ATLAND SUMMER DANCE FEST / JULY 7-12, 2026

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Join us for a week in the beautiful Berkshire Hills and train with renowned West Coast-based contemporary dance artists Abby Crain & Gizeh Muñiz, and local dance artist Jenna Riegel. During the festival, there will be two dance classes a day in contemporary forms such as technique, improvisation, floorwork, and somatics. Between the dancing sessions, there is free time to enjoy hiking, swimming in the pool or river, hot tub and campfire hangs, as well as residency time to work on your creative projects/collaborations. There will be three chef-prepared meals a day made by the amazing Ampersand Paris. On the land and in the studio, you will have opportunities to rehearse, get feedback, and show your live work and/or films. Come train with other professional artists in Western Massachusetts this summer.

SPECIAL NOTE: We have 7 work-exchange positions for artists who would like to join our Trail Crew and help work on our trail system & garden. Trail Crew gets free meals (worth $175). Trail Crew folks must arrive early to Atland on July 6th and work with us in the afternoon of July 6th and the morning/afternoon of July 7th. If interested, please check “yes” on the registration form when asked to join trail crew. We will let folks know if they have been accepted by March 2026.

T U I T I O N + M E A L S + H O U S I N G

Tuition for the week: $395-$495 sliding scale (deposit and tuition are non-refundable)

Meals for the week: $175 (if you sign up for our Trail Crew work-exchange then meals are free for the week. See info above or email us with questions). There will be 3 meals per day prepared by the amazing chef, Ampersand Paris.

Housing options @Atland for the week: $150-$300 (tiered options include: 6 private bedrooms, 1 cabin, 3 shared rooms (2 ppl per room), 2 glamping spots, and 7 camping platforms on our trails). One of the houses includes a pool! Participants are welcome to find their own housing and/or meals and only pay the tuition fee, preferably only those who live nearby as we encourage everyone to lodge and eat meals with us.

A P P L I C A T I O N

Open to the first 25 participants who register and pay a non-refundable deposit. Must be at least 21 years old to apply. Abby Crain’s classes are open level, and Jenna’s technique class and Gizeh’s floorwork class are for more intermediate-level dancers who have previous dance experience. If you have a question about if this is a right fit for you, please email us.

Cancellation Policy: once you have paid the deposit and tuition, it is non-refundable. Housing and meal payments will be refunded (minus any paypal/credit card fees) if we are able to find someone on the waitlist to take your spot, so the sooner you let us know then the more likely we can find someone.

REGISTER HERE >

D A T E S

Tues. July 7 - Sun. July 12

Arrival on Tues. the 7th anytime between 4-6pm. When you arrive, we’ll do orientation at 6:30pm, and the first dinner and meet & greet session is from 7pm-9pm. Departure is Sunday after the morning movement session. The full and updated schedule will be sent to participants prior to arrival.

D A I L Y S C H E D U L E

BREAKFAST @ATLAND chef-prepared and communal style at the Atland main house

MORNING SESSIONS @THAYER HILL STUDIO (10AM-12PM) The studio where we will gather for movement sessions will be the gorgeous and spacious Thayer Hill studio, just a few minutes up the road from Atland.

LUNCH @ATLAND chef-prepared and communal style on the dance deck or inside the Atland main house

RESIDENCY STUDIO/LAND TIME OR OPTIONAL SWIM BREAK @THE BEND Afternoons are left open for rest, socializing, and exploring rural western Massachusetts’ hiking trails and beautiful swimming holes. There is one swimming hole a short walk away, another one with a community beach a bike ride away. And there’s a pool this year! The studio and dance deck are also open for rehearsals. We’ll have a sign out sheet.

​AFTERNOON SESSIONS @THAYER HILL STUDIO (3PM-5PM) The studio where we will gather for movement sessions will be at the gorgeous and spacious Thayer Hill studio, just a few minutes up the road from Atland.

DINNER @ATLAND chef-prepared and communal style on the dance deck or inside the Atland main house

​EVENING SESSIONS Evenings will include informal performances, a dance film screening night on the dance deck (bring work that you would like to share!), fire hangs, and/or socialize at the local Sena Farm Brewery, Liston’s or The Goldenrod. Personal time for rest and integration may be taken whenever needed. On some of the evenings there will be a showing of works-in-progress by the teachers and participants (optional).

