Name: Dance Essence | Dance, you are free!
Start: 2026-04-25T10:00:00+03:00
End: 2026-04-25T16:30:00+03:00
Location: Flying Cow Theatre - Tallinn

Experience an exceptional day, a nourishing and inspiring retreat. Broaden your horizons and dance — you are free!
April 25, Saturday
Program:
10:00 – 13:00 Sacred Dances of Gurdjieff and the Masters of Samara
https://www.facebook.com/events/1304212264996912
14:30 – 16:30 Contact meets Tango
https://www.facebook.com/events/1897568214287027
19:00 – 20:00 Performance "Nocturne", in collaboration with @FlyingCowTheatre
https://www.facebook.com/events/2140135396762952/2140135400096285
The day is led by Julija Melnik, who grew up in Lithuania and has explored various worlds of dance and somatic techniques, and holds a Master’s degree in Educational Sciences. Recognized as an expert in contact improvisation in the Baltic countries, she also teaches the principles of Argentine tango as well as the sacred dances of G. I. Gurdjieff. She has developed her own approach and methodology to transmit the principles and essence of these humanistic and sacred dances.
Julija is also an instructor of Tibetan Chi Gong (Lou Yong Tao To Qi), Euphonie Gestuelle, and specializes in energetic and transgenerational techniques, meditation, and healthy vegetarian cooking.
With over 20 years of teaching experience, Julija Melnik has developed an approach that goes to the essence of what lies behind a dance form, focusing on the essential principles of movement and refining the perception of the subtle, often imperceptible dynamics that guide flow, connection, and harmony.
Come alone or with a friend — you are welcome either way.
No experience needed — just come as you are.
Come 10-15 min in advance, to meet us and prepare
Venue: Theatre Flying cow, Suur-Karja, 21, Tallinn
Participation:
Full experience - 50 €/solo, 80 €/couple
1 workshop - 30 €/solo, 50 €/couple, if registered till 17 of April,
later - 40 €/solo, 70 €/couple
Booking is confirmed with 10€ eur non-refundable deposit.
Number of places is limited.
Registration:
[email protected], +37258370283 - Janika Koppel
Workshop is in English with translation, if needed. Vajadusel tõlge eesti keelde. При необходимости перевод на русский
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Julija Melnik is a dancer, researcher and educator originally from Vilnius, now settled in the Alsace region of France. In her quest, drawn to the distant lands of Mongolia, India and Nepal, she eventually found what she was seeking in Hohwald, the French Dharamsala, and settled in Alsace.
Holding a master's degree in education, she has spent decades exploring the intersections of movement, body awareness, and personal transformation. The particularity of her approach lies in its rare combination of lightness and depth.
Since 2006, she has been teaching Contact Improvisation, playing a key role in building CI communities across the Baltic States, particularly in Lithuania. She has studied with numerous international teachers, including CI pioneers in the USA. For the past 20 years, she has also been an organiser and teacher at the Vilnius Contact Improvisation and Performance Minifestival.
Her teaching encompasses Argentine Tango, the Sacred Dances of G. I. Gurdjieff, Samara Yoga, and Lou Yong Tao To Qi — practices she approaches with a shared thread: an invitation to move from authenticity, deep presence, and genuine connection to the body. She is also a practitioner of energetic and transgenerational techniques, meditation, and bodywork. Alongside all this, she travels, gardens — with a fondness for medicinal flowers and Bach flower essences — explores tea ceremony process, art of cooking (with a training in healthy and vegetarian cuisine behind her), and keeps studying the human nature.