Blues Dose Retreat 2025
16th to 24th of August
Penzion Statek Habří, Habří 19, Moravecké Pavlovice
FEW IMPRESSIONS FROM OUR FIRST RETREAT
RETREAT IN A NUTSHELL
- The whole retreat runs from Saturday, August 16th at 5 PM to the following Sunday, August 24th at 10 AM.
- You can join for the whole week, or just for the first or second half.
- Accommodation is available in the main building or in tents.
- There will be 15 hours of blues dance classes.
- Our main blues dance teacher is Edmilson Botelho again cause we love him. But he will not be the only one – last year there were six other teachers you could take an inspiration from. The list is a work in progress – more coming soon!
- There are no classes on arrival and departure days. There will also be a day off mid-week to rest and recharge.
- We’ll have two dance parties with live music – one on Tuesday and one on Saturday evening, meaning at the end of each half of the week.
- Food will be next-level delicious – full board is included and it’ll satisfy vegetarians, vegans, and meat lovers alike.
- The language of the Retreat is English. At least basic understanding of English is a must.
- DIY activities – in other words „share what you love with others“ – are a wonderful way to spend your free time between classes and socials. We can’t wait to see what this year’s participants come up with.
- Plenty of time a and space for relaxation – Perseides stargazing, giant outdoor hot tub, hiking, swimming, billiards, small pool, inspiring talks and lots of good vibes.
PRICES (SLIDING SCALE)
We are trying to make Retreat as affordable as possible for everybody, that’s why we are implementing sliding scale pricing this year which is not a rare practice on dancing events in the world. The standard price is what we have calculated that lets us run this event and break roughly even. By paying more than the standard ticket price, you enable us to offer tickets at a reduced price to those for whom participation would otherwise not be possible.
If you need to pay in more installments – let us know in registration form.
The price includes all lessons, accommodation, full board and all the accompanying program. You can buy extra drinks at the bar.
Cancellation policy: by cancelling before midnight of 30th May we will send you 50% back from the whole price, before midnight of 10th July we will refund 20%, thanks for your understanding. You deffinitely can find replacement for yourself if you can not come.
Confirmation of registration: If you register for full week we confirm your registration right away. If you register for half of the week we confirm your registration at the moment there is somebody else registering for the other half of the week so you together fill the whole week. We must have implemented this rule because last year one half of the week remaind significantly less occupied. Thanks for understanding.
whole week
Saturday – Sunday
August 16th 5PM – August 24th 10AM
standard price
9.900 czk / €390
ready to confirm your registration immediately
1st half of the week
Saturday – Wednesday
Aug 16th 5PM – Aug 20th during the day
standard price
5.400 czk / €220
ready to confirm your registration immediately
2nd half of the week
Wednesday – Sunday
Aug 20th during the day – Aug 24th 10AM
standard price
5.400 czk / €220
currently 4 people on waiting list for confirmation of their registration
supported price
If you would love to attend the Retreat but you are not able to pay standard price, let us know in the registration form. If we have extra support from people paying on the upper end of the sliding scale, we may be able to provide some additional partial scholarships/discounted places.
donor price
If you can afford to pay little extra money they will be added to scholarship fund. We can then help people who register for supported price to cover the difference between what they can afford to pay and standard price. We will keep private all donors and participants asking for supported price. If you want to help with donor price to the particular person you can do so – let us know in the registration form.
>>> APPLICATIONS HERE <<<
MAIN LECTURERS AND INSPIRERS
Edmilson Botelho
The main guest instructor at Blues Dose Retreat 2025 was born and raised in São Tomé and Principe Islands. His dance vocabulary draws from traditional African dances like usôa, puíta, funaná, kadance (kizomba), semba, which he learned before moving to Portugal at the age of 17. There, he discovered Lindy Hop. Currently, as a teacher, he specializes in Lindy Hop, Blues, Authentic-Jazz, Solo Blues, and Afro-Jazz. For him, dance is all about feeling, groove, and joy. You might have spotted him teaching at events like Paris Midnight Blues, Slow Town Blues in Turin, Duke’s Blues inLuxembourg, Blue Monday Festival in Porto, and much more. Check out his facebook page.
Martin Šandera
Martin began his blues dance journey in 2018. From 2014 to 2019, he was devoted to swing dance (mostly Lindy Hop) and taught it at Prague’s Swing Busters School. He has also explored tango, boogie-woogie, contemporary dance, house dance, partner acrobatics and various martial arts. In the spring 2022 he co-founded the Blues Dose school in Prague with Pavla Tomanová, where he has been teaching regular lessons since May 2022. In June 2023, he completed a week-long Bluesology Teacher Training in Valencia. Furthermore, he is the visionary and main organizer of the Retreat.
