Ninia Grisito and Jorge Albuerne Juanco: 7-day Intensive
From Fundamentals to the Infinite
August 23rd - 30th, 2026
Deepen your aerial practice and creative exploration with guidance from Grisel Salgado (Ninia Grisito) and guest artist Jorge Albuerne Juanco (ShortMaltes). Together, they bring a unique approach that combines strong technical foundations with movement research and artistic expression, offering participants the tools to refine skills, expand creativity, and discover new pathways in aerial silks.
About the Intensive:
Join Grisel Salgado (aka Ninia Grisito), with guest artist Jorge Albuerne Juanco (aka ShortMaltes) as creative partner, for a transformative six-day retreat immersed in the lush landscape of Oasis Sorgente, Umbria. This unique experience invites participants to explore the rich possibilities of aerial acrobatics, movement research, and creative expression through a series of carefully crafted workshops that blend technical rigor with artistic exploration.
Each day, we will dive into specific themes inspired by aerial silk techniques and personal research — from fundamental elements like “As Simple as a Hipkey/Frenchkey” to more intricate concepts such as “Repetition is Not Repetition.” Participants will engage with movement as a language, exploring connections, transitions, infinite loops, and the poetry of bodily sequences.
This retreat is designed for those seeking to deepen their practice, challenge their creative boundaries, and connect with a supportive community in a serene environment. Expect a balance of physical training, improvisation, group research, and reflective practice — all guided by the combined experience of two passionate educators and performers.
Whether you come to refine your technical skills or to awaken new artistic paths, this journey promises to open doors to unexpected discoveries and embodied knowledge.
About the Teachers
GRISEL SALGADO, also known as Ninia Grisito, is an Argentinian aerial artist who has specialised in Silks for over 15 years.
She attended the National Dance School No. 1 until the age of 18, when she graduated as a Classical Ballet Teacher. She then entered the IUNA (National Institute of Art) to study the Dance Theater Career, where she studied for several years until deciding to continue her training independently.
As a result of her curiosity on movement, in 2010 she discovered the world of Circus and began training in different disciplines such as acrobatics, trapeze, partner acrobatics, rope, straps and silks with different teachers.
Of all these disciplines, only aerial Silks touch her in a special way. In 2012, she began personal research into this element and ended up developing her own method and technique of movement on the Silks, a method that is constantly evolving and being refined.
In 2019, with the idea of continuing to explore the possibilities of the body in motion and applying them to her own research in fabrics, she reached a turning point in her understanding of the body in motion and began the EME (Specialisation in Experimental Movement) training programme, directed by Jesús Guiraldi and featuring many remarkable teachers.
She has given seminars based on her movement research on Silks in Argentina, Chile, Brazil, Uruguay and Europe, as well as presenting her solo performance Enredos en el Aire in Festivals and Conventions in Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Uruguay and around Europe.
From 2015 to 2022 she was part of the teaching team of the Escuela del Circo Criollo of the Videla Brothers in Buenos Aires.
Actually based in Barcelona she continues teaching, performing with her solo act ORIGAMI and researching looking for new paths in the fusion between movement and Silks technique.
JORGE ALBUERNE was born in Uviéu (Asturies), one year before the dictator died, and he has been navigating the in-betweens ever since — between disciplines, between forms, between what is seen and what resists being named.
Trained in Fine Arts, he founds in Sculpture and Ceramics a first language of weight, material, and silence. Later, through Dance and Circus — discovered in Bilbao, deepened in Barcelona — he begans to explore verticality, risk, and fragility through the Chinese Pole. This discipline has since become both his stage and his research lab: a place where the body writes and rewrites itself in air.
For over two decades, he has inhabited the crossroads between movement, visual art, and the written word — crafting performances that do not seek to explain, but to resonate. His work, whether solo or collective, often leans into uncertainty, failure, memory, and transformation.
He has created and performed award-winning solo works (Señora!!!!, ANDERDESÍ, INDOMABLE) and collaborated with artists across theatre, circus, music, and visual art. From the raw pulse of LA MAKABRA to the irreverent tenderness of cía. VAQUES, he seeks spaces where humour, depth, and contradiction can coexist.
As a teacher and artistic companion, he shares his approach to Chinese Pole, Stage presence, and Creative risk in schools and projects across Europe and Latin America. He also facilitates workshops that investigate the poetic potential of error and the choreographies of thought (Activaciones Escénicas del Error, (d)Escribir el Riesgo).
He currently lives in Barcelona, continuing to create and uncreate, most recently with FareWELL, alongside the companies EL OTRO LADO with Grisel Salgado (aka Ninia Grisito) with their ongoing creation of the show FÁBULA, and cía IMPULSOS with Pau Portabella creating the duo Temps Encara Tenim (Still (we) have time).
What to expect
The retreat will be organised as follows, with each subject being covered in between two and a half and five hours, for a total of twenty-seven and a half hours of training, research and improvisation on the Silks:
1. AS SIMPLE AS A HIPKEY/FRENCHKEY
An element as simple as this one holds a world of possibilities and can be the key to finding new paths.Connections and small transitions from one to the other.
2. WHEELDOWN GATE
This movement uses the centre as support and allows for different turns on the longitudinal axis. We will learn about its many possible set-ups and dismantlings and its versatility as a gateway to other movements.
3. L∞PS
Infinite does not exist, but we can try to reach it. A capsule for movements and combinations that enters into an endless repetitive pattern.
4. HOCKS AS HANDS, HANDS AS HOCKS.
The hock grip is one of the fundamental elements in my own research on silks. This workshop will be dedicated to experimenting with various climbs and combinations using the hamstrings.
5. ORIGAMI
In this class, we will deepen the study and understanding of the language of links and sequences from my personal research.
6. REPETITION IS NOT REPETITION
This is a guided, group research proposal based on a simple guideline. Then through observation, analysis, study and transformation of movement through REPETITION, we will build new sequences.
The workshop will be hosted at Oasi Sorgente, a peaceful retreat center located in the heart of Umbria, Italy, surrounded by rolling hills and lush landscapes. Between training sessions, you can relax by the pool, take leisurely walks through the countryside, or explore nearby historic towns and hidden natural watering holes. The food provided is organic, vegetarian, and whenever possible, grown right on-site, ensuring you are nourished with fresh, wholesome meals during your stay.
Information:
Prerequisites:
you need to be comfortable being in the air for the period of the workshop.
you should be able to aerial invert and climb
Accommodation:
single beds in shared room (see accommodation section on website for more information)
Additional information:
Participants can choose to stay on-site and have all meals catered during their stay.
Alternatively participants can find their own accommodation and decide to share lunch with the group during training days or figure it out on their own.
Oasi Sorgente is in the countryside so having a car or traveling together is recommended.
Oasi Sorgente can arrange to pick up people from nearby train stations (Orte or Narni-Amelia).
Price:
Intensive Workshop only: €550
All food and 7 night accommodation at Oasi Sorgente:
+ €600 (€1150)