Few days after the performance "Presence & Absence", I took a flight Montréal-Vancouver.
One month ago, during the Global underscore, Eryn Dace Trudell convinced me (easily) to participate to an amazing workshop in an island of Vancouver. I was attracted by the place, Leviathan Studio, Eryn and Yves Candau teachings (CI and somatic techniques: Skinner releasing technique and Alexander technique). I remember this moment of decision: traveling trough Canada and staying 3 weeks there, to come back to the East coast midle of August and participate to Dance New England Camp... a whim? Do not know but feeling that it was my pathway!
To be honnest, I was kind of wondering about my improvised choices. In this trip, I was interesting in diving in 2 world: the Contact improvisation one but also the Permaculture one. So I was suppose to do some WWOOFing (World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farm) and learning more about self maintain agricultural system, renewable energies, recycling, ecological constuction, etc... Instead of that I was going on contribuying to the Earth contamination traveling by airplane and only attracted by dancing and not learning the eco principles essential for my project in Morocco (Permaculture and Arts)... Aiiiii Stop, here I took the decision to recognize this fact but also to accept this paradox. I am a paradox woman, trying with the passing of time/years to reach the perfect coherence between what I beleive in, what I feel in my body and what I really do.
Patience, patience.
Now it's time to dance! in the nature... Eryn invited me also to stay 1 week more for lab-exchange (morning works in eco-construction and afternoon lab and jam) Exactly what I need...
The first week in Leviathan has been deeply intense of learning, emotions, beauty, laughs, fullness...
5 days of class with Eryn Dace Trudell and Yves Candau.
Evening Jams (and night "extatic-CI-transe dance ; )
The studio is in an amazing island, Lasqueti island, without electrical power, only Solar energy. When you enter in this island it's like a trip in other dimension. Nature, peolpe so kind, so welcoming, community life... amazing trees... eco-houses...
Welcoming by Mark Young and Hannah Wasielewski, both taking care of the Leviathan Studio. Amazing dancers, amazing human beings... and now friends mine!
I felt so connected with Mark project. Very inspiring for my project in Morocco...
He defines the Levithan studio as: "a place in nature to study movement and dance and meditation. Leviathan Studio is committed to sustainable practices and permaculture serving organic local food whenever possible (Delicious). Committed to a safe, intoxicant free environment. I build the studio to explore alternative building concepts. I wanted a large space with no supports in the middle (a dance floor with no poles in the middle), that could support a living-green-roof, and be built by anyone, not requiring a machine (crane). Aspects of the design are borrowed from the legendary "Rainbow bridge" of 12thC China. It is made mostly from materials here on the mand. The roof took one year to errect, the rock walls took 2 years to assemble, the glass walls and attached kitchen took 2 years to build. The process of building was mostly to be therapeutic. I was recovering from a serious accident and needed the exercice on my terms, so I was able to work at a maximum efficiency by taking naps when I needed.
I started building the roof in 2009. It took one year to build. Prior to that I spend two years building the stone walls. It took two more years to build the wood walls that go to the ceiling, install windows and build the kitchen.
I bought the land in 2004. I knew I wanted to make a dance studio.
I have 10hectares of land, 500mX200m. The first 5 years were
building the gardens, the sauna, a little winter cabin, and
stacking rocks for the rock walls. I came to Lasqueti because there is no building inspector. It is
one of the few places that you can do experimental buildings
without an engineer approval.
I lived in Toronto all my life. All the buildings are the same. I wanted to experiment with something different. In 1997, I was in a car accident. I woke up in the hospital. I did not know my name, where I was from, what year it was, when I was born. I had severe balance problems. The left side of my body was slightly paralysed. I started Contact Improv and Tai Chi shortly after the accident to improve my coordination, balance, stamina. And because CI is so much fun, dance became my primary form of therapy. After 5 years of therapy, the court case finally settled. I was able to leave Toronto and start a new life.
The accident was the catalyst to starting a new life with meaning. Because dance had helped me so much, I wanted to make it available to all, especially CI because of the meditation component.
The accident was 16years ago next month. Therapy continues to this day. I am healthier and stronger than I was last year, and the year before, and the year before. I have continued to improve from an accident that is considered permanent and irreversible. Making this building was the most therapeutic things I could have done. Anything else and I would not have been so driven. I would not have tried so hard."
