Yay, next weekend Frances and I will travel to England. I am looking much forward to revive this special solo, this year for the Leeds crowd! It will be different again, rethinking the craziness and also kinda roughness I went through when I first made it in 2009. At the moment much of the rehearsal process goes into building core strength. A straight forward muscular workout. Than it takes some time to train the skin, which after a while behaves not as skin usually does around the waist. When I was presenting it several times in a row my waist grew little soft hair, almost fur like, which vanishes as soon as the strain ends. Its only 18 minutes long, but quiet packed with things to think about as I am in the air and try not to rest on the floor. The last rehearsal phase goes into finding the more meditative qualities and of course fun in it!
A Skin-Two event at Vox – a contemporary event space near Leeds City Centre.
More information herevideo
Photo: P. Pajdic @ City of Women Festival – Llubljana 2011Photo: I. Gerber @ Tanztage Berlin 2009
When: Tuesday, August 20th
Hours: 7–11 pm
Where: ‘Teatris’ or in our ‘Mini-Dojo’. Both locations are at Uferhallen Kulturwerkstatt – Staircase B/C, Uferstr. 8-11, 13357 Berlin
U8 Pankstr/U9 Osloerstr
PLEASE REGISTER BEFOREHAND, THAN WE SEND YOU THE DETAILS!
When: Wednesday July 31st
Hours: 7–11 pm
Where: Uferhallen Kulturwerkstatt – staircase C, Uferstr. 8-11, 13357 Berlin
U8 Pankstr/U9 Osloerstr
PLEASE REGISTER BEFOREHAND!
General description: English + German
Yoga can be done separately from the shibari part. Hours: 7-8.45 pm. Info here.
When you are in the court yard please ring + 49 174 393 70 49, the door is usually locked.
Not workshop business, but faffing around with photoshop or my favourite three tryptichs from this summer:
Fusion 2013Moor by Stechlinsee flanked by plattform & backyard shibariFrom Berlin to Vienna
The workshop combines yoga and the Japanese rope technique ‘Shibari’. First, we do yoga to develop a sense of our own body anatomy; the simultaneous perception of one’s own breathing and bodymap is therefore important. In doing so, we can better empathise with another body while in the play of rope. In some asanas (yoga postures) ropes are integrated, or we tie ourselves from the start and do yoga while in a foot or breast-harness. The touch of the material helps clarify one’s investigation of the posture, and mixes the sensual and manual skills of bodies and ropes.
In the second part we come to mix different rope techniques and stir things up. For Shibari figure technique, we are guided by the precision and acrobatic art of Osada Steve, while Arisue Go’s philosophy is particularly suitable for beginners and can give impetus to explore one’s own ideas,
We ourselves have developed in recent years, a technique that we call messy tying. Traditional elements are retained here and combined with improvisation principles; the apparent order in the inner chaos is a kind of punk bondage! We also work with a feminist attitude towards Shibari: if porn, then please be sure to view a feminist porn! Everyone ties everyone, and male bodies captivated and tied is also sexy! For neat and clean tying and rope work in these workshops, we will also be covering the basic knots, fundamentals for breast-harness, and suspension and safety principles.
In pair or group situations in which we develop a bodily conversation, we see expressions of queer, grotesque or purely abstract play language. This may create relaxing and sometimes uninterpretable compositions of sensory stimuli, or also symbolically charged moments. We work here as well with methods drawn from dance and contact improvisation, and elements from role-playing games.
Since the level of the participants in yoga, games, and rope-work are always different, we work from the first on the level of personal experience. We also always give individual instructions.
Workshop 1: Yoga & Shibari Weekend Workshop 19th-21st July
Beginning Friday evening, the 19th July and continuing till Sunday evening, the 21st July, Dasniya will be working with the workshop participants on various rope and Shibari themes. These themes will be orientated to the experience and itnerests of the participants.
Yoga + Shibari
Self/Suspension
Basic knots, rope work, and harnesses for beginners
Improvisation, messy bondage, group play, and improvisation
DATE & TIME:
Friday 19th July,18-23h
Saturday 20th July,12-19h
Sunday21st July,12-19h
COST:
€120/90 for entire workshop
€90 for two days
Non-refundable deposit of € 50 to reserve a place
Workshop 2: Yoga & Shibari Tuesday evening 23rd July
This four-hour evening workshop is for those who would like to try out, and for all those who simply would like an evening of Yoga & Shibari as we do in the regular Berlin classes.
Date, Time, & Cost:
Tuesday, 23rdJuly,19-23h
€20/15
Workshop 3: Private Classes
For those who would like individual, couple, or small group private sessions, classes, and training, these will be possible to arrange from July 22nd-27th. The cost starts from €80 for 3 hours, after discussion.
