Our 

Approach

At MFI, technical mastery, personal transformation, and community building aren't separate goals—they're dimensions of the same work.

Technical precision deepens when grounded in cultural roots and paired with embodied presence. Personal breakthroughs emerge best within collective practice. Challenge stays sustainable and builds into resilience when met with self-compassion and community support.

Through partner dance, we explore what these intersections teach us about being fully present, building trust, and creating the interdependent relationships our world needs. At MFI, we balance intensive instruction with restorative downtime, pair technical training with cultural education, and offer both expert guidance and peer-led exploration. This intentional design creates an experience that's rigorous and nourishing, structured and spacious, technically precise and relationally rich—because sustainable growth requires more than just skill-building. It requires community, context, rest, and the space to integrate what you're learning into your body and your life.

Setting the Foundation

  • We offer L1 and L2 tracks for each dance style to ensure personalized, level appropriate instruction. Once attendees are accepted, we share a list of prerequisite skills & movement fluencies needed to assess into L2 and on day one, instructors conduct brief assessments to help students find their optimal learning level. This structure gives fusion dancers with prior experience the chance to explore beyond basics with similarly experienced peers, and builds a foundational focus for dancers brand new to a style. Our leveling system offers

    • Assessment-based placement that honors your current skill level and experience

    • Curriculum pacing that matches development and learning needs

    • Peer groups matched to similar dance study backgrounds and development

    • Enhanced learning experience through level-appropriate challenges and support

  • Each evening before diving into a new dance style, instructors offer rich presentations that root the following day's curriculum in cultural and historical context. We gather in our comfiest clothes with snacks and tea to absorb, inquire, and deepen our understanding of each dance's origins and evolution. These intimate sessions create space for direct dialogue with instructors about the cultural foundations that inform our technical training. These evenings will offer

    • Deep cultural context for the mechanics and artistry we'll explore the next day

    • Stories of each dance's origins, evolution, and significance within its communities

    • Intimate space for questions and direct instructor dialogue

    • Foundation for approaching each style with respect, understanding, and informed appreciation

Daily Rhythm

  • At MFI, solo movement is a centerpiece of our educational training. Our mornings are spent as a full group deeply investigating the techniques of each dance individually. Working solo gives us space to drill the aesthetics, mechanics, and techniques of each style into our own bodies, building the foundation upon which we ground our partnered dynamics.

    These class blocks will offer

    • Repetition of the foundational movement skills of each style via iterative drilling

    • An embodied sense of the relationship between the movement, the music, and the cultural/historical context of the dance

    • Familiarity with the musical structures of each style, and an ability to hear and feel the way the music and movement relate

  • Partnered dance classes will build upon our solo work and dive deeply into the essence of each dance. These blocks will include cohort class time, topic-specific electives, and hands-on time with instructors. Additionally, open study spaces will be scheduled throughout the week for peer-supported training and further self-directed fusion play.

    These class blocks will offer

    • Integration of the distinct mechanics & feeling of the morning’s solo training within a partnered connection

    • Familiarity with each dances’ unique embrace shape & quality

    • An understanding of the lead/follow dynamic and grammar of each dance

    • Style specific vocabulary and transitions

    • Deep cultural context for the mechanics and artistry we'll explore the next day

    • Stories of each dance's origins, evolution, and significance within its communities

    • Intimate space for questions and direct instructor dialogue

    • Foundation for approaching each style with respect, understanding, and informed appreciation

  • Small self-directed study pods meet daily to deepen learning through peer collaboration and focused practice. Based on participant feedback, we've refined our approach this year with enhanced guidance at the start of the week to help pods maximize their time together. These intimate groups create space for processing, skill integration, and building the supportive relationships that extend beyond the intensive. These pods will offer

    • Structured frameworks for effective peer learning and accountability

    • Dedicated time for integrating daily content through practice

    • Opportunities to explore personal learning edges with trusted cohort members

    • Building blocks for the interdependent community connections central to our mission

  • Unstructured time throughout each day and two dedicated rest days give you space to resource yourself as needed. Wade in the creek, curl up in the fireplace nook with a book, find a quiet spot in the forest to journal—this time is yours to decompress, integrate, and tend to your own rhythms. Rest days begin later and offer only optional electives, giving you full choice over your energy and engagement. This downtime offers

    • Essential space for nervous system regulation and metabolizing new learning

    • Freedom to resource yourself in whatever ways feel most nourishing

    • Balance between intensive group time and restorative solitude

Exploration & Play

  • Each student receives two focused 7-15 minute private sessions with instructors from different dance styles throughout the week. These brief but intensive one-on-one moments have consistently been highlighted as one of the most valuable elements of the intensive, providing essential hands-on guidance that perfectly complements our group classes. Students use this dedicated time to address 1-2 specific technique questions and receive personalized feedback on their individual learning edge. These sessions will offer

    • Direct, personalized instruction tailored to your specific needs and questions

    • Focused troubleshooting of technique challenges that may be harder to address in group settings

    • Opportunity to receive individual feedback on your progress and development

    • Essential hands-on time with instructors that deepens and accelerates your learning

  • Optional classes bring together instructors from multiple styles to explore technical distinctions and fusion possibilities—like comparing tango versus urban kiz cross systems. Last year's highest-rated sessions, these electives offer intentional, guided exploration of how styles can inform and blend with each other. A playful and precise approach to understanding what makes fusion work. These electives offer

    • Direct comparison of technique across styles with expert guidance

    • Understanding what distinguishes each dance and where they can merge

    • Practical tools for intentional fusion rather than stylistic confusion

  • Scheduled social dancing throughout the week provides essential time to integrate new material by letting your body move, play, and find flow. MFI staff organize opening and closing night socials, while attendee-led dances emerge organically on other evenings—often with creative themes like last year's secret milonga and blues night. These are your opportunities to feel the work land in your body through joyful, pressure-free dancing. Social dancing offers

    • Integration time where technique becomes embodied through playful exploration

    • Community-building through shared movement and celebration

    • Space for fusion experimentation without the structure of class