Our Story
Rivière Rassemblement is a new awakening within the cosmos. With the time we’ve been given globally to pause and reflect on our lives & their demands, we’ve become accustomed to a new imagination & vision. Born after being forced to reflect on how things could be and perhaps should be, Rivière Rassemblement was conceived.
Limiting souls attracted to a gathering will allow us to create a reconnecting experience for a community that has been awakened to the realisation that returning to normality might not be the best circumstance for humanity, nor mother Gaia.
Imagined as a three-day, open-air gathering of creatives and community on the romantic riverbanks of surprise meeting grounds, Rivière Rassemblement is a time to slow down, breathe, savour and be present. A radical community of like-minded beings gathered within the playground for self-expression, creating opportunities for your soul to come together and revel in authenticity & connection.
What if we went back to the drawing board to design a different communal experience? One where space and time melted away for brief moments, where we could reach out to new experiences, relax, converse and express ourselves without judgment?
Breathing, moving, exploring & communicating whilst diverse entertainers craft pulsating soundtracks for social growth. Extended sets from some of the most prevalent DJs and producers will grant us an aural journey to indulge in.
This is the first tiny step towards a journey that is bigger than any of us. As our first-ever gathering, it sets the tone and intention for the many happy years to follow. Come experiment with us. Let’s build the world anew.
Our Pledge
In its infancy, Rivière Rassemblement is for those of you who are not content with playing small. For individuals eager to take back your sovereign power – your birthright as a human being. Those revellers who crave a community of allies can fearlessly receive the truth of who we are with love. The Rivière Rassemblement fellowship is not for everyone; patrons are encouraged to support the community. If you have the right heart, spirit, and intentions for growth, in-depth conversation, holding space for a community of shadow workers and have a love affair with development, Rivière Rassemblement will call you to join the fellowship.
We are committed to forming lifelong alliances through transformative gathering experiences and vulnerable connections. Barring unforeseen prohibition, we will be gathering on the romantic riverbanks of our surprise meeting grounds for the inaugural gathering. This will be our first step towards the vision we have for the greater Rivière Rassemblement.
Every one of us has a unique gift to give the world. Beyond the resources you might bring to bear, there is something intangible that we all have.
A way that can significantly impact others or the collective.
Those who choose to join this fellowship will help us discover and then bring this medicine to the world.
Set
Aim to arrive at the retreat with a peaceful, open heart and with reverence. Our purpose is to encounter our natural connection with the creative Life Force and nature’s wisdom that expresses itself everywhere around us, as well as from within us when we are grounded, much like Gaia’s connectivity through a network of fungi.
Setting
Revellers of Rivière Rassemblement are encouraged to join our group communication in preparation for the weekend away together. We kindly invite you to partake in the build-up experiences. We advocate for a focus inward by practising meditative & yogic activities and participating in a conscious, sustainable diet, whatever that might mean to you.
Intention
Rivière Rassemblement was born in the crux of the South African COVID-19 pandemic, the summer of 2020 when a tribe of friends wanted to create something unique and have fun while doing so. Since then, our vision has continued to grow, and from sharing our mission with like-minded individuals, our dreams are yet to unfold.
Rivière Rassemblement is designed to cultivate the integration of two of the archetypal forces inside us all. The sacred feminine-the energy with the power to surrender to the mystery, birthing life into the void. The divine masculine-a force that can hold firm amid blistering chaos and create order from it.
Rivière Rassemblement is the blank canvas, a gathering of friends and yearning souls. The retreat’s essence and purpose is to hold space for inclusivity & discovery by reconnecting with nature, our physical bodies and our community, building up to an evening of healing through dance, music, authentic communication & laughter.
Age Limitation
Rivière Rassemblement aspires to create a space for individuals searching for something different. Our gathering is not a festival although it will encompass party elements, because of this a strict age limit will be implemented. The first 10 revellers over the age of 50 qualify for a ‘wisdom discount’, please email bonjour@rrfest.co.za with proof that you qualify.
This is a 23+ event. You will need one of the following to be permitted entry to the festival:
- A valid driver’s license, passport or ID. No copies or certified copies will be accepted.
Please note we are unable to accept ANY other form of ID, so please ensure you have these in good time, prior to the festival. There will be no entry to those under 23 or those without sufficient ID. Refunds will not be provided for ticket holders who are refused entry on the grounds of age or insufficient ID.
Local Residents Tickets
We allocate a number of discounted tickets to residents who live within the local area. These tickets are only available for those living in the Langeberg Municipality. Please send a utility bill that contains your address to bonjour@rrfest.co.za with proof that you qualify. The deadline to apply is 2 months prior to the 1st day of the gathering.
COVID-19
We encourage patrons to limit social interactions as much as possible for ten moons before and after the gathering, helping lower the risk of potentially spreading health risks to friends & family within Rivière Rassemblement. However, we will do our best to restrict the risk of all patrons attending our gathering.
All governmental restrictions & regulations will be adhered to. Rivière Rassemblement bookings are fully refundable until one month before our weekend away; booked spaces are transferable between souls.
Ethos
Rivière Rassemblement is a gathering that celebrates the individual, aims to cultivate understanding and explore what it means to be a human being in today’s world.
With our 5 guiding principles, we strive to encourage the sharing of knowledge and information between the intelligent, open-minded people who come to Rivière Rassemblement and join our festival family. These principles aren’t commandments, and they’re not rules – they’re ideals that offer guidelines as to how we as a community can reinvent the world and ourselves.
Authenticity
- To foster authenticity, we hope to create an environment of acceptance and holding space for individuals to dare to be imperfect and vulnerable.
We invite every reveller to step into their authentic self and their radical individualism, inviting freethinking beings to express themselves and live in the moment with conviction and confidence, all while staying true to themselves.
Allowing everyone to believe that we are fundamentally worthy of love and acceptance, just as we are.
- Within the information age, we believe it is our duty as curators and partners to be honest, and transparent in all forms of our communication and we encourage our revellers to do the same.
Honesty
- In our fast-paced lives, we have become accustomed to quick facts, shallow conversations and fearful of in-depth, meaningful conversations. At Rivière Rassemblement, we encourage radical honesty and thought-provoking discussions.
Love
- Curiosity cultivates kindness; we believe in displaying radical appreciation towards fellow human beings by enquiring about their way of life, vision and interests. Love can be expressed even within our differences, and we honour and encourage diversity within humankind as within the healthy ecosystems of nature.
Community
- We aim to make it easy for people to participate and feel part of a group, to feel like we belong to something greater than each of us, but where each individual plays such an integral role that the community wouldn’t be the same without them.
We are drawn into a collective by a common interest in music, dance & conversation so that we can evaluate and assess our current world within a safe environment. This way we can imagine a new way of living and carry this imagined life with us into the outside world.
Acceptance
- As a conscious community committed to inventing a new world, we consciously accept each reveller as they are, acknowledging the mental state they find themselves in and recognize the desired growth and development they aspire to, thus making the world a better place for all souls.