Seek balance: stefanie nelson Dancegroup at Triskelion Arts

Stefanie Nelson
(photo: Paul H. Taylor)

In TULA, Stefanie Nelson (stefanie nelson Dancegroup) and composer Wendy Leigh Wilf delve into the chakra system--the alignment of energy centers widely known through yoga and New Age practices. The seven fundamental chakras ("wheels") start at the base of one's feet and are stacked like rungs along the spine. Each chakra serves as an inlet/outlet, storehouse and processing center for etheric energy and....

Did you stop reading at "etheric?" My own background in esoteric pursuits gives me away, doesn't it?

It's also what drew me to Nelson's season at Triskelion Arts, a reasonable enough premise for a new dance. Couldn't we all use a little balance (tula), right about now?

Structured as seven parts that flow one into the next, Tula, expresses the nature of each chakra through movement and sound. In Chakra 1: To Have, for instance, Nelson keeps us constantly mindful of the ground/earth through deep pliés, collapses, hops, tests of balance, and noisy shuffling and footfalls. Wilf's percussion starts off spare but suggestive of weight giving into gravity--ba-DUM...ba-DUM...ba-DUM--eventually building up rhythms reminiscent of house music. Chakra 3: To Act, Nelson's most clever and visually dramatic, depicts a frenzy of rockstar/acolyte dynamics. That fiery chakra, her notes tell us, governs "personal power, will and self-esteem," and she certainly demonstrates how it can go awry.

Unfortunately, in execution, TULA looks uneven and unconvincing, even undercooked. One should feel the chakras and feel the dancers feeling them, not just going through the motions, however well. In a funny way, we should really forget that they are dancers and, instead, be moved to remember that they and we are, each one of us, chakras.

TULA continues tonight and tomorrow with performances at 8pm. For information and tickets, click here.

Performers: Erik Abbott-Main, Emily Giovine, Mor Mendel, Ali Schechter, and Benjamin Wolk with Alex Clair, Marissa Nigro and Amanda Reichert. Lighting design: Andrew Dickerson

Muriel Schulman Theater
Triskelion Arts
106 Calyer Street (between Clifford Place and Banker Street), Brooklyn
(map/directions)

Dancing down the years: Karen Bernard's Triskelion weekend

Choreography by Karen Bernard
Dancers: Stacy Lynn Smith, above; Karen Bernard, below
(photos by Tim Fujioka)

KAREN BERNARD/SOLO 

presented by Triskelion Arts

1993-1996 It Could Have Been Different

and

Suspending and Other Tricks

This weekend, dancer-choreographer Karen Bernard, whose work addresses conventional ideas of beauty and age, will show excerpts from four seminal pieces created between 1993 and 1996 with original costumes by Liz Prince and performances by Donna Costello, Jil Guyon, Ryan Migge, Lisa Parra and Stacy Lynn Smith. In her world premiere, Suspending and Other Tricks, the choreographer "grapples with the limitations of aging and mortality."

Performance schedule:

Friday, October 17, 8pm (Opening night honors costume designer Liz Prince.)
Sunday, October 19, 8pm

For ticket reservations: info@triskelionarts.org

Triskelion Arts
118 North 11th Street, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
(map/directions)

Triskelion Arts plans move to Greenpoint

Triskelion Arts, the Williamsburg, Brooklyn center for dance announced its signing of a 10-year lease on a former body shop in Greenpoint at the corner of Calyer and Banker Streets. The organization will move during Summer 2014, but the build-out of the new location will begin next month. The current site of Triskelion’s operations at 118 N. 11th Street will continue to operate until June 2014. "All scheduled performances, rehearsals, and classes at the current location will not be affected," says Artistic Director Abby Bender. "Studio and theater rentals will continue as usual through May.

" The new facility is a freestanding, two-story construction that will boast two ground-floor performance spaces, four dance studios, increased audience capacity, higher ceilings, and wheelchair accessibility. This change opens new opportunities for visibility to up-and-coming artists and organizational autonomy in this unshared building. A $150,000 capital campaign will be launched in the coming weeks to raise funds for the project."

For more information on Triskelion's move and campaign, click here.

Spotlight on: Shamanic Movement

Sonali Sultana performing at Rakkasah, October, 2011 (photo: Carl Sermon)

Shamanic Movement
by Sunny Chapman/Sonali Sultana

At age 61, I am strong and flexible, full of energy, and look younger than I did fifteen years ago. It's all due to the healing movement that I practice, developed from my studies of many dance styles and energy healing modalities. I call it Shamanic movement, and I want to share it with you.

In 1998, my life ground to a complete halt. I'd always been very active-- dancing, biking, practicing martial arts. I was something of a workaholic, but now I found myself totally disabled. It started with getting hit by a car, an accident from which I never quite recovered.

At first, I dealt with constant pain that seemed unrelated to the accident. I noticed I was always tired. A few doctor visits revealed slight  hypothyroidism but nothing that would explain how I felt. Things seemed to slide downhill. Finally, one morning, I woke up and found that I could not walk. I could not straighten my back. If I tried to stand up, searing pain shot up my legs.

There began a much more intense round of ER visits, doctor visits, medical tests, MRIs and CT scans. Lupus and MS were ruled out, and I was finally diagnosed with Fibromyalgia. For the next five years, I walked with a cane-- when I walked, which was as little as possible. I couldn't sit upright. The only way to keep the pain bearable was by taking medications so strong I slept twelve or more hours a day, and when I was awake, I really wasn't. I no longer had a life. I became very depressed and gained a lot of weight.  My friends drifted away one by one, tired of my endless misery. My world became very small and sad.

One day, lying in bed and really wanting to take a shower but too exhausted to move I thought, "I can't live like this anymore.” I decided I had to try to find a way to make myself well--something doctors hadn't been able to do in all these years.

The first thing I did was contact a Reiki master and ask her to come to my home. She did, and the result of her Reiki treatment was amazing. I got up after the treatment, walked downstairs and ate a meal sitting in a chair for the first time in years. Next I asked her to train me so that I could treat myself, which I do to this day.

I knew I needed to move my body, but I still couldn't walk without a cane. I found a hospital that had water aerobics classes and began to attend, first once a week, then twice a week. I started to regain enough strength to get out and walk a bit, beginning to reconnect with the natural world. I changed my diet and started to lose the weight I'd gained.

Then came the really big change. I left my marriage. As a result, my insurance coverage changed, and I gained access to a new network of doctors. The first one I saw said that she agreed that I had Fibromyalgia but that the severe pain in my legs had another source. An MRI of my lumbar spine revealed one herniated and one fully ruptured disk that I'd been living with for six years!

Now my recovery moved much more rapidly. That doctor, Lisa Bartoli at The Continuum Center For Health And Healing, treated my disk injuries non-surgically, sent me for months of physical therapy and then said to me, "Now you need to start Pilates and do it for the rest of your life."

I began taking Pilates at Greenhouse Holistic and later added yoga. One day I took a bellydance class, and I was instantly hooked. I loved it. Within a couple of years I was dancing in a troupe and, not long after that, I began solo performance. Along the way, I was lucky enough to study with many wonderful, world-renowned teachers, and study related forms like trance dances from North Africa–zaar and guedra. I learned Sufi whirling, studied Tibetan Yoga, learning poses that are supposed to be the secret of eternal youth and applied all of the forms of movement to my daily practice of spiritual, healthful movement.

Having subbed for many teachers, I began teaching bellydance classes in the Liberated Movement program at Battery Dance. I completed a  teacher training program with Tamalyn Dallal and was certified to teach bellydance. At the same time I was developing the new practice I'm teaching at Triskelion Arts in Brooklyn, Shamanic Movement. Shamanic Movement combines all of the various practices that contributed to my recovery and current state of high energy and healthy well-being. It's a style of movement that draws a lot from bellydance but is more attuned to the spiritual elements of bellydance than stage performance.

Shamanic Movement is designed to bring the mind, body and soul into harmony and help people to look and feel their very best. It's a movement style that is gentle on the body and allows the practitioner to move at her or his own pace. It's the reason I look as good as I do at age 61 and feel great.  Meditative dance promotes good health, stress reduction, strength and flexibility, and generally improves well-being in all areas of life. I want to share it with the world.

The work involves stretching, practicing the basic steps and isolations of Oriental Dance, accessing Reiki energy and exploring different types of movement, all in a friendly, supportive atmosphere. It’s suitable for all ages and every level, from beginner to advanced dancer, and those who believe they aren't dancers.

Mondays, 6:30pm-8pm

Drop-in fee: $15   Five-class card: $60

Wear comfortable clothing, go barefoot or wear dance sandals. If you have a veil, please bring it. There will be veils to borrow but possibly not enough for everyone.

If you have questions, please click here to email me.

Triskelion Arts
118 North 11th Street Studio B
http://www.triskelionarts.org/?page_id=2473
(map/directions)

BIO

Sunny Chapman (aka Sonali Sultana) is a visual artist, Reiki healer and dancer living in Brooklyn NY. Chapman studied Cechetti method ballet and modern dance in Chicago in the 70's and later taught ballet at a Chicago City College and performed in numerous venues.

Later in life, she discovered Arabic/Middle Eastern dance, also know as Bellydance, and embarked on an intensive study of the ancient art form, studying not only the theatrical and nightclub styles of performance such as Raqs Sharqi but also healing trance dances of North Africa. She has studied with many notable teachers including Dalia Carella, Rachel Brice, Elena Lentini, Ranya Renee, Anahid Sofian, Andrea Anwar, and several members of the legendary Ibrahim Farrah's Near East Dance Company. In 2011, she completed a teacher training and teacher certification course with Tamalyn Dallall.

Chapman performed in the NYC troupe PURE (Public Urban Ritual Experiment) for 2-1/2 years and helped to create and performed in a theater show called Pure Reflections: Re-imagining Beauty that was staged at The University Settlement Theater and elsewhere.

Chapman currently performs with Andrea Anwar's Dancing Rubies troupe and has presented solo work in many theater shows and dance festivals. She brings training as a Reiki healer into her dance and approaches teaching dance as a healing art form. She presently teaches Arabic/Middle Eastern dance in the Liberated Movement program at Battery Dance Company studios  and teaches Shamanic Movement at Triskelion Arts  in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.