Greetings friends!

I’ve just got back from Portugal, where I was studying Somatic Internal Family Systems (SIFS) with Susan McConnell.  

Here's a video I made in the Portuguese sunshine, chatting about what I was experiencing and how it might make it's way into my summer schools this July and August..

The short version

It was an amazing week, full of deep insights, joy and pleasure, lots of swimming in the sea and hanging out with an international bunch of incredible people who are doing extraordinary work. 

We meditated, we moved with and embodied our inner parts (ie the inner critic, the inner child, the inner teenager etc), we shared their stories and we held each other with so much kindness, care and compassion. 

It was such a nourishing and transformational week, I’m really looking forward to finding ways to integrate some aspects into my summer schools this July and August. 

If you’re interested to find out more about what’s on offer, here's the video on youtube or read on for an outline of all my summer courses! 

This summer I am offering a Deep Play retreat in Embercombe with Briony Greenhill, my classic 5-day Fools School in Bristol and a brand new advanced Fooling training called The Fools Body, with Dominique Fester, also in Bristol.

Looking forwards to playing with some of you in the summer! 

Holly xxx

1.) Deep Play in Embercombe

An immersive retreat where you get to stay on the land, sleep in a yurt and eat delicious healthy vegetarian food and you get to play with me and Briony Greenhill!

Briony is an amazing teacher of collaborative vocal improvisation, where people bring their voices together using beautiful simple structures to create instant compositions. Briony will be offering voice and I will be offering body, play, time in nature, hanging out with trees, being with the lake and the long grass and the flowers.

Where: Embercombe, Devon

When: 29th of July to the 3rd of August 

Residential

Who can can apply: Anyone, as long as you can sing! 

This course is booking on a first come, first served basis

More info and application here.

2.) 5-day Fools School in Bristol

I’ve been running this course for 10 years and I love it! It's for a tiny, tiny group of eight people and it's an introduction to the fine art of Fooling; an improvisation form where the performer stands solo on the stage and listens to the voices within themselves and then embodies them on the stage. 

During the week you might get to hang out with your inner critic, your inner child, your inner teenager, your inner rebel, your inner sloth, your inner warrior who knows who else you're going to find! 

It's a very carefully curated journey with meditation, movement, embodiment, voice work, tenderness, care, compassion and a lot of laughter.

Where: Bristol 

When: 18th to the 22nd of August 

Non residential  

Who can apply: Anyone 

Deadline for applications: 6th June 

More info and application here.

3.) The Fools Body in Bristol

An advanced Fool's training for people who've already done my 5-day Fools course. I'm co-facilitating this one with Dominique Fester who is an extraordinary physical theatre performer, teacher and therapist (and a good friend of mine). She has studied at Lecoq in Paris, Rubicon Dance in Cardiff and she has studied as a therapist too. She's got a really wide range of skills and is very body focused. 

This course came about because I'm studying Somatic IFS, which is very body based and I wanted to find a way to put these skills straight into use. I'll be offering some of the stuff that we explored in Portugal; getting to know your inner parts through embodiment, movement, resonance and touch. Dominique will be offering explorations of different qualities of movement, so maybe we'll be embodying string or glue or elastic or the colour red or autumn… We'll be exploring abstract and concrete concepts through movement. The hope with this is to help you expand your range of physicality on stage to help you find different ways to embody your parts maybe lose the words and find more physical vocabulary.

The workshop is in a beautiful space, right on the edge of the Downs in Bristol, a beautiful expanse of green that we can spill out onto and take our play outside if we want to.

Where: Bristol 

When:  25th to the 29th of August 

Non residential  

Who can apply: anyone who has completed my 5-day Fools School 

Application deadline: 6th June

More info and application here.