The photos are from a private coaching session with the aerial artist Emiliano Ron this July. It was still new to try how the different rope practices work together. He would change from highly acrobatic aerial rope tricks to self– suspension figures, to complete passive hanging qualities. It was super pretty and exciting to watch how he bridges his field of expertise and the Shibari knots, which were newer to him. It seems a very logical combination, and a progression in terms of moving, dancing and flying… . Something that I first tried with Emily Aoibheann from the ‘Paperdolls’ last year. In the end we stuck some bamboo in the mess, which gave some support to sit or stand on in the air, but also made the whole thing a very unpredictable kind of moving sculpture. Funny enough knowing how this feels from my performance ‘x=bô’, it is much ‘safer’ to dance in this mess with closed eyes, and to more rely on the tactile senses and their memories about where the sticks are, and how they behave as one moves through them.
Self Suspension/Aerial work, Emiliano Ron/Dasniya Sommer Berlin 2013 – 1
Self Suspension/Aerial work, Emiliano Ron/Dasniya Sommer Berlin 2013 – 2
Self Suspension/Aerial work, Emiliano Ron/Dasniya Sommer Berlin 2013 – 3
Self Suspension/Aerial work, Emiliano Ron/Dasniya Sommer Berlin 2013 – 4
I am writing this some time later…
In June Florian spontaneously asked if I feel like doing the Helmi – Swan Lake again in Bremen. At the Mahagony Festival with two other dancers, and the answer was yes! We performed on the 26th, and here are some photos of our Dodo – occupy camp in the theatre foyer.
The evening was a mixture of a sort of installation/interactive/walk through the whole theatre musical–opera–performance. Our camp was cosy but unfortunately a little far of to where the main actions took place. But as storks and swans we were running around anyway! And whenever a spectator got lost and ended up by our camp site, there was a certain smile in their face. For me for sure a remotely familiar experience from 2009, to transform an official entrance area into mayhem. Foam, puppets, blankets, tents, ropes, tutus, banners and other strike materials ;)
When: Wednesday June 19th, 2013
Hours: 7–11 pm
Where: Uferhallen Kulturwerkstatt – staircase B, Uferstr. 8-11, 13357 Berlin
U8 Pankstr/U9 Osloerstr
PLEASE REGISTER BEFOREHAND!
General description: here
Yoga can be done separately from the shibari part. Hours: 7-8.45 pm. Info here.
When you are in the court yard please ring + 49 174 393 70 49, the door is usually locked.
Here a photo from the performance ‘Sachbericht II’ – das Helmi, at the Staatstheater Hannover in June. Solene, Emir, chaos and the production manager suspended by Florian and Dasniya :-)
Tanzt mit uns, denn jedeR von uns ist ein Schwan! Direkt vor der Oper in der Nacht, flankiert von weißen und schwarzen Schaumstoffschwänen könnt ihr Euch einreihen ins Schwanenballett und mitwirken an der Verwandlung der Stadt. Verführt dazu werdet ihr von der Ballerina und Performerin Dasniya Sommer und den Schaumstoffschwänen vom ZIRKUS DES FORTSCHRITTS!
..rief es letzte Woche aus jeder Ecke, jedem Karton, von hinter dem gelbblauen Gardinenrund des Helmikontainers auf dem Stephansplatz in Hannover. ‘Zirkus des Fortschritts’ nennen die PuppenspielerInnen den wahrlichen Aufführungsmarathon, der noch bis zum 2. Juni läuft. Mehrmals täglich können Eltern, Kinder, Großeltern und Urverjüngte sich hier von den buschigen Nasen und schiefen Augenbrauen der liebevoll aus Schaumstoff geschnitzen Puppen verführen lassen, in Märchen- und Filmwelten.
Am Samstag mein kleines Debut in der Revolutionsrevue. Während die Richard Wagner Puppe schon die zweite Szene einläutete, habe ich Solene Garnier alias Rocky, oder war es Rambo, irgendwie ruhig und fluchs in die Luft geschwungen. Eine simple Hängung auf der Seite ohne Umschweife und geschmeidiges Abseilen von der Hüfte her brachten sie gleich darauf zurück auf die Füße.
Juchuhh Helmi goes Shibari (and ballet :). Anschließend wurde die Marco Puppe, der Herr Zirkusdirektor und ein Schaumstoffweg eher andeutungsweise verschnürt, aber doch so, dass letztlich jede auf ganz süße Art ihre Hängung genoss.
