Eva's on Substack!

 

Check this out via QR code! 

Last workshops of the year with Eva: NYC and PA

Upcoming Workshops 

with Eva Yaa Asantewaa

Ace of Cups from World Spirit Tarot
by Lauren O'Leary and Jessica Sczuka Godino
Llewellyn Publications, 2001

Saturday, October 25 

• When Bad Dreams Happen to Good People (Fort Washington, PA)

Join Eva at Diane Brandt Wilkes's Northeastern Tarot Conclave 2014 for a demonstration of the use of Tarot symbols in harnessing and directing the power of the nightmare. Other workshop facilitators include Rachel Pollack ("Mirroring the Dream") and Paula Chaffee Scardamalia (From Dreams to Tarot and Back Again").

Get complete program, schedule and registration information here.

Saturday, November 8

• Image & Psyche: Through the Portal (Brooklyn, NY)

Guided by Eva in safe community space, take a shamanic journey into the realm of Tarot and other oracular symbols to discover your own wellspring of creativity, wisdom, healing and transformation. Open to participants at all levels of experience with Tarot--from newbies to experts.

Listen to an audio preview here.

To inquire about registration, use Eva's Contact form here.

Big news: More chances to take my Through the Portal workshop! [ADDED DATES!]

UPDATE:

Now you can download a short audio announcement about my Image and Psyche: Through the Portal workshop here.

And, wonderful news! We'll be holding a repeat of Through the Portal on Saturday, October 4 (same time) and November 8 (same time), both in great Brooklyn locations. Please feel free to pass this along to your friends and give them the link to my Contact form here.

Journey through Tarot's portals with Eva Yaa Asantewaa [UPDATE]

I'm teaching a new Image and Psyche workshop, Through the Portal, on Saturday, September 20 (1:30-4pm), hosted again in convenient downtown Brooklyn.

Archetypal symbols in Tarot and other imagery oracles are not just beautiful pictures. They are portals to spaces for creativity, wisdom and healing. Where do they lead YOU? 

Journey with me and find out at my next Image and Psyche workshop!

Admission fee: $30 

(pre-registration required by Saturday, 9/13)

Space is limited, and I don't want you to miss out. If you're interested, scroll down to my Contact Form here, and get in touch soon. I will reply with new registration details.

I look forward to journeying with you on September 20!

******

UPDATE: Now you can download a short audio announcement about my Through the Portal workshop here. And, wonderful news! We'll be holding a repeat of Through the Portal on Saturday, October 4 (same time) and November 8 (same time), both in great Brooklyn locations. Please feel free to pass this along to your friends and give them the link to my Contact form here.

She Gone Tarot: Flawless Sabrina reads Whitney Biennial artist

2014 Whitney Biennial artists Zackary Drucker and Rhys Ernst visit the apartment of drag performance icon Flawless Sabrina, who features in Drucker and Ernst’s video She Gone Rogue. Flawless Sabrina performs a Tarot reading for Drucker and the two discuss the pitfalls of success.

Watch video (2:36)

Where in the world is Eva Yaa Asantewaa?

Eva Yaa Asantewaa (photo by Deborah Feller)

Well, back home in New York City, for one thing!

But also look for me at...

This. Witness Relocation's Eterniday at La MaMa. Info/tickets here.

Bebe Miller Company: A History--co-presented by 651 Arts and New York Live Arts at Brooklyn's Kumble Theater for the Performing Arts at LIU. I'll be moderating a "Stay Late" post-performance sit-down with Bebe and collaborators this Friday, April 12. For program and ticket information, click here and here.

I hope to attend Deirdre Towers' film screening and salute to the producers, artists and educators of the US flamenco community. Monday, April 15, 6pm, at Bruno Walter Auditorium, New York Public Library for the Performing Arts. ​For information on this free event and the library's exhibit, 100 Years of Flamenco in New York, click here.

My project-driven Writing on Dance 2013 takes off at New York Live Arts next Wednesday afternoon with a full house of new students. Also, I'll pretty much be living at New York Live Arts on Wednesday for the opening of that visionary series, Live Ideas: The Worlds of Oliver Sacks ("A five-day festival of arts and ideas exploring the mind-body connection through the works of the acclaimed neurologist"). My first WOD session will be sandwiched between the panel on "Disembodiedness: Body Image & Proprioperception" and the evening keynote with two of my heroes--Dr. Sacks and Bill T. Jones. And the following day, I cannot afford to miss "Minding the Dancing Body" with Jones, Miguel Gutierrez, Colin McGinn, Alva Noë and Gwen Welliver, followed by the performance of RE: Awakenings by Donna Uchizono Company. While that's probably all I'll get to, that's not all that's happening. For details on the full series of special events here.

