Meet the Team
The Soma CI family is created by the coming together of experienced, vibrant and caring embodiment practitioners - all of whom have a strong relationship to Contact Improvisation, somatics, contemporary dance, community and events. This is a team of friends who respect and propel one another. We are interested to magnify and celebrate the teaching of CI in the UK.

Teacher & Co-Founder
Winter Warmer Afternoon Teacher
David Basak
David is a dedicated practitioner of Contact Improvisation, having immersed himself in this dynamic dance form for over a decade. It has been a passionate love affair lasting 12 years, continually deepening and evolving. Contact Improvisation is his primary practice, deeply intertwined with his personal and professional journey. His extensive background in Buddhism, plant medicines, and over 15 years of meditation practice enriches his approach to Contact Improvisation, allowing him to bring a unique blend of mindfulness and presence to his dance.
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Teacher & Co-Founder
Winter Warmer Intensive Teacher
Harriet Roberts
A dedicated practitioner and facilitator of CI, Harriet has practiced and shared the dance form for over a decade. Originally trained as a contemporary dancer, Harriet travelled extensively searching for homes and hubs which are informed by Contact Improvisation, somatics and community enquiry.
Currently residing in Devon, She runs local durational groups focused on CI and contemporary skills. Harriet is interested in expanding CI practice for individuals and for the community. Both Soma CI and Hari's Open Movement School have been born from this intention.
She is playful, poetic and practical in her teaching, warm in her hosting and intrigued by each and every dance.

Winter Warmer Intensive Teacher
Mark Rietema
Mark Rietema teaches Somatics and CI in London and abroad, and offers workshops, lectures and group facilitation around embodiment, dance and mental health in Universities, the NHS and grassroots groups.
He works as a psychotherapist and somatic educator, having studied Process Oriented Psychology and Body-Mind Centering®. His previous background is in community arts projects and performances (UK, US) with an MA in Community Arts (Goldsmiths). He teaches as faculty for Embody Move UK and the Institut Prozessarbeit Deutschland, and as an associate in Kings College. Mark is part of the organising team for the London Contact Festival and Goldsmiths jams and classes. www.markrietema.com

Winter Warmer Intensive Teacher
Rosalind Holgate-Smith
Rosalind is a Dancer, Choreographer and Somatic Movement Educator. Rosalind has over 15 years of experience teaching Contact Improvisation and takes inspiration from studies in Body-Mind CenteringⓇ, Authentic Movement, Skinner Release Technique, Martial-Arts and moving outdoors with trees, mud and water.
As an artist she creates performance installations that explore intimacy between people, place, and the environment and she recently completed a PhD investigating how touch enables encounters with Otherness and the vocabulary used in Contact Improvisation. https://rosalindholgate-smith.com/

Winter Warmer Intensive Teacher
Laura Doehler
​​Laura Doehler, London based dance artist, is a dance artist and teacher of dance (CI, Release Technique, LMA at NCCA and SDS). Recipient of the Trinity Laban scholarship, she studied dance at Trinity Laban Conservatoire and Performance Making (MA) at Goldsmiths University. Her teachings of CI and her participative performance work (with her company Exit Map) deal with common ground and movement as relational practice that explore identity and socio- environmental sense making.
Her work is often cross-disciplinary (i.e. audio visual site mappings, environmental actions, drama and film) and purist when it comes to CI and improvisation where the here and now act as main collaborators. She recently embarked on residencies with Ponderosa e.V. in Germany (Radical Inclusion 2021 and Architectures of Togetherness 2022) and commissions (ie. The Place 2024) to explore participatory and process-based encounters towards collective sense making. Her work has been shown, amongst others, at The Place, The Southbank Centre, Trinity Laban, The Lofft (DE) and Cockpit Theatre.

Winter Warmer Afternoon Teacher
Lewis Wilkins
​Lewis grew up in Devon, UK. He trained at London Contemporary Dance School 2006-2009, and has worked as a performer and artistic collaborator with various choreographers and companies over the past 15 years. These include Jean Abreu, Richard Alston, Bregenzer Festspiele, Riccardo Buscarini, Tom Dale, Stephanie Dufresne, The National Theatre, Matthew Bourne's New Adventures, Joel O'Donoghue, The Royal Opera House, Scottish Dance Theatre, Lea Tirabasso and TrashDollys. Lewis has been teaching since 2014, and his credits include Agitart Figueres Es Mou, DV8 Physical Theatre, National Dance Company Wales and Scottish Dance Theatre.
He regularly teaches at B12 Berlin, London Contemporary Dance School, and Nuova Officina Della Danza. Additionally, Lewis has been a regular guest lecturer at Roehampton University, London Studio Centre, Middlesex University, Rambert School, and University of Limerick. As a teacher Lewis is committed to a progressive pedagogy that is learner centred. He aims to create an inclusive, supportive, and focussed learning environment where creativity and playfulness can thrive.

Winter Warmer Afternoon Teacher
Benn Free
Ben

Winter Warmer Afternoon Teacher
Bryn Thomas
​Bryn has been practicing CI for the last 15 years and has delivered workshops internationally since 2015, dancing with and learning from Nita Little, Charlie Morrissey, Jovair Longo, Vega Lukkonen, and many others. Bryn is particularly interested in the technical aspects of contact, delving into the mechanics of what occurs when bodies meet. He draws on his experience as a contemporary dancer and massage therapist to help dancers to understand their own bodies in connection to others and the space.

Winter Warmer Afternoon Teacher
Lily Antonia
Lily is a dance artist, choreographer and performer - specialising in Contact Improvisation. With a background in contemporary dance and somatic practice, she blends functionality with exploration, creating spaces where dancers can listen, trust, and move with intention and imagination. Deeply inspired by natures rhythms, starting from our connection with the earth Lily invites people to connect more deeply-with themselves, others, and the environments they move through. Her practice nurtures qualities of presence, attuned attention, shared inquiry, and embodied connection.
"To cultivate a state of being - in readiness without anticipation... we open ourselves to all possibilities"