Amazing studio, a sauna with a pond, an organic rich garden, and the nature around us...
One month ago, during the Global underscore, Eryn Dace Trudell convinced me (easily) to participate to an amazing workshop in an island of Vancouver. I was attracted by the place, Leviathan Studio, Eryn and Yves Candau teachings (CI and somatic techniques: Skinner releasing technique and Alexander technique). I remember this moment of decision: traveling trough Canada and staying 3 weeks there, to come back to the East coast midle of August and participate to Dance New England Camp... a whim? Do not know but feeling that it was my pathway!
Patience, patience.
Now it's time to dance! in the nature... Eryn invited me also to stay 1 week more for lab-exchange (morning works in eco-construction and afternoon lab and jam) Exactly what I need...
The first week in Leviathan has been deeply intense of learning, emotions, beauty, laughs, fullness...
5 days of class with Eryn Dace Trudell and Yves Candau.
Evening Jams (and night "extatic-CI-transe dance ; )
The studio is in an amazing island, Lasqueti island, without electrical power, only Solar energy. When you enter in this island it's like a trip in other dimension. Nature, peolpe so kind, so welcoming, community life... amazing trees... eco-houses...
He defines the Levithan studio as: "a place in nature to study movement and dance and meditation. Leviathan Studio is committed to sustainable practices and permaculture serving organic local food whenever possible (Delicious). Committed to a safe, intoxicant free environment. I build the studio to explore alternative building concepts. I wanted a large space with no supports in the middle (a dance floor with no poles in the middle), that could support a living-green-roof, and be built by anyone, not requiring a machine (crane). Aspects of the design are borrowed from the legendary "Rainbow bridge" of 12thC China. It is made mostly from materials here on the mand. The roof took one year to errect, the rock walls took 2 years to assemble, the glass walls and attached kitchen took 2 years to build. The process of building was mostly to be therapeutic. I was recovering from a serious accident and needed the exercice on my terms, so I was able to work at a maximum efficiency by taking naps when I needed.
I started building the roof in 2009. It took one year to build. Prior to that I spend two years building the stone walls. It took two more years to build the wood walls that go to the ceiling, install windows and build the kitchen.
I lived in Toronto all my life. All the buildings are the same. I wanted to experiment with something different. In 1997, I was in a car accident. I woke up in the hospital. I did not know my name, where I was from, what year it was, when I was born. I had severe balance problems. The left side of my body was slightly paralysed. I started Contact Improv and Tai Chi shortly after the accident to improve my coordination, balance, stamina. And because CI is so much fun, dance became my primary form of therapy. After 5 years of therapy, the court case finally settled. I was able to leave Toronto and start a new life.
The accident was the catalyst to starting a new life with meaning. Because dance had helped me so much, I wanted to make it available to all, especially CI because of the meditation component.
The accident was 16years ago next month. Therapy continues to this day. I am healthier and stronger than I was last year, and the year before, and the year before. I have continued to improve from an accident that is considered permanent and irreversible. Making this building was the most therapeutic things I could have done. Anything else and I would not have been so driven. I would not have tried so hard."
Amazing studio, a sauna with a pond, an organic rich garden, and the nature around us...
Eryn Dace Trudell and Yves Candau used to dance and work together. Together, they bring a long time commitment to the practice and teaching of Contact Improvisation; and a shared dedication to in-depth study of somatic practices to support their dancing, with their respective certifications in Skinner Releasing Technique and Alexander Technique.
Before this workshop, I knew a litle about Alexander technique (from my stay in Berlin), but it was the first time I heard about Skinner Releasing Technique (SRT)
At this moment of my trip, I was already convinced that Somatic techniques bring to dance improvisation a strong structure for releasing tension and blockages (physically, psychologically and emotionally), a deep understanding and awareness of the body, sensation of the movement, unlimited inspiration and creativity for improvisation, connection of my physically with my imagination, and tools for breaking with our patterns.
Each morning, we start with Eryn learning from SRT introductory series and move into CI explorations.