Míša Clark
Míša will be our cook for the third time already, and we’ll be assisting her in the kitchen. She has been blues dancing for two years and her passion for it knows no bounds. Beyond dancing, she’s awoman of many talents – a painter, a tattoo artist, holder of 1st kyu in Aikido, and that’sjust the beginning of the list…
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LIVE MUSIC ON EVENING SOCIALS
Pavel Jartym (guitar, vocals)
&
Jan Svorník (bass)
the 2nd live act TBA ASAP
TRANSPORTATION
We’re helping coordinate carpooling for participants, as well as pickups from the train station if needed. Confirmed participants have received the info by email. If you haven’t received it, please let us know. Thanks!
The drive takes about 1 hour 50 minutes from Prague / 50 minutes from Brno / 2 hours 30 minutes from Ostrava.
If you’re coming by train, the nearest station is Rožná; the closest larger station is Bystřice nad Pernštejnem, or at worst, Tišnov – from any of these stations we can arrange a car ride to the Retreat location.
If you are arriving / leaving on Wednesday you can do so at any time during the day.
FOOD
Meals will be provided in the form of full board. Míša will be doing the cooking, and we’ll be helping her out in the kitchen. You can look forward to meals for meat-eaters, vegetarians, and vegans – please let us know your preference in the registration form. There will be draft beer and draft lemonade available, as well as other alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks. Drinks will be charged separately. Your drink consumption is helping Retreat budget.“
FEW WORDS FROM THE ORGANIZER
We are all trying hard to make the Retreat something special. We want to create welcoming and safe space where you can really meet with others. We want to make you feel at home. The level of your participation is completely up to you, no pressure, but we admit we would love to encourage you to share yourself with others for example by organizing some DIY activity – see below.
The goal of Retreat is not earning money. The whole Retreat is de facto non profit event and with budget around 200.000 czk / €8.000 also a huge risk for Martin. If you plan to join, please register ASAP to help him stay sane 😀 If you feel so he will be grateful if you spread the word about Retreat, invite your friends etc.
ACCOMMODATION
We’ll have the guesthouse Statek Habří all to ourselves. There are 22 regular beds available, so it’ll be a cozy, intimate gathering – just the way we want it. There are three four-bed rooms and one two-story apartment with two rooms of five beds each – see the photos for details. Every room has its own private bathroom and toilet.
We’ll have access to a 90 m² dance hall, a covered terrace, large outdoor heated jacuzzi, a small pool, billiards, ping-pong, and Wi-Fi… If you prefer to stay in your own tent there will be few places available but for the same price as beds in the building.
address: Penzion Statek Habří, Habří 19, 592 53 Moravecké Pavlovice
BLUES DANCE
A total of 12 classes, each 75 minutes long = 15 hours for participants joining for the full week, 6 classes = 7,5 hours for those attending either the first or second half of the week. The classes are designed as Open Level.
In addition to the classes, there will be plenty of time for social dancing – two dance evenings will feature live music, the others will have recorded music.
Preliminary schedule (subject to possible change)
| Sat 16/8 | arrival after 17:00 | welcome evening | |
| Sun 17/8 | 75 min blues dance class | 75 min blues dance class | TBA |
| Mon 18/8 | 75 min blues dance class | 75 min blues dance class | TBA |
| Tue 19/8 | 75 min blues dance class | 75 min blues dance class | live music social |
| Wed 20/8 | no class | no class | welcome evening |
| Thu 21/8 | 75 min blues dance class | 75 min blues dance class | TBA |
| Fri 22/8 | 75 min blues dance class | 75 min blues dance class | TBA |
| Sat 23/8 | 75 min blues dance class | 75 min blues dance class | live music social |
| Sun 24/8 | departure before 10:00 |
ACCOMPANYING DIY PROGRAM
In addition to dancing, playing pool, evenings in the hot tub, swimming in the pool, exploring the negbourhood and relaxing in all imaginable ways, I’d like to once again invite you to join the concept of DIY activities. There will be open slots in the program and you’re very welcome to suggest and organize for yourself and others any activity you enjoy.
Whatever you love doing and feel like sharing with others, you’re warmly invited to offer it to others. Participation is, of course, completely optional – even if just a few people join in, that’s totally fine.
So far, the following activities have been confirmed for this year:
- ACROYOGA intro
- intro to ZOUK dance
In previous years we enjoyed among others (take is as an inspiration that everything is welcomed):
- KUSUDAMA (modular origami) workshop
- SLACKLINE
- intro to BALFOLK dances
- LEGO PHOTOGRAPHY workshop
- CUDDLE PARTY
- intro to SHIATSU massages
- AIKIDO & BLUES DANCE – seraching for paralels
- house music intro to DJINGu from vinyls + house party
- A taster of FOCUSING (connecting body, mind and emotions)
- A nature walk focusing on „EDIBLE FLOWERS and wild fruits“
