Strength in Motion:
A Rope & Straps Retreat for the rope lovers and straps curious
November 22-29, 2025
At Casa Chango Mexico
Puerto Escondido
HALF SCHOLARSHIP AVAILABLE for one student who identifies as BIPOC. Apply here by July 25.
a WEEK in PARADISE with new friends, the beach, delicious, fresh, local food, and rope rope rope!
This retreat is designed for aerial rope students who are ready to take their technique to the next level, learn new skills, and expand their movement vocabulary through creative research. Straps curious? We’ll use both of these apparatus to focus on technical progressions leading into skills such as slow and fast rolls, C-shaping, beats, pop-throughs, and other dynamic movements. Throughout the week, we’ll integrate these elements into creative sequences on the rope, building both precision and artistry.
Straps aren’t just for conditioning, they are a whole new world of fun movements and tricks that are eerily similar to the ones we’re working towards on rope. Is grip holding you back? Tired of kicking the tail? No problem with straps! This is the apparatus that will take your skills to the next level, along with built in cross training since some straps skills require you to push rather than pull, something we don’t do enough of as aerialists!
Rope up & Strap in! This Rope & Straps Retreat will have a morning and afternoon class.
Each morning begins with two focused classes: a rope class that explores creative sequences and how to blend movements with intention and fluidity, and a straps class that breaks down the technique and mechanics behind those same movements to deepen your understanding and control.
Afternoons shift into a more grounded and exploratory practice, featuring flexibility training, headstands and other inversions, and guided creative prompts to unlock new movement pathways. This well-rounded retreat is built to challenge, inspire, and support aerialists in both their technical growth and artistic expression.
The rest of our time can be spent eating amazing, healthy food, swimming in the warm river and ocean, reading in hammocks, and breathing the tropical air.
Prerequisites:
Each student should arrive with a clear understanding of and be able to execute all of the following:
- Familiarity with straddle beats and scissor beats
- Comfort in s-wrap wheel downs
- Experience with back balance (it doesn’t need to be perfect)
Please feel free to email sweetretreatsmexico@gmail.com with any questions about the prerequisites.
Daily Schedule Sample: Everything is optional!
- 7:30-9:30 am: Coffee, Tea and Breakfast
- 10am-12:30pm: Warm up, Rope Class, Straps Conditioning
- 1pm: Lunch
- 2-5pm: Pool-time, siesta, relaxing
- 3:30pm: Afternoon Treat
- 4:30-6:30pm: Grounded Practice, Creative Sequencing and Artistry
- 7pm Dinner
- 8-10pm Evening activities
We will take you to our favorite beaches for swimming, surfing, snorkeling, and releasing baby turtles into the sea. Optional evening adventures include a bioluminescent lagoon & local night market.
Read more about our excursions here.
Space is limited, so sign up now!
About Your Coaches
Lily Rubin-Miller
Lily is an aerial silks and rope instructor known for empowering beginner to strong intermediate students to explore and embody their own unique movement styles in the air. With a background in contemporary, jazz, and modern dance, she has been teaching technique and creative movement since she was 16 years old. Discovering aerial arts later in her career ignited Lily’s passion for exploration and creation in the air. Her personal aerial practice is rooted in a profound love of movement and a deep connection to the body, which directly translates into her teaching philosophy. Lily’s mission is to guide each student towards a deeper connection with their bodies, facilitating authentic self-expression within the aerial arts.
Lily has spent the last two years under the mentorship of Kerri Kresinski, esteemed founder and head coach at Sweet Retreats, as a coach for the Aerial Residency program. She and Kerri developed the dance curriculum within the Circus Residency Program, equipping aerialists with concrete tools and confidence to express themselves on the ground. Drawing from a diverse range of dance styles including modern, ballet, jazz, hip-hop, and Gaga, Lily’s approach has transformed her students’ relationship to floor movement.
Fueled by her deep love of vertical apparatuses, Lily’s classes blend essential aerial concepts with a sophisticated understanding of theory, offering students of all levels engaging, challenging, and fulfilling learning experiences. You can expect technique, drills, theory, choreography, and creativity from her classes. She is adept at identifying individual student challenges and skill gaps, providing targeted guidance and progressions to facilitate growth and mastery. Her warmth and energy create an inclusive and supportive learning environment where every individual feels welcomed, supported, and seen.
