CHANGING COLOR
Samhain Celebration
Butoh Workshop
Dance is our mean to celebrate life in all its aspects and in all its forms, a mean to transform our emotions, to understand and accept them, to understand and accept what happens to us and around us, a form of appreciation and gratitude.
We will research the original part of the dance. In ancient times dance was a prayer, a ritual, a ritual of devotion to nature, a celebration of life.
Dance as an expression of the universe, where the fusion of body and spirit takes place. Dance as a magical ritual that allows us to get in touch with the “subtle worlds”.
In contemporary society it seems, there is a lack of rituals, so a lack of understanding what is happening around us. Dance become a necessity to connect again with a deep meaning of life.
31 October and 1st November is the most magical moment of the year. In these days the Samhain (also called Celtic New Year) was celebrated. In the circular-cyclical dimension of time, characteristic of Celtic culture, Samhain was in a point outside the temporal dimension that belonged neither to the old nor to the new year. The day that doesn’t exist.
At that moment, the veil that divided the land of the living with that of the dead was thinning, and the two kingdoms could communicate.
This festivity it also served to celebrate the end of summer, last harvest, it indicated the entrance into the dark part of the year, that is the autumn-winter, the shelter of the cattle and the harvest, a time of pause, a time of cold. Spiritually, the feast was a time of contemplation.
Bonfires have always played an important role in this feast.
In this workshop Maruska would like to reconnect with this ancient ritual, working on the circular and cyclical dimension of nature. Life as a cycle of life and death, cycle of season, movement of waves, cycle of breathing.
Embrace, recognize and appreciate the beauty of sunset, of dusk, of nightfall, of getting weak, getting old, of offering, giving life, returning to the ground, going inside as preparation for new cycle, changing color as gift for next generations and appreciation of life.
Celebrate twilight, the moment of passage to the night, to the darkness, to the silent time.
After this time in which there is still light, the rites will be dedicated to the dark part of nature, and therefore of our soul. Observing the colors that change.
Being aware and appreciating what the past natural year was bringing (new life, new experiences), and at the same time being aware of the necessity of letting go some part that are no longer needed, and closing a cycle and preparing for a new one is so important in our lives.
Changes can be scary, but they are welcome and needed right now. Closing a circle and a new wheel begin to turn.
In this moment of the year, we are witnessing the withdrawal of physical energies with the increase of inner energies, becoming aware of the changes necessary for our life. Transition from the bright and extroverted aspect to the dark and inner one.
This workshop offers a space to research in movement, in physical and emotional level, a space to research and develop our own Butoh dance.
We start with a body training intended to release tension in our body and allow the energy to circulate inside the body, in order to find more fluid and organic movement, without useless effort. This will then help us to activate the energy and power that we can put in our dance.
We will focus on breathing work, movement connected to the breathing, and how to move the energy inside the body and around it. Connecting inside with outside. Working on the state of presence. Practicing dance improvisation with imagery guidance, continuously researching new possibilities of expression, breaking old patterns and find new surprising way to move.
It’s open to all people with different kind of artistic and life experience.