EDWARD CLARK
brings us a Tripsichorean 12 year course condensed into one workshop!
Workshop is at Triangle Yoga, April 17-19, 2009
Friday 6pm-8pm
Saturday 12:30pm-3:30 and 4:30pm-6:30pm
Sunday 12:30pm-3:30pm
$185
Call 919-933-9642 to register.
Early bird fee $185 if paid prior to March 30th, after which the fee is $220.
A COMPREHENSIVE FOCUS ON THE TRIPSICHOREAN TECHNIQUE
Please note: Previous yoga experience is recommended because we will be working with advanced asanas; however, those fairly new to yoga will find the workshop safe,
accessible, and entertaining.
This is a yoga experience unlike any other. Edward Clark, is the creator of Tripsichore,
an innovative London-based company that evolved from a contemporarydance troupe into a
revolutionary yoga performance team. Tripsichore techniques are for anyone interested in expanding their potential. We will explore and analyze technical approaches to breathing, backbends, bandhas, vinyasa, and inversions, with the aim of experiencing how energy flows through the body to create the sacred geometry of yoga.
This weekend you will learn Tripsichore Sun Salutes, including extraordinary variations that work with a range of bandha principles. You will also discover how to confidently execute inversions- with an arrayof exciting selections for those who already love
being upside down-and go deeper into backbends. Beyond the feeling of well-being that comes from gaining mastery, Tripsichore techniques also lead to something greater-an understanding that every action or thought, however small, makes a difference to the cosmic whole.
Edward Clark will share some of the secrets of their technique. Sequestered in their studio in London, the company has worked daily for the past 15 years to devise and refine yoga techniques of asana, pranayama, pratayahara, dharana, and dhyana…making excursions out to perform their creations to audiences worldwide. Until now, their techniques have only been taught to a very few.
Lots of people have an adequate understanding of things like Breath, and Mula and Uddiyana Bhandas, but we’re going to seriously get down to these in ways that happen infrequently, if at all, in classwork and workshops. So you know one kind of Jalandhara Bhanda, but have you considered the other options or have you accepted one dogma? How often do you really use Pratayahara techniques? Can you demonstrate and experience the difference between Dharana and Dhyana? Well, these workshops are only our take on these subjects, but it is a coherent and thoughtful one. Yes sir, it’s the 12 year Tripsichore Course in Yoga condensed into one full weekend. |
This intensive weekend consists of the following:
VINYASA – INNOVATION AND ORTHODOXY
The concept of vinyasa as applied to yoga philosophy could either be considered very ancient or radically new. In either case, vinyasa seems to be the great contribution to yoga of this particular generation of yogis. Most yoga discipline has worked on refining one’s self in the direction of greater stillness – an absence of movement in the mind and body. Superficially, vinyasa would seem to contradict this. However, the mental focus and physical technique needed to bring about continuous fluid movement can also bring one to a “seat” of great stability and clarity. The stability is not only in the posture, but in the transition between postures – to the point where there is no distinction between movement and stillness. The place of vinyasa in the history of yoga is yet to be determined, but as yoga has become a world wide pursuit, it is probably safe to say that its importance now also lies in how people begin to apply it outside the more traditional places it has been practised.
VINYASA in our definition, is the evenly metered flow of movement, breath and thought resulting in a smooth, uninflected state of being. The vinyasa techniques are pursued to bring about clarity and stability to one’s thoughts and actions. Tripsichore endeavours to do this in class and onstage.
TRIPSICHORE SUN SALUTATIONS
. . . These consist of some extraordinary variations and are constructed to work on a variety of bhanda principles. (e.g. how to float in a jump back or jump forward…how to change a Crow into a Headstand or even a Handstand…how to incorporate spinal twists in a vinyasa)
THE INVERTED WORK
. . . If you are scared by the prospect, this really is THE opportunity to get down to beating the fear by discovering how to safely and confidently execute inverted postures. If you love inverted work, this is the chance to glory in some of the most exciting variations you are likely to see. We’ll accommodate everyone.