TEACHING ARTIST BIOS & class DESCRIPTIONS

  • Abby Crain (b. 1971) is an Oakland, California based artist who makes dances and other structures for performance. She additionally works in the field as a teacher, performer, writer, and curator. Her solo and collaborative work has been presented in the San Francisco Bay Area, New York City, Liverpool, Chicago, Cork, Berlin, Portland and Los Angeles. She has taught at the FRESH festival in San Francisco, the Drop Your City Armor Retreat in Dos Rios California with Sara Shelton Mann, Ponderosa Tanzland in Stolzenhagen Germany, and in New York City through Movement Research. She is currently on adjunct Faculty at Mills College. As a performer, she has worked with Miguel Gutierrez and the Powerful People (2001-2009), Sara Shelton Mann (1999-present), and has has also worked with Jesse Hewit, Guillermo Gomez Peña, Jess Curtis Gravity, Kathleen Hermesdorf, KJ Holmes, Nancy Stark Smith, and David Dorfman Dance. Her work has been nominated for a Bay Area Izzie four times.

    “I teach because I love dancing, because I love dancing with people,  because I believe in the practice of study, and because I believe in the practice of coming together.  I teach because dance class is perhaps the only thing that has kept me sane and happy in my life and I want to share it. I teach because I am annoyed with the idea that anyone knows the right way to move and I want to make space for moving that is not about that. I teach because I want to make space for rigorous movement practice that moves towards connection, possibility and life. My teaching sources from long term study of experiential anatomy combined with a commitment to movement practices that are in no way limited by this study and encourage an expansive and fantastical body. My teaching works from the understanding that embodiment is shaped in, with, and alongside cultural forces, histories, and futures. I draw from my training as a teacher of Open Source Forms (a maverick version of Skinner Releasing as transmitted by Stephanie Skura), my study of Body Mind Centering, a twenty year practice of teaching pilates, my study of craniosacral therapy, extensive practice and study alongside Miguel Gutierrez, and my practice and study with Sara Shelton Mann since 2001.“

    (photo by Robbie Sweeny)

  • NIGHTSKY:

    Through attention, body-based, and imaginative prompts for moving, participants are invited into rigorous, deep, multidirectional presence and action.  By refusing to sit still, get comfortable, or do what is expected and/or known, this work builds skill, responsiveness, dynamic range in dancing. We will dance a lot, watch, and also likely write, chat, draw. Given that we will be in an extraordinary natural setting, we may also work outside, with the land.

    This class is open to all. 

  • gizeh is a movement, teaching and performing artist currently co-existing in Ohlone territory. They are dedicated to the study of being a breathing body through movement and stillness. Through their work, they create spaces that allow them to play and divest from concepts of linearity in a creative process, with the intention of practicing freedom. gizeh’s choreographic and teaching work has been shared in the United States, Mexico and Europe in festivals such as P.O.R.C.H in Germany, Improspeckje in Croatia, GUSH in San Francisco and 4x4 in Tijuana, to mention some. gizeh has been an artist in residence at Atland Residency, CounterPulse, PUSH, BANDALOOP, and Bridge Live Arts, and was the 2023-25 Radiate fellow of RAWdance. gizeh is the curator and producer of Gatherings - a free movement workshop series in the Bay Area. gizeh carries within their body their work with Kathleen Hermesdorf, Sara Shelton Mann, and a decade of study with Dance, Music and Theater teachers throughout Mexico.

    (photo of artist by Marian Himburg)

  • florwerk: 

    This is a dynamic floorwork technique class that invites dancers to move from their fluid body. It focuses on the somatic process of learning (or remembering) and embodying movement, which allows us to not only train the body for aesthetic and performative purposes, but for building neural pathways that can help us expand our awareness of space, time, and connection to the land. Through breath, warmth, stillness and movement, this workshop explores a rigorous and buoyant physicality that embraces pleasure and tenderness, through phrases, somatic practices and improvisation. This class is intermediate level.

  • Jenna Riegel, originally from Fairfield, IA, is a dance artist and educator. Jenna holds an M.F.A. in Dance Performance from the University of Iowa and a B.A. in Theatre Arts from Maharishi International University. During her eleven-year performing career in NYC, Jenna toured and performed nationally and internationally as a company member of David Dorfman Dance, Alexandra Beller/ Dances, Bill Young/ Colleen Thomas & Company, and the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company. She also danced with Daara Dance (choreographer Michel Kouakou), Carolyn Dorfman Dance Company, Shaneeka Harrell, Tania Isaac Dance, and johannes weiland. Jenna taught classes in contemporary technique in New York City at Gina Gibney Dance Center, New York Live Arts, Mark Morris Dance Center, and 100 Grand Dance. She has been on faculty in the dance departments of Barnard College, The Juilliard School, and Virginia Commonwealth University. In addition, she has taught master classes at The Joffrey Ballet School, Columbia College, NYU, The New School, The Ohio State University, SUNY Purchase, Bard College, Connecticut College, Hollins University, Dartmouth College, Williams College, Skidmore College, University of Maryland, University of California-Berkeley, the Bates Dance Festival, the New Look Festival in St. Petersburg, Russia, and the Dance Isadora Festival in Krasnoyarsk, Siberia. Jenna is currently an Assistant Professor of Theater and Dance at Amherst College.

