Essence & Edge
8-13 July 2025
The Team
Marie Echo aka Murry Eyeball
Organizer
Marie/Murry’s (fae/they/she/eyeball) primary partnership is with the meandering magic of the Muse. Living in devotion to creativity, fae shapeshifts between and beyond archetypal roles of boundless bard, dream druid, death doula, & cosmic clown creature. Their offerings are a convergence of creativity, connectivity, sensuality & ritual. Murry has facilitated several intensives and labs at Touch & Play Mexico & US, exploring the ecosensual & archetypal somatics of intimate explorations. Both a contact dancer & vocal improviser, the union of movement and sound is at the core of her practice of somatic instrumentation. In reverence & revelry- Eye am so delighted to play and pray with you all.
IG @musemundi
Daniel J. Hayes
Touch&Play Founder
Medical Doctor, public health scientist and practical idealist.
He’s been playing, dancing, meditating and conversing 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 the Earthdance Creative Living Project, an arts & cultural community and institute in Western Massachusetts. He’s been exploring the intricacies of the Relational Body for over 10 years and is committed to building a more equitive and authentic culture through his social entrepreneurial and creative endeavours.
Toni Nagy
Intensive Teacher of
Embodied Re-Birth: Dance, Desire & Pleasure
Toni Nagy is dancer, comedian, and content creator most known for her viral videos where she interpretive dances her philosophies while pontificating, gyrating, and questioning culture. She demonstrates somatic movement while combining it with comedy to model a mode of communication that facilitates laughter while providing information. She has over 700,000 social media followers, not that’s counting or anything. She is the proud owner of the movement space and creative incubator – SideStream Studio – in Brattleboro, VT. Toni has been teaching movement classes for two decades. She created a series and curriculum entitled “Gyration Nation,” where she workshopped and developed her somatic syllabus.
Toni’s knowledge of energetics, posture and alignment helps to directly address problematic patterns in the body that also show up in the mental and emotional spheres. By addressing the body, Toni works with clients to transform their brains. Toni’s comedic experience helps disarm people, for she is accustomed to accommodating group dynamics and energies to best maximize collective joy. It is often said the opposite of trauma is play, and Toni’s background helps create the groundwork that is ripe for playful energy.
toninagy.com IG @toninagy
Jennifer Rahner
Intensive Teacher of
The Kink Lab: A Somatic Playground for Pleasure & Power Exchange
Jennifer Rahner is a passionate Certified Sexologist and Sexuality Educator changing the way we discuss sexuality, one brave conversation at a time. Embracing her identity as a queer, polyamorous, and kinky person, she/they create a welcoming space for honest discussions. Her teachings, rooted in vulnerability and authenticity, aim to deepen understanding about our sexuality, explore the richness of sexual narratives, enhance communication in relationships, shed shame and embrace body positivity, and empower everyone on their journey toward pleasure, authenticity, and equilibrium.
jenniferrahner.com IG @geekysexylove,
Soeine
Contact Improv Facilitator
I integrate performance art, media art, and visual art, using improvisation. I create site-specific works that emphasize embodied presence and relationality with the environment. Recently, I have been presenting my work in conventional settings—galleries and theatres—while incorporating the philosophy of improvisation from my site-specific practice. While my background is primarily Western, I seek the natural world of matter to find my sense of self. Since my artist residency at Yatoo in South Korea in 2015, I have been influenced by Yatoo’s philosophy of Nature Art, which emphasizes minimal intervention and internal transformation through encounters with the natural world.
I extend art beyond an institutional discipline, approaching it as a way of living. Through art, I explore how we connect to ourselves, to each other, and to the world around us. Life is improvised; thus, improvisation has become the method and conceptual foundation for my art and life. My artworks emerge as traces or residues of the process of living. At its core, my practice examines the transient nature of existence.
My practice is informed by somatic movement, instant composition, and philosophical inquiries into time, presence, and transformation. Through spontaneous creation, I explore artistic intention by minimizing human intention.