BACK BENDS
. . . It isn’t just about how flexible you are (okay, it helps), but it is really about what you do when you get there. This will not just be static positions, but will look at approaches to vinyasa within a back bend situation.
ABOUT TRIPSICHORE
Edward Clark, founder of Tripsichore Yoga Theatre, is London based yet known all over the world
for his innovative work. His troupe of extraordinary yogi-artists travels extensively bringing
the beauty and grace of yoga into communities everywhere.
Tripsichore began in 1979 as a company devoted to creating full length dance narratives. We explored a variety of stylistic forms
including punk ballet, conventional modern dance and strict neo-classical technique. We used masks, performed with rock bands
and did pop videos. While yoga was always a part of our training, it wasn’t until 1992 that we realised the expressive potential
and choreographic viability of yoga postures. Once we began to devise works using yoga asanas, their extraordinary artistic logic
became evident. Surprisingly, it would seem that there has been no orthodox tradition for using yoga technique to create dances
in the 5000 year history of the discipline. The postures intrinsically possess a sumptuous beauty and fluidity. They are the ideal
vehicle to express the themes of harmony, balance, spirituality, ecstasy, bliss and mysticism because they are exactly about these
subjects in and of themselves. We are now 13 years into this experiment and each day brings new discoveries.
Please visit www.tripsichore.com
ABOUT EDWARD
Edward Clark is the creator of Tripsichore Yoga Theatre, the London based yoga group who have delighted audiences in Europe,
North America and Asia with their sensual and lyric application of yoga to make serenely absorbing performance art. Tripsichore
Yoga Theatre have been hailed as some of the most innovative practitioners of vinyasa yoga. Sequestered in their studio in London,
England, the company has worked daily for the past 12 years to devise and refine yoga techniques of asana, pranayama, pratayahara,
dharana, and dhyana…making excursions out to perform their creations to audiences worldwide. Until now, their techniques have
only been taught to a very few.
Edward Clark began studying yoga in 1979. Noteworthy among his teachers are Narayani and Giris Rabinovitch, but he confesses
huge admiration for the Ashtanga Vinyasa, Sivananda, Iyengar and Viniyoga practices. The technique Tripsichore uses is a synthesis
of many aspects of yoga. Edward says, "We are quick to disclaim that what we do is dance. While there are dancers in the company,
there are others who have never been in a dance studio. They meet on a common ground of pure yoga." Edward is also the Head of
Movement and Dance at the prestigious Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art in London where he has taught for the past
22 years (students include Minnie Driver, Julia Ormond, Rupert Evans). "The incorporation of yoga in the training of actors was an
outrageous idea 10 years ago, but is now being adopted throughout training institutions in the UK," says Mr. Clark.
Edward says, "The concept of vinyasa as applied to yoga philosophy could either be considered very ancient or radically new.
In either case, vinyasa seems to be the great contribution to yoga of this particular generation of yogis. Most yoga discipline has
worked on refining one’s self in the direction of greater stillness – an absence of movement in the mind and body. Superficially,
vinyasa would seem to contradict this. However, the mental focus and physical technique needed to bring about continuous fluid
movement can also bring one to a "seat" of great stability and clarity. The stability is not only in the posture, but in the transition
between postures – to the point where there is no distinction between movement and stillness. The place of vinyasa in the history
of yoga is yet to be determined, but as yoga has become a world wide pursuit, it is probably safe to say that its importance now
also lies in how people begin to apply it outside the more traditional places it has been practised."
VINYASA in our definition, is the evenly metered flow of movement, breath and thought resulting in a smooth, uninflected state of being.
The vinyasa techniques are pursued to bring about clarity and stability to one’s thoughts and actions. Tripsichore endeavours to do
this in class and onstage. Edward fuses keen artisitic vision with deep understanding of the essentials of yoga practice.
Tripsichore have been as busy as bees – ant like in their industry – and they are buzzing with excitement to let the
world know about their all new THE INSECTS. It is a wildly inventive piece of yoga theatre where the asanas and
vinyasas are used as the movement vocabulary of a group of curious insect creatures.