  • contemporary technique: 

    As a former company member and student of choreographers David Dorfman and Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane, my class draws on and references a rich movement lineage spanning many forms including classical modern, postmodern, jazz, hip hop, ballet, improvisational practices, and everyday, pedestrian movement. Class begins with Bartenieff inspired floor work, yoga, and Pilates to ease us into motion and help us arrive more fully present in our bodies. Across the floor phrase-work oscillates between imagery and task-based improvisational scores and rigorous locomotion, athletic inversions, and ambitious lofting. A culminating phrase challenges the polarities of movement and investigates both off-balance and centered, bound and released, sustained and staccato, momentum driven and spatially controlled, on the floor and in the air, and sensation-based and shape-based movement. An uplifting and non-judgmental class culture is attended to by both honoring individualism and honing the ability to replicate outside material and dance in relation to one another.

more about our space

  • Over 40 acres of solitude tucked in the hilltowns of the western Massachusetts Berkshires -- boasting warm sunrises over the distant hills, lush forest for hiking and meandering river frontage on Bronson Brook and walking distance to the Westfield River to wade and soak in the cool mountain water or fish for native trout! We have over a mile of beautiful trails that were created around the main home -- a local architect designed masterpiece boasting a wonderful asian influence yet handcrafted from the very timberstock off the land on which it sits lending a refined rustic twist. 25 Min to Northampton and 10 min to the Berkshires! You can hike or bike to the best swimming holes around. Come escape and breathe in our cool clean mountain air :)

  • linens, towels, pillows, comforters, blankets, shampoo & soap, TP

  • There are two swimming holes near the house that you can walk or bike to. Farther away spots include Ashfield Lake and Chapel Brook Falls.

    We also have a wood-fired hot tub that can be heated up for the weekend. The hot tub seats 5 ppl at a time and is right near the outdoor deck.

  • We don’t allow guests who are not a part of the rental group unless you get approval from us ahead of time.

    For our dance workshops, since space is limited, we can’t accommodate partners and families to lodge with us or attend meals for workshops, but if you would like to bring a family member(s), you can check out nearby lodging options like the Goldenrod Inn or Airbnbs in the area.

    Even though we love animals, we have a no-pet policy. Thanks for understanding.

  • hiking boots and warm socks

    raincoat/poncho and any waterproof clothing you want to bring

    bathing suit (if you want to swim in the nearby swim holes, river, and lakes)

    swim towel / robe for the outdoor shower

    anything you want to bring to the swimming holes (speaker, floaties, goggles, etc.)

    kayak/paddleboard/etc.

    flashlight/headlamp

    bug spray

    sunscreen

    hat/visor

    sunglasses

    for those camping: tent, sleeping bag and pad, tarp for tent bottom and top (we get lots of rain, so this is highly recommended), pillow

    bike (we have a few to borrow)

    camping chair, hammock, anything you want to add to your campsite ;)

    water bottle

    waterproof sandals

    warm weather clothes for any heatwave days 

    cool weather clothes for chilly summer/fall evenings

    toothbrush & toothpaste

    backpack

    snacks (campers, you have to store these inside the house, no food or drinks in the tent)

  • Chesterfield General Store has basics, baked goods, beer, and wine, and great pizza and sandwiches - Th-Su only.

    The Cummington Creamery Co-op on Rte 9 offers baked goods, wine, and beer, every day.

    Williamsburg Market on Rt 9 in Williamsburg is about 10 minutes away.

    Oliver’s Farm Stand (seasonal) on Route 9 in Goshen, about 10 minutes away, self serve and really excellent in a pinch - frozen meats and fish, veggies, condiments, breads, meats. Highly recommended.

  • Cell Service is spotty in the hilltowns, only AT&T works at the house. But luckily we have fast WiFi, so you can connect to WiFi calling and you won’t miss any calls/texts. Or you can take the chance to unlpug and not connect to service or internet, up to you!

  • The Chesterfield General Store (Fri-Sun) coffee, sandwiches, soup, pastries and baked goods, groceries, wine and beer, and have inside and outside dining - great for a quick lunch. Has a great brick oven pizza, but order early!

    Elbow Room Coffee Shop (10 min away in Williamsburg) excellent burritos and coffee. Female/queer owned.

    Liston's Bar and Restaurant in Worthington is 10 minutes away with good pub fare, fun atmosphere inside and out; has some vegetarian but few vegan options.

    The Goldenrod Country Inn in Worthington has an excellent menu and cocktail bar; sometimes serves weekend breakfast. Queer owned.

    The Creamery in Cummington (daily) offers excellent prepared foods, groceries, wine and beer, and have inside and outside dining - great for a quick lunch.

    Sena Brewery (Fri-Sun) excellent beer. bring your own food. pets welcome.