Mask & The World Somatic Dance Atelier, by Speranza Spir         workshop July 23-31, 2012

The process of understanding one’s anatomy and the experience of soul and genealogy of place involve a prying apart of the self to uncover the ever resonating essence of personal identity and biological genealogy. In this week-long workshop we will encounter parts of our Self through interaction with the natural environment of Kefalonia. Through holistic movement explorations based on the Holistic Gymnastics Ehrenfried method, as well as Butoh dance practice, participants will ponder questions and notions pertaining to belonging and root-identity, and articulate response through collective and individual creation and choreography to uncover and inform the relationships between the body and self, place, identity and belonging. The use of these two methods suggests the shape-shifting and somatic potentials that will come together and accrue specific meaning for all participating.

Ehrenfried Holistic Gymnastics is a movement approach bringing equilibrium via the intelligence of the body. It is based on simple movements, verbally suggested by the practitioner, encouraging proprioception and personal awareness. In turn, this exploration of movement enables the participant with musculoskeletal agility, aiding the body to liberate itself of automatisms and habits which can be a source of tension, pain, and compression. The repertoire of movements encourages active rest, joint alignment, mobility & muscle toning, all the while rhythmic breathing guiding the way movements are executed. Gradually, the internal organs regulate from the effects of rhythmic breathing; behaviour modifying itself in tandem with changes in physical habits giving way to the joy of movement and discovery of self. Butoh is a form of dance theatre originating in Japan out of the post-World War II era, partly as opposition to America’s bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, as well as in protest of Western materialism. Butoh work calls on the body’s work, its changing conditions through stillness and physicality, and linking one to the essential and raw experiences of physical and spiritual states.

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