Speaking of Writing on Dance: Last year, I was delighted to have the accomplished, Argentinian dance artist and educator Anabella Lenzu in my workshop, and she will be returning for this year's series. Anabella has just self-published a book about her life and career--Unveiling Motion and Emotion--which includes her forthright thoughts on dance education, dance community and more (as well as some striking photography by her husband, Todd Carroll). So, you'll also find me dipping into this, now and then. Presented in English and in Spanish, her writing is just like her: warm and sincere with an underlying tenacity born of a drive to become the best she can be, as artist and as communicator, in the service of dance and dancers. For information on her book, click here.

I look forward to Miami-based choreographer Rosie Herrera's New York premiere of Dining Alone at Baryshnikov Arts Center (a surreal work of "immersive dance theater," somehow involving food and an opera singer...hmmm). It's running April 18-19, and a new show has been added. Find out more here.

My Image and Psyche workshops on Tarot and psychic development continue at our wonderful East Village location. On Saturday, April 27 (Image and Psyche, Part 2), we'll experiment with dynamic layouts and the intriguingly varied, Trickster-ish reversed cards. On Saturday, May 4, I plan to repeat Part 1. For complete information and to register for a place in these fun and enlightening workshops, see my listings on Facebook for April 27 and May 4.

On May 21, artists Larissa Velez-Jackson, iele paloumpis, Katy Pyle and others at Lobby Talks (New York Live Arts--in the lobby, natch) for "Identity Matters: Persona and Politics," curated by Marissa L. Perel.  ("Choreographers, directors, and critics discuss contemporary issues in identity politics, and how these issues shape perceptions of persona and embodiment.") Free. Just show up for the 7:30 start time and grab a chair.

Oh, there's bound to be more. But--whew!--that's enough news for now. See you around town!

Let's talk about women and power!

Happy Women's History Month--though, looking around this country and world, it's clear that we sure have a huge amount of work ahead of us.

I was greatly honored to be selected by my legendary colleague Theresa Reed (The Tarot Lady) for her brand new interview series on women, power and empowerment! I invite you to check out my answers here!

"Saharava" on the Fringe

I'm only getting around to a couple of FringeNYC shows this August. With age--and heat and humidity--comes the desire, and the right, to be more selective and dash about less. But Saharava: A Ritualized Dance-Opera, with its Tarot-related theme, called to me, and its nearby location at Theater 80 on St. Mark's Place made it an easy choice.

Described as "a primitive and raw theatrical ritual combining dance and wordless song," the hour-long production "follows the journey of the Fool through the Major Arcana of the Tarot." As wonderful as Theater 80's tiny, shallow stage can be for some shows, the ambitious Saharava needs bigger space to serve Andre Megerdichian's large, skillful cast, passionate, sometimes complex choreography and bustling stage arrangements. A little more distance between viewers and performers might also work in its favor--for example, minimizing the awkwardness of up-flipping, underwear-exposing lifts. These close-up, unsightly flashes of strange-looking, "flesh"-colored underpants beneath the women's faux-Greek tunics had unintended comical, trance-deflating effect. Megerdichian's respectable efforts--and his dancers--deserve a chance.

Fahad Siadat, who played The Magician, a symbol from Tarot's Major Arcana, also composed the instrumental and vocal elements of this "dance-opera." His influence begins in the lengthy "Prelude" of Om-like vocalization, didgeridoo-blowing and drone-droning from a dimly-lit stage, dropping the audience's blood pressure several notches. That's cool and befits a ritualistic atmosphere. Unfortunately, despite the presence of trained voices, the subsequent straight hour of wordless howling, screeching, barking, wheezing and the like sounded amateurish, suggesting an extended acting exercise more than a ritual of transformation.

I know the Tarot well, and the only archetype that read at all clear to me was The Devil (David Niles), who turns the stage into hell on earth for his driven minions. It would have been good to comprehend this work better as The Fool's Journey if other Tarot characters had been rendered with sharpness and purpose.