You can find Lily on Instagram @lilacandthebee.
Kelsey Poitras
Kelsey, also known to friends as KP, is a Philly girl at heart, though she has called Virginia Beach home for the last decade. In 2011, she found her love for aerial silk with coach Julianna Hane in Charleston, SC and since then has traveled to train with the best coaches across the US, Mexico, Canada and Europe.
KP is the proud owner of an aerial studio in Virginia Beach and takes pride in the work she does with beginner & intermediate aerialists finding their strength and confidence in the air. Having a background as a personal trainer, along with seeing the many different personalities and bodies that come through the studio, KP enjoys working with each individual to find what works best for them.
KP specializes in coaching the athletic & strength aspects of aerial arts. Her apparatus of choice has always been silk; while dabbling in sling, straps, and rope. Over the past few years she has been using all of these apparatus’ for a multi-apparatus approach to things she loves to do in the air like dynamics and rolling, and now using that approach to coach others with what feels like unlimited options for a path to success that is different and fun.
You can find KP on instagram @kp_aerialist
Retreat Pricing (in USD):
| Room | Early Bird Price | Full Price |
| Dorm (up to 4 people – mixed gender) | $2000 | $2300 |
| Shared room (1 king bed or 2 individual beds) shared bathroom (2 friends signing up together) | $2200 | $2500 |
| Shared room (1 king bed or 2 individual beds) private bathroom (2 friends signing up together) | $2300 | $2600 |
| Private room w shared bathroom | $2500 | $2800 |
| Private room w private bathroom | $2800 | $3100 |
| Private room w private bathroom & Air Conditioning | $3100 | $3500 |
$500 Deposit is required to secure your spot.
Early bird tuition is due by August 24.
Full tuition is due by November 1, 2025.
Rates refer to cost of one person’s tuition.
Couples must sign up together.
Rates refer to cost of one person’s tuition.
Couples/SO’s are welcome at an additional price.
What’s included:
- Ground transportation to/from the Puerto Escondido Airport (PXM) to our accommodations*
- Arrive on Nov 22. Depart on Nov 29.
- Accommodations for the duration of the retreat
- Daily meals – breakfast, lunch, dinner, dessert & snacks
- 2 Daily classes (4-6 hours total/day)
- Morning Aerial photoshoot
- Evening activities
- Trips to local beaches and night market
- 24 hour use of Swimming Pool, Jacuzzi, and Community Spaces
- High Speed Starlink Wifi Internet
- Evening Jacuzzi soaks
Sarah Claussen
Links for more information:
- Accommodations – room descriptions
- Meals and Food*
- How to get here. Info and advice on booking your travel to Puerto Escondido.**
- Weather in Puerto Escondido
- Testimonials
- Excursions
Sign up early to get the Early Bird Discount
Questions? Email us at SweetRetreatsMexico@gmail.com.
Food service begins with dinner on arrival day and breakfast on departure day. The food is amazing!
** Your taxi to/from the PXM airport is included if you arrive/depart on designated days. Click here for info about getting to Puerto Escondido.
*Referral discounts are for referring first time retreaters only.
No Refunds.
Deposits are non-refundable and non-transferrable.
Cancel more than 60 days before 1st day of retreat: 50% of your tuition paid can transfer toward a future Sweet Retreat within 18 months of cancellation.
Cancel 30-60 days before the 1st day of retreat: 25% of your tuition paid can transfer toward a future Sweet Retreat within 18 months of cancellation.
Cancellations up to 30 days before the 1st day of the retreat will not be credited or refunded for any reason.
At the time of payment for your retreat, we strongly advise purchasing a travel insurance policy. Make sure your policy covers the full cost of the retreat fee, as well as unexpected cancellation, trip delay, losses and other risks. Also, consider protection for canceled or delayed flights, lost luggage, medical needs while traveling. Please bring the policy with you in case of emergency. Click here for IM Global Insurance. Click here for WanderWell Insurance.
See complete list of terms and conditions here.