MÉXICO

RAÍCES

10- 16 February 2025

Team

Mara

Mara

T&P Mexico Host

Sannyasin, seeker of presence, calmness, awareness, and deep connections.  Mexican, an aerial dance teacher, and a member of the Touch&Play Global Team.

Liv

Liv

T&P Mexico Host

She is an Ashkenazi Kohein, a woods witch, a Sociologist, an erotic adventurer, and a community creature. She gets equally excited about exploring the world and sweeping her floor at home.

She has listened deeply and taken in wisdom from brilliant teachers in the realms of somatics, kink, tantra, ritual arts, earth-based healing, and liberation theology. She is an organizer with the international Touch&Play project, an ongoing student with the International School of Temple Arts, and has led numerous artist & activist communities. Her own journey with mental (un)wellness and personal empowerment has been her greatest teacher and instilled a passion for accompanying others towards the water. She sings, writes, hurts and heals, and you are welcome to join her. To connect with Liv: www.mybodyprayer.com

Daniel J. Hayes

Daniel J. Hayes

T&P Founder

Social Entrepreneur, Community leader, Practical Idealist with an MD. and Ph.D. in Tropical Medicine. He’s been dancing, playing, meditating and conversing Contact Improvisation (CI) for over 20 years. He is the founder of the Touch&Play Movement and the Vidàlia eco-village outside Barcelona. He is the current Executive Director of Earthdance the oldest CI based Intentional Community located in Western Massachusetts and partner in CAMP an arts and cultural retreat center on the Coast of Oaxaca. He’s been exploring the intricacies of the Relational Body for over 15 years and is committed to building a more peaceful and authentic world through his social entrepreneurial and creative endeavors.

Aurora Ortiz

Aurora Ortiz

Offers "InterBorders”

Mexican performing artist, dancer, teacher, producer, mother and alternative therapist.
Aurora studied contemporary dance at the Universidad de Bellas Artes in Monterrey Mexico 2007-2012.
Also attended the Visual-Dance Theater Program at KiM Kosmos in Movement School, Chile.
She integrates to her research as an artist and teacher the Improvisation as the axis of her material integrating: Contact Improvisation, performance creation, contemporary dance, somatic approaches and laboratory spaces.
Co-organized Festivals, Meetings, Retreats and educational programs in Mexico and Chile.
One of her passions is to navigate in the mysterious of the mind-body-spirit as a whole, so, started to study a degree in Psicology.

Instagram: auronirica

Ale Karasik

Ale Karasik

Offers "Introduction to Sexological Bodywork™"

He/she) is an Argentinean educator and practitioner in somatic and erotic education, serving as a local director for Touch&Play Argentina and a team member with Joseph Kramer’s in Sexological Bodywork™ in Mexico.
Leads an annual Somatic Sexuality Training and is a Feldenkrais guest professor at the National University of Arts and other dance institutions.
Ale has an extensive background in Sexological Bodywork™. He is currently pursuing advanced Level 3 certification to become a teachers trainer in this field.
Enrolled in a postgraduate master program in IOPS Feldenkrais Method training, and a ´post-degree in Sexual Health and Sexology.
His certifications include three years training as a facilitator in Tantra and Sacred Sexuality Therapeutic Activities, four years training as a certified Feldenkrais Method® Practitioner, an introductory training in Embodied Counseling from the Institute of Somatic Sexology Australia, as well as two years training as a certified in Sexological Bodywork™ and Somatic Sex Education™ in Brasil and Berlin .  Ale also holds a Master in Solo/Dance/Authorship from HZT-Berlin, affiliated with the Universität der Künste Berlin, and a Bachelor’s in Choreographic Composition focused on Body Expression by the National University of Arts.
As a co-creator of immersive erotic temples—including FesTeJito Project, Temple Nights, and Erotik Temple—Ale integrates somatic education with experiential community practices.
His workshops, spanning Contact Improvisation, the Feldenkrais Method, and Tantric Massage, have been featured at festivals in several states.

Instagram: seksualidadysomatikas

 

Pilar Echavarría

Pilar Echavarría

Offers "Among Deities and Demons"

Somatic mover, nomad dancer, a researcher of states of dance, Subbody Butoh Midwife, Water healer and therapist, holistic Artist and Architect. Since 2006, I dedicated and focus on dancing, studying and researching the body through different arts and techniques of Improvisation, Movement, Somatic Arts, Aquatic Healing and Psychosomatic disciplines like: Butoh, Contact Improvisation, BMC, Continuum Movement, Authentic Movement, WaterDance, Fluid Presence, Mindfullness, among others. A research that takes place essentially in an experiential dimension based on listening, presence and trust in our body as an antenna, an instrument, a temple … This path has been a subtle, deep and bold diving into the Self; learning and guiding, creating, healing and performing, living and travelling through inner and outer landscapes, water and nature paradises.