But see for yourself. Saharava: A Ritualized Dance-Opera continues at Theater 80 over the following schedule:

Sunday, August 12 at 1pm
Tuesday, August 14 at 2:30pm
Wednesday, August 15 at 7:45pm
Friday, August 24 at 7:15pm

Get more information and reservations on this and other New York Fringe Festival shows here.

The Dancers Tarot

Check out Moti Zemelman's great Kickstarter project, which brings together dance, photography and Tarot. As you might imagine, it certainly makes all the sense in The World to me! :-)

The Dancers Tarot by Moti Mark Zemelman

Thanks to Facebook friend Francine Blackwell for drawing my attention to this project!

Innovative novelist Milorad Pavic, 80

Milorad Pavic, Serbian Author of Unusual Novels, Dies at 80
by Margalit Fox, The New York Times, December 19, 2009

Fiona Dolenga: Body and Soul podcast

It's not unusual to discover a dance artist with a strong talent in other arts or areas of interest. But as a longtime Tarot counselor and teacher, I was intrigued and delighted to learn that choreographer Fiona Dolenga has designed a Tarot deck of her own, featuring photos of colleagues from New York's dance community. I spoke with her about the creation of this beautiful deck and her dance work-in-progress.

Hidden Arena Dance/Fiona Dolenga and Company

For more information about Tarot imagery, I highly recommend Aeclectic.net.

And, for my own Tarot-related site, click here.

(c)2009, Eva Yaa Asantewaa

MP3 File

Everybody's 2009

Hey, everybody! Here's your 2009!

Use this reading, based in my variation on the old Celtic Cross, and read into it whatever best applies to your individual situation. And, believe me, it applies to each and every one of you!

YOU: Justice

This is the year when you've just got to get yourself together. No denial. No avoidance. No more excuses. You simply cannot continue on as you are. Corrections will be made and dues will be paid. Shape up or ship out. We're moving on.

WHAT CROSSES YOU/WHAT YOU ENCOUNTER: 8 of Wands reversed

The pressure's on, but most of it is internal, roiling and arising from your own sense of dissatisfaction. Sure, somebody can rear up and kick you in the butt, but you can do that well enough for yourself. Of course, what we're talking about here is, each one of us doing it for ourselves.

FOUNDATION OF THE SITUATION: Temperance

Just another sign of the compelling urge to renew, refresh and start up again in a more balanced way. You can do it.

WHAT IMPRESSES YOU/WHAT YOU'RE SENSITIVE TO: The High Priestess

Expect to run into a buzzsaw of serious internal questioning (which could also manifest in your external circumstances...so, watch for that, too). Don't worry. This questioning and testing and weighing will only help you to mentally and spiritually bulk up and be prepared for the challenges of your next stage and status in life. Step up to it!

WHAT MOTIVATES YOU: The Magician reversed

You're motivated by looking at your (and the world's) ineptitude and inadequacies and thinking: Shit, I'm so totally sick of this! Time for change!

HOW YOU USE OR COULD USE YOUR ENERGY IN THE WORLD: Queen of Swords reversed

First, get your own head on straight. Figure out just what it is you're thinking and if that thinking process makes sense. Make it make sense. Then--and only then--take it public. Geeze, we need more light and clarity out here, people!

YOUR SELF-IMAGE: Queen of Pentacles reversed

Once again, work on nurturing yourself, yeah, mothering yourself. True, inner-rooted self-awareness and self-confidence--not blowhard arrogance and aggression--is what you need and we need from you. When you have taken time to give to yourself and you truly feel good about yourself, you'll be less likely to do damage out here. From all of us to all of you, thank you in advance.

YOUR ENVIRONMENT (Physical, social, emotional, energetic): Judgement

This is a shout-out to all of you to wake up! And here, again, it's important that each of you look to your individual situation and figure out what part of yourself have you given up on, disowned, buried? What crap have you told yourself you believe when you know it's crap? Are you allowing the circumstances that surround you to discourage and stifle the authentic you? What part of yourself could come roaring back to life, if you'd only let it?

LIFE LESSON: Knight of Swords

Rev up that energy and let it rip! Expect a series of knotty situations to deal with, but I see each and every one of you swinging your swords and slicing clean through. Like butter. You ARE fiercer than your problems.

OUTCOME/TREND TORWARDS FUTURE: Ace of Wands

As Patti Smith says, "People got the power!" And as Barack Obama says, "Yes, we can!"

Here's to 2009!

Eva :-)