from bodily perception and lived experience. We move into Budapest's parks, forests, and riversides, and if the weather allows, even the Danube.
Through guided exercises and expressive writing practices, participants explore:
• writing from emotion, sensation, intuition, sensorial perception
• translating bodily experience into language and narrative
• attention, environment, and atmosphere
• intuitive and expressive writing processes
Writing becomes a way of listening to the body and allowing experience to take shape in words.
What you will learn
Over five days participants develop practical artistic tools:
• somatic methods for movement creation and improvisation
• writing techniques rooted in bodily awareness
• ways to transform personal experience into artistic material
• skills in attention, observation, and artistic decision-making
• new methods to develop authentic and embodied creative processes
Participants leave with concrete tools they can integrate into their own artistic practice.
Rhythm of the retreat
June 22
10.00-13.00: Somatic Movement with Anna Ádám
15.00-18.00: Somatic Writing with Fruzsi Kovai
June 23
10.00-13.00: Somatic Movement with Anna Ádám
15.00-18.00: Somatic Writing with Fruzsi Kovai
June 24
Rest & digestion — time to integrate, wander through Budapest, swim, or simply rest.
June 25
10.00-13.00: Somatic Movement with Anna Ádám
15.00-18.00: Somatic Writing with Fruzsi Kovai
June 26
10.00-13.00: Somatic Movement with Anna Ádám
15.00-18.00: Somatic Writing with Fruzsi Kovai
Who this retreat is for
No specific technique is required — only curiosity, openness, and willingness to explore. It's for you if you are:
• curious about somatic art and somatic methodologies
• interested in performance, improvisation, movement practices, and somatic writing
• seeking body-based creative processes
A space to begin again
This retreat is dedicated to gathering rather than producing. It is a place to accumulate sensations, tools, insights, and experiences that may later nourish future artistic work. You will create — but most importantly, you will play creatively: experimenting, trying, observing, and discovering without the pressure to produce something finished. There is no expectation to present, perform, or deliver a final result. Nothing needs to be ready or finalized. Instead, this is a space to listen again, trust again, and create again joyfully — starting from the body.
The method
Participants learn how to transform lived experience into artistic form. This process focuses on three fundamental elements: emotion — attention — intention
It is not therapy. Personal material is not processed for healing but transformed and sublimated into artistic work.
The somatic methodology can very well support the creation of authentic, honest, and generous artistic work. In many ways this retreat functions as a ground zero practice: a space to temporarily step away from academic formatting and reconnect with your own voice, perception, and singularity as an artist.
The 2 practices
The retreat combines two complementary somatic practices:
Morning practice
Somatic Movement — Dance & Performance with Anna Ádám (3h / day)
Morning sessions take place in the studio and focus on Somatic Movement, combining elements of contemporary dance, performance art, improvisation, and choreographic composition. Through repertoire fragments, improvisational scores, and somatic attention practices, participants explore:
• movement emerging from sensation and emotion
• the choreographic dimension of performance art
• improvisation as a tool for composition
• attention, intention, and performative presence
• working with autobiographical material through the body
Afternoon practice
Somatic Writing with Fruzsi Kovai (3h / day)
Afternoon sessions focus on Somatic Writing, where language emerges directly from bodily perception and lived experience. We move into Budapest's parks, forests, and riversides, and if the weather allows, even the Danube.
Through guided exercises and expressive writing practices, participants explore:
• writing from emotion, sensation, intuition, sensorial perception
• translating bodily experience into language and narrative
• attention, environment, and atmosphere
• intuitive and expressive writing processes
Writing becomes a way of listening to the body and allowing experience to take shape in words.
What you will learn
Over five days participants develop practical artistic tools:
• somatic methods for movement creation and improvisation
• writing techniques rooted in bodily awareness
• ways to transform personal experience into artistic material
• skills in attention, observation, and artistic decision-making
• new methods to develop authentic and embodied creative processes
Participants leave with concrete tools they can integrate into their own artistic practice.
Rhythm of the retreat
June 22
10.00-13.00: Somatic Movement with Anna Ádám
15.00-18.00: Somatic Writing with Fruzsi Kovai
June 23
10.00-13.00: Somatic Movement with Anna Ádám
15.00-18.00: Somatic Writing with Fruzsi Kovai
June 24
Rest & digestion — time to integrate, wander through Budapest, swim, or simply rest.
June 25
10.00-13.00: Somatic Movement with Anna Ádám
15.00-18.00: Somatic Writing with Fruzsi Kovai
June 26
10.00-13.00: Somatic Movement with Anna Ádám
15.00-18.00: Somatic Writing with Fruzsi Kovai
Who this retreat is for
No specific technique is required — only curiosity, openness, and willingness to explore. It's for you if you are:
• curious about somatic art and somatic methodologies
• interested in performance, improvisation, movement practices, and somatic writing
• seeking body-based creative processes
A space to begin again
This retreat is dedicated to gathering rather than producing. It is a place to accumulate sensations, tools, insights, and experiences that may later nourish future artistic work. You will create — but most importantly, you will play creatively: experimenting, trying, observing, and discovering without the pressure to produce something finished. There is no expectation to present, perform, or deliver a final result. Nothing needs to be ready or finalized. Instead, this is a space to listen again, trust again, and create again joyfully — starting from the body.
practical information
Communication language: English. For the somatic writing sessions, you are welcome to write in your mother tongue.
Application deadline: We don’t work with strict deadlines—but places are very limited. Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis, so we warmly encourage you to apply early, before the groups are full.
Number of participants: min. 4 - max. 8 / retreat
Price: 500 € / retreat
Accommodation & Meals: Not included
Your facilitators:
Application deadline: We don’t work with strict deadlines—but places are very limited. Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis, so we warmly encourage you to apply early, before the groups are full.
Number of participants: min. 4 - max. 8 / retreat
Price: 500 € / retreat
Accommodation & Meals: Not included
Your facilitators:
Anna Ádám
Somatic movement facilitator
Anna Ádám is an artist, choreographer, and cultural entrepreneur whose practice unfolds at the intersection of performance, text, pedagogy, and community-based art. After more than fifteen years of creating performances, immersive installations, and sensitive, transitional spaces across Europe, Africa, and South Asia, she founded the School of Disobedience as a living, evolving alternative to academic art education. Her work is grounded in somatic and experimental approaches, with a strong focus on small-scale, artistic autonomy, and autobiographical material. In recent years, her practice has shifted increasingly toward writing, voice, and performative text, culminating in lecture-performances and text-based works. For Anna, teaching is cultivation: preparing the soil so singular practices can grow.
Fruzsi Kovai
SOMatic writing facilitator
Fruzsi Kovai is a visual artist, poet, and workshop facilitator whose practice is deeply rooted in the body, perception, and transformation. With a background spanning literature, film, illustration, design, and fine art, she works across disciplines while remaining anchored in somatic drawing and writing. Her research moves through anatomy, movement, non-Western knowledge systems, ecology, science fiction, and microscopic worlds, treating the body as both subject and method. Her pedagogy invites slow attention, embodied observation, and long-form engagement with text as a living, changing organism.