Facebook: pilara.echavarria

Anne Maria Popanda

Anne Maria Popanda

T&P Cologne Host

Anni is dedacted deeply to exploring the realms of being human. She spent the last 15 years traveling intensively, learning from inter-cultural experiences, relationships, understandings… and studying various ancient traditions such as Yoga, Tantra (Kashmiri Shivaism), Thai Yoga Bodywork, Ayurveda, Vipassana, Shamanism along with modern somatic approaches and embodiment practices. She is Gestalt Therapist and Trauma sensitive Coach (Neurosystemic Integration), facilitator of various Workshops on the topic of (Sexual-) Self-Empowerment and passionate Dancer. In 2022 she organized the first Touch&Play Cologne gathering.

https://aditibodywork.de

Insta/fb: aditibodywork

 

Célia Schannn

Célia Schannn

Musician

Is an award-winning French violinist and singer celebrated for her transformative approach to music. Known for blending performance art with classical violin, she creates immersive experiences that invite audiences to connect on a deep level. Educated at the prestigious Hanns Eisler Academy of Music in Berlin, Célia has performed internationally as both a soloist and chamber musician, collaborating with renowned orchestras across the globe. Since 2018, she has been a core member of Stegreif – The Improvising Symphony Orchestra, an ensemble that reimagines classical music through improvisation. Célia’s unique artistry also draws from shamanic practices and elements of nature, fostering a sense of healing and interconnectedness in her performances that transcends traditional concert formats.

Instagram: @celiaschann

Dass Trujillo

Dass Trujillo

Musician

Creative, enthusiastic, soul. Multipotential. Passionate about teaching, art and the expansion of the BEING. Dedicated to holistic well-being and the elevation of consciousness through art medicine: dance, music, painting and YOGA as technologies of ALCHEMY, healing, transformation, consciousness and re_connection with the BEING. Yoga, dance and meditation teacher, facilitator of medicine music circles, sound therapy and Kirtan, multi-instrumentalist and ritual art tattoo artist with handpoke. Walker of medicine life.

Instagram: @corazondetambor.ss

 

Shannon Monaghan

Shannon Monaghan

Work Exchange Group Coordinator

Shannon is a dancer, poet, plant lover, and dominatrix. This will be her 5th Touch and Play in 2 years time, 3rd in Mexico. After volunteering with the Work Exchange Team several times, she is excited to lead the team and coordinate with volunteers.

She enjoys sharing her experiences. With over 15 years in the BDSM lifestyle, she is eager to share knowledge and co-create the Intro to Kink with DJ at Touch and play.

Zipolite and the CAMP family hold a special place in her heart. The Oaxacan coast has called to her for 8 years, and she has visited yearly for the past 4 years.

Igna Alem

Igna Alem

Peace Council

Co-Host at Touch&Play Argentina
Igna (she/they/he) is learner, meditator, entrepreneur, family constellation facilitator, community lover, poly, fluid.
Self claimed magician in formation.
T&P is one of main “partners”.
I feel fully identified with the movement, the culture of consent and the peace seeding that happens in every event. I’ve been Sooth&Care coordinator and Awareness lead in several T&Ps and other similar events.
I love teamwork and co-creation and I can’t wait to do them with you.

Instagram: @ignuish

 

Gerardo Mercado

Gerardo Mercado

Sooth&Care Group Coordinator + T&P Photographer

Mexican photographer with Indigenous Purépecha roots, born in 1991 in Veracruz, Mexico. He experienced a nomadic childhood, moving through 16 homes and attending 10 schools across Mexico’s diverse landscapes. A self-taught photographer with a background in filmmaking, he began his journey at the age of nine using his mother’s camera. After relocating from Mexico City to Oaxaca, he immersed himself in film photography, pushing its boundaries to capture the essence of his surroundings. His work examines themes of gender, territory, and sexuality, challenging perceptions and exploring what is often considered dark or obscene, opening dialogue and provoking questions through the lens.
Instagram: @ger.merc

Support at the Peace&Council: Jem Stops.

DANCE & EMBODIMENT
CREATIVITY & PLAY
EROS & SELF-EXPRESSION
RELATIONSHIPS & COMMUNITY

TOUCH&PLAY

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