Some words about Skinner Releasing Technique: "simple principle that when our bodies are releasing tension and habitual holding patterns we can move freely and articulately. In Releasing, spontaneous movement evoked by guided poetic imagery, music and soun enables a creative exploration of technical principles such as multi-direction alignment, suppleness, suspension, economy and autonomy."
For
me, it is by definition the most poetic somatic technique I knew!
Generosity in the told images... and in the voice of Eryn... new sensation in my body... longer, lighter, suspended... feeling of expansion of my body in different directions, feeling the energy around me and in me... sometimes I felt like if I was dancing in a state of meditation or transe...
Sometimes, I can hear her voice saying: "softly encourages the bone to grow... Sea sponge...damp... squashy...marionette strings...moving with no tension just hanging...white mist...Eponge de mer humide...Brume blanche".
Also after each class, we dedicated some time to write/draw feedback of our experience... Here I share some extract: "I feel free each part of my body, one after one... Fluid movement, balance, fullness and presence... Inner calmness, during the movement, I feel an amazing inner stillness... Sensation of my spine growing growing more and more... Sensation to be a sponge and to be absorbed by the floor and in myself... flying inside my own body... my legs are released and they are hanging from my pelvis... Dance with the sensation of inner and external spaces help mi to practise the deep slow dance...".
With Eryn, I also share about her experience as teacher of Mama dances. Very interesting focus for my project in Morocco! She brings mothers (dads/parents) and their babies together in dance. Eryn came with her daughter, Yoko, the nicer dancer of the island!
The afternoons, Yves Candau, with a remarkable continuity with the Releasing-CI mornings, dive us in Contact Improvisation through principles of Alexander technique and from the Material for the spine of Steve Paxton.
Internally, he worked on developing our awareness, clarity of intention, and refine our use of the foundations of movement in the body: such as the structural support provided by the skeletal system or the flow of muscular tone that creates movement.
Externally, he invited us to explore and strengthen specific movement patterns, such as the helixes manifested in walkin, that can be expanded to take us in and out of the floor, and through space. We will expand our perception and physical possibilities towards a sperical appreciation of space, where movement can take place in any direction.
Overlapping cycles of attention, intention and action, creating a rich place from which to meet one another...
Yves' s teaching have been received by my body in a very impresive way... Technically, it was why I missed and his teaching has been very specific and generous. I really notice his inputs in the next dances I had. I share with you a good advise, he give me, one day I was blocked one "sentence movement": "do again the movement in the wrong way round". I do it and directly we saw where was my wrong movement in the sentence. Merci Maître!
I never felt my back like that before, consciousness of the inner sensations. We worked several items from the Material for the Spine. Very usefull. I get an amazing visualization of the helixe going up and down in my body... My neck, my eyes had an a new presence. Changing patterns like for example my eyes guiding my movement and not the opposite. From my Feldenkrais experience I already knew that eyes works and investigation is very interesting and large, and with any doubt this focus give quality in the body movement.
After a class day, I let you imagine the level of the evening jams... Amazing... I have so much fun, dancing, witnessing... later in the night, we were kind of surprised by our body abilities. It's like that more tired you are, more release and better you are for dancing CI!!!!
I feel very very thankful for this experience. I also bring with me nice new friendships...
Second week, half of the participants stayed in the island for the work-lab Exchange. Lucky we were... Mark Young gave us the possibility of mixing outdoor works (eco construction of other facililities) and dance lab with Eryn and Yves! I was happy to have some "permacuture work"...
We were kind of tired during the afternoon but, we enjoy the afternoon to investigate and experiment. One afternoon, Yves proposed us to experiment a 45 min blind walk in the wood... Such nice a present, peaceful and funny! Other afternoon, we were investigating with Eryn some Jam scores.
Jam with live music, and open to our neigborhood!
Litle by litle, feeling part of the Community of Lasqueti Island... Will come back!!!!!
Perhaps this is by definition my magical potion for getting more authentic and more closer to my soul and the soul of everyone and everything... perhaps it's my my magical potion for being Here and Now.
Getting me so strong in my conviction that my choice to build my project in Morocco (nature, dance, somatic technique, improvisation, arts, permaculture) is one of good pathway for me to be here and now.