Hazel
Soothe & Care Lead
Greif & Ecstatic Joy Workshop Facilitator
Hazel (she/they) is a trauma-informed, collapse-aware, intuitive body-centered holistic health practitioner, mutual aid organizer, facilitator, educator, mediator, animist, ritualist, gardener, woods wanderer, parent, artist and dancer who lives on the unceded land of the Abenaki in Vermont. They are touched by the tender complicatedness of our humanity and in awe of the exquisite beauty in all life. At the core of their own personal life journey and the work they offer is a dedication to embodied liberation – dismantling the entangled layers of generational trauma, systemic oppression and our socialization to reconnect to a deeper relationship with our body wisdom, each other and the land. She believes that like the mycelial web that is at the root of a healthy forest ecosystem, cultivating healthy relationships is essential for healing, creating radical change and surviving in these times.
Kshanti Chohan
Co-Lead for Peace Council
Inclusivity Liasion
Ksanti Chohan, professionally known as Parneet, is a Somatic Experiencing® Practitioner, Certified Counsellor, Authentic Relating Facilitator, and Mindfulness Facilitator. They are a lover of dance, play and healing in interpersonal and collective practice. Their work aims to uplift marginalized communities including immigrants, LGBTQ2S+ and racialized communities to develop greater embodiment and relational honesty and return to wholeness through repair and reconnection to instinct, intuition and life force.
Traci Hart
Exploritorium Co-Lead
Workshop Facilitator
Traci Hart is a sexuality and embodiment coach who supports people in cultivating more pleasure, increasing their confidence, and strengthening their connections. She does so using somatic and movement practices, mindfulness techniques, and communication tools. By cultivating safety and curiosity, her approach encourages people to trust their bodies, explore their edges, and step into new realms of sensual expression.
Traci is also devoted to creating spaces that foster comfort, connection, and play. As an organizer of bespoke sexuality and dance events, she specializes in designing sensual, inviting environments through soft lighting, cozy textures, and soundscapes tailored for intimacy and flow. By cultivating an atmosphere with care and intention, Traci curates experiences that help people unwind, feel at ease, and fully surrender to pleasure.
Bubbles
Musician
Exploritorium Co-Lead
Bubbles is a vibrant and multi-dimensional individual with a wide array of passions, including music, DJing, dancing, kink, playfulness, and building community. His journey with Touch and Play began in Barcelona, where he attended for the first time and instantly fell in love with its transformative energy. In 2024, at Touch and Play Mexico, he also found love after meeting his partner. Known for his grounded presence and down-to-earth energy, Bubbles brings a calm yet dynamic influence to any space he’s a part of. He currently lives in the Hudson Valley, NY, with his partner and chosen family on a beautiful shared home that fosters connection and growth.
Andrew Kalleen
Musician
I believe in the essential nature of song—the power of music to ease, penetrate, uplift, overwhelm, and unify. It is the most potent magic I have encountered. I’ve found immense fulfillment as a steward of the sonic space in gatherings throughout my life. I listen deeply. I care deeply. I have dedicated my life to my artistry. My current focus is on freeing my voice.
Caelum (aka Captain Kale)
Lead Chef
Caelum loves to nourish people! He applies his background in cooking from his family, in restaurants, hotels, co-op’s, and his Masters in Human Nutrition to empower guests to deepen their connection with healthy and sustainable food.
Kale is passionate about meeting everyone’s needs with organic, traditional and seasonal foods. He loves your special diet and wants to know every detail! He cooks at many intentional community gatherings in the area and has formerly been the kitchen manager at Earthdance.
“Food is love! How we source and prepare our food can help nourish our connection to the Earth, each other and our selves. I’m really looking forward to being back with our touch and play family!”
Caelum uses him/they/captain pronouns.
Princess Michael
Resident Princess
On-Site Lead
Wanderer, art appreciator, community lover, mischievous instigator, connection seeker. Honored to be part of the Touch&Play team co-creating containers for playful, kinky, vulnerable exploration in community
We are crafting the experience
Touch&Play gatherings are co-creations that emerges from an intimate collaboration between the curation team, and the teachers, artists, helpers and participants that join the retreat. We’re an experimental container and open to inspiring off-beat ideas that can support the wider Touch&Play exploration of the Relation Body.
Teacher applications are now open. Once the team is selected, we will share detailed information about the full lineup and offerings.
Applications are also open for Inclusivity tickets and those interested in joining the Helpers Team as another way to collaborate and/or for those in financial need.
In the meantime, we're offering a limited number of early bird tickets. Reserving your ticket in advance not only secures your spot but also helps our organization create a better, more seamless production.
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