Sophy Hoare: I went to my first yoga class in 1970 at the former Dance Centre in Floral Street, Covent Garden. The teacher was Penny Nield-Smith, a student of B.K.S. Iyengar. Penny mainly taught large classes for the London adult education authority and never taught ‘advanced’ postures, but she taught a great deal about attention and awareness.
After six years, Penny encouraged me to start teaching and I attended classes with several other Iyengar teachers to expand my practice. I had a strong desire to free my body of its limitations but I never discovered a way which satisfied me. It was as though I was searching for an elusive or non-existent key.
In 1991 I met Vanda Scaravelli who invited me to become her student. In my first lesson I knew immediately that Vanda was offering me this key. After that I visited her in Italy once or twice a year to learn how to work with the principles she had discovered in her own practice. At Vanda’s house I met Diane Long and recognised in her practice the same freedom that I saw in Vanda. I invited Diane to teach me and my students in London and since then we have been meeting regularly to practise and teach together.
www.sophyhoare.co.uk
Diane Long has been developing and refining yoga for most of her life. She was born in North Carolina and moved to Italy in the early 1970s. While living in Florence, Vanda Scaravelli invited her to become her student. She was a devoted student of Vanda’s for the next 23 years