Active Insight: an active meditation workshop with Adrienne Glasser

Gibney Dance Center presents a Hub Workshop with Dance Movement Therapist Adrienne Glasser.

Adrienne will guide us through an active meditation that will explore the relationship between our body, mind, the space around us and between us. This practice has been an effective tool in serving people recovering from addictions, eating disorders and trauma, as well as for anyone wanting to decrease stress and uncover their own authentic movement.

Active Insight: An Active Meditation

Gibney Dance Center

Community Action Hub

280 Broadway 

Monday, July 20

6:30-8pm

FREE ADMISSION

Sign Up

Adrienne Glasser is a Licensed Certified Social Worker and Registered Dance Movement Therapist that has been helping clients to find their intuitive path towards healing for over 15 years. She is currently enrolled in the Meditation Teacher Training at The Interdependence Project where she explores how to integrate teachings on meditation with her psychotherapy experience. She leads intensive weekends and trainings for professionals where she teaches Active Insight and Experiential Therapy theory and techniques. She maintains her private practice in Manhattan and is also the Director of Services at her group practice Experience Wellness Group. Through Experience Wellness, she facilitates weekly groups and workshops infusing Active Mindfulness and Experiential Psychotherapies.

Dance artist Michelle Boulé offers free presentation on BodyTalk, Saturday

Michelle Boulé

Dancer-choreographer Michelle Boulé will give a free introduction to the BodyTalk system, offer a demo session and explain how BodyTalk is customized to each individual.  

Saturday, November 16 (11am-1pm)

Details and registration

Oriens Living

36 West 44th Street, Suite 1212 (between 5th and 6th Avenues), Manhattan

(map/directions)

Candace Pert, 67

Candace Pert, 67, Explorer of the Brain, Dies
by John Schwartz, The New York Times, September 19, 2013

To heal, you have to move your body!

Restoring the Body: Bessel van der Kolk on Yoga, EMDR, and Treating Trauma (audio 51:23)
Krista Tippett, On Being, July 11, 2013

Human memory is a sensory experience says psychiatrist Bessel van der Kolk. Through his longtime research and innovation in trauma treatment, he shares what he's learning how bodywork like yoga or eye movement therapy can restore a sense of goodness and safety. And what he’s learning speaks to a resilience we can all cultivate in the face of the overwhelming events that after all make up the drama of culture, of news, of life.

Jones and Sacks have big ideas for New York Live Arts

New York Live Arts Introduces Arts and Ideas Festival
by Felicia R. Lee, The New York Live Arts, January 31, 2013

Michelle Boulé gets Elastic

You all know, from my brief note on Miguel Gutierrez' wonderful SENSEWALK #3: SPACE IS THE PLACE at the New York Public Library (see it here), that Elastic City's programming is cool. So I'm sorry that I'm getting this announcement to you at the last minute, but here it is anyway:

POCKET VIRTUOSITY by Michelle Boulé

What does it mean to be in one’s body? How does one’s body register and convey experience? How do we see ourselves and ask to be seen? Through simple movement scores and exercises from Michelle’s performance, teaching and bodywork practices, participants will traverse the depths of everyday movement, from the mundane to the virtuosic, to dig into, expand, and go beyond ideas of ‘self’ while moving their bodies in relationship to time, environment and each other. The group will write, move, look and laugh through this way, leaving with a platform for more questions and understanding about seeing and being in one's body.

Come as you are, skilled or unskilled, with curiosity and willingness. This way holds 10 people.

TODAY! Monday, July 9 at 7pm

Also Wednesday, July 11 at 7pm

Starting Point: 10 Grand Army Plaza, Brooklyn (steps of the Brooklyn Public Library)

Duration: 100 minutes

Admission: $20

Age: 16+

Space is limited. Only 10 participants admitted.

For complete information and to purchase admission, click here.

Keep up with all things Elastic City here.

"Our smarty-pants body"

Abstract Thoughts? The Body Takes Them Literally
by Natalie Angier, The New York Times, February 2, 2010

Back to the source

Embryological Foundations of Movement:
An Embodied Approach

with Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen

November 17-23, New York City

It is during our embryological development that our body begins creating its form. As tissues and structures develop, some remain with us, some are transformed into other structures and some fade into the background, no longer existing or recognizable as the original structure. As with all development, though the original processes are no longer with us, they have left us with deep-rooted patterns and templates that affect our movement, mind and spirit. In exploring the embryological developmental process, we discover the primal roots of our structure, perception, respondability and presence. The understanding and integration of these aspects of development give us a doorway into:

· Inner and outer processes (self and other) the embryonic disk and development of the front body (endoderm), back body (ectoderm) and middle body (mesoderm)

· Development of our central vertical axis (notocord)

· Development of the autonomic fluid rhythm

· Development of our organs and glands

· Development of our fluid system

· Development of the autonomic and somatic pathways of our nervous system

· The ground for cellular unity and cellular breathing

This workshop is for movers, dancers, yoga practitioners, bodyworkers, and those from other body-mind disciplines interested in unraveling the mystery of embryological development as it relates to cellular consciousness, movement, mind and spirit.

No prior experience with Body-Mind Centering® is necessary.

Location: Chelsea Studios, 151 West 26th St (between 6th and 7th Avenues)

Fee: $750

To register or get more information:

BodyMind Centering
info@bodymindcentering.com · (413) 256-8615

Montes on technique and body awareness

How Dance Technique Supports Our Body Awareness
Movement for non-performers
with Erick Montes

Wednesday, July 15 (2-4pm)

A free community event presented by Harlem Stage

A fun summer class with Erick Montes, dancer with the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company and choreographer. Erick will teach us posture-consciousness and efficient ways to manipulate our bodies to move through space to enjoy and maintain a peaceful state of mind and a shared space in a social environment. Wear comfortable clothes you can move freely in. We will provide water.

Erick Montes is a 2008 Artist Fellowship recipient of the New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA). This presentation is co-sponsored by Artists & Audiences Exchange, a NYFA public program

The Harlem Stage Gatehouse at 150 Convent Avenue (at 135th Street)

1 train to 137th Street at Broadway
or A, B, C, D to 125th Street at St. Nicholas

Information

Daria Faïn's alchemical process

Daria Faïn's will teach six classes in Internal Alchemy as a Motor for Performance, Tuesdays and Thursdays, June 2-18 (10am-Noon).

These six classes will explore the transition between spring and summer involving the correlation between liver and heart and the correspondences with the senses, the emotions and the body systems in sympathy with these two seasons and two organs.

Faïn provides a rigorous practice that opens and strengthens the body/mind symbiosis and leads the student to experience the internal and the external at once. Her movement approach works within the mutual influences between behavior and environment. It is supported by her longtime practice and study of the Chinese 5 Element Theory, the Alexander Technique and architecture. By engaging the core body and its energetic resonances, one can find full embodiment in stillness.

Location: CSV Cultural Center, 107 Suffolk St, 2nd Floor, Manhattan. B,D, F, J, M, V, Z trains

Please arrive before 10am. There is no buzzer. If you are late, call 718 450 1356 to be let in.

Fee: $16/class or series of 4 for $55

You can register online through this link for Paypal. Click on the donate button, and type $65 in the amount box.

Drop-in students are also welcome.

If you are a dance student and have financial difficulties, please contact Daria Faïn to make some arrangements with her: daria@prosodicbody.org.

Possibilities of internship financial plans are available.

Please note that the Tai Chi workshop scheduled for this weekend is cancelled.

Chi Kung in the park

Practice Chi Kung with Laura Shapiro:

Saturdays at 10:30am in Central Park, starting June 6th
Sundays at 4:30pm in Prospect Park, starting June 7th

Often translated as "life force energy practice," Chi Kung uses separate gentle movements, specific postures and the breath to circulate and revitalize energy, improve balance and coordination, increase flexibility, and cultivate inner strength of body, mind and spirit.

The full benefits reveal themselves with ongoing regular practice. After the movements, postures and breathing become familiar, their repetition allows the nervous system and the muscles, the mind and the emotions to calm down. Releasing tension and busy-ness, the practice of chi Kung generates feelings of peace, harmony and well-being.

Laura Shapiro is a choreographer/performer with over three decades of experience teaching people of all ages and abilities. Recent work includes teaching for Fu Yu International Foundation, DOROT Wellness Program for Seniors, Center for Kinesthetic Education (children and adults), McBurney YMCA (adults 20s-80s), private classes for groups and individuals.

For further information, exact locations and directions, please contact 212-946-1537 or quicksilverdance@yahoo.com.

For weekly weather and location updates, please call 212-946-1537 on the Friday evening before the Saturday class, and on the morning of the Sunday class.

Tuition by donation, according to your ability to pay; suggested donation $15/class

Michelle Boulé: Body and Soul podcast

Michelle Boulé is a choreographer, teacher and performer well-known for her work with cutting-edge dancemakers such as John Jasperse, Miguel Gutierrez, Donna Uchizono, Beth Gill, Doug Varone and Deborah Hay. She is also a certified practitioner of BodyTalk, a fascinating bodymind healing modality which we discuss in today's podcast.

Michelle Boulé's blog

Nurture Day Open House
Nurture New York
Thursday, May 7 (4-8pm)
$30 for one of various mindbody modalities, including BodyTalk; $25 for 2 or more. See Nurture New York Web site for details. Drop in: Reservations not required!

Nurture New York, 1123 Broadway, Suite 1205, Manhattan (at 25th Street); 212-580-2689

The BodyTalk Center Web site

(c)2009, Eva Yaa Asantewaa

MP3 File

Daydreaming and creativity

Daydream achiever
by Jonah Lehrer, Boston.com, August 31, 2008

Re-energize for the New Year!

[Please note: The registration/information contact number originally submitted with this announcement was incorrect. See below for the correct number.]

Dancer-choreographer Laura Shapiro is offering a new six-session workshop, De-Stress and Center. Start the New Year with clear focus and renewed energy!

Classes will draw from several modalities such as chi kung and tai chi, experiential anatomy and developmental movement, creative movement, and meditation. You will use breath and bone as well as muscle to cultivate resilience and strength of body, mind and spirit. Benefits will include improved balance and coordination, increased flexibility and a more relaxed nervous system, generating feelings of peace, harmony and well-being.

By attending the workshops you can expect to:

· Strengthen your body as well as mind

· Increase your balance, coordination, and flexibility

· Become a more relaxed person

Location:

KIMA Center for Physiotherapy and Wellness
14 West 23rd Street, 2nd Floor
212-686-3101

Fee:

Single class, $25//bring a friend for $20 per person//6-class series, $120

Register for individual classes or take the full six-session series for a deeper experience.

Schedule:

Six Saturday sessions, January 10 to February 14 (10:30am-11:30am)

For registration or more information, please call 212-946-1537.

Laura Shapiro, a dancer/choreographer with over three decades of experience teaching people of all ages and levels of fitness. Her recent work includes teaching for Fu-Yu International Foundation, Dorot Wellness Program for Seniors, Center for Kinesthetic Education (children and adults), and the McBurney YMCA (adults 20s-80s). Her credentials include permission from her chi kung teacher to teach; certification in IM=X Pilates Floor Work and Tai Chi for Arthritis; and teaching dance as a Visiting Artist at several universities in the U.S. and abroad.

Faïn and Kocik: transformative space

Daria Faïn (choreographer) and Robert Kocik (architect/sculptor/poet) have had the good fortune to visit and soak up the atmosphere of ancient healing sites on the isle of Amorgos in Greece. Their new work, The Extent to Which, evokes the resonant geometry and history of the temples, baths and ampitheaters in which the Greeks cleansed bodymindsoul. As part of The Prosodic Body--Faïn and Kocik's overarching project--The Extent to Which re-links art and health in our modern-day awareness with an aim to create true transformation, not mere spectacle.

As spectacle, though, Extent has its beauties and its intensities, certainly not separate from its purpose. Performed inside and around an open enclosure of plexiglas and wood, with a stream of increasingly primal sounds both remote and startingly near, the hour-long work abstracts the experience of sitting in the ancient structures and witnessing the ritual arts. In one captivating passage, we watch dancers orbit the center of the performance space, and one another in shifting arrangements and pathways, with their arms and hands forming various hieratic gestures and their bare feet making a soft, dry, shuffling sound.

Another segment takes a less soothing approach as dancers pitch painted rocks at the barriers. There's a fascinating theatrical tension between the crash of rocks smacking into plexiglas--not far from audience members looking on from risers on those sides of the space--and the total control of dancers who, though dashing precariously around one another, toss those rocks with the power and disciplined, studied grace of Olympian athletes.

At the end of the performance, I felt more than a little spacey, as if I had been transported to another world.

The Extent to Which, a joint presentation of Danspace Project and CPR--Center for Performance Research, features Faïn's troupe, Human Behavior Explorers: Benjamin Asriel, Charlotte Gibbons, Alexandra Martorell, Valerie Samulski and Peter Sciscioli. Other members of the collaborative team include Rodrick Murray (lighting), Matt Dick (costumes), Michelle Nagai (music), and Kenta Nagai (live sound performer). The show runs through Sunday with two performances tonight, Friday and Saturday (7pm and 9pm) and a 3pm performance on Sunday.

CPR
361 Manhattan Avenue, Williamburg, Brooklyn
Just a short walk from the L train at Graham Avenue

Information and reservations or 718-715-1500

Layard Thompson: Body and Soul podcast

Bessie Award winner Layard Thompson joins me for a wide-ranging discussion of the interrelatedness of dance and watcher, art and the world in which we live. This week, Thompson will share an evening of new work with choreographer Kyle Abraham of Abraham.In.Motion at Dance Theater Workshop (Wednesday-Saturday, December 3-6, 7:30pm). My interview with Abraham will follow shortly. Program notes--http://infinitebody.blogspot.com. Guest information at http://www.dancetheaterworkshop.org. (c)2008, Eva Yaa Asantewaa

MP3 File

Program Notes: Upcoming on "Body and Soul"

Bessie Award winner Layard Thompson joins me for a wide-ranging discussion of the interrelatedness of dance and watcher, art and the world in which we live. This week, Thompson will share an evening of new work with choreographer Kyle Abraham of Abraham.In.Motion at Dance Theater Workshop (Wednesday-Saturday, December 3-6, 7:30pm). My interview with Abraham will follow shortly.

Thompson's Cup...puC......K......Ohhhh, Beauty, full, vessel: is a soul-o dance. It is a score, a channel, a vessel, and a body of work both choreographed and spontaneous. Composed with movement, vocalizations, performance meditations, and a costume and set with collaborator Machine Dazzle, Layard Thompson considers and questions the subjective nature of experience through the container of a performance at Dance Theater Workshop. Lighting brilliance by Chloë Z Brown.

DTW program information and ticketing

Bodymindempathy

Standing in Someone Else’s Shoes, Almost for Real
by Benedict Carey, The New York Times, December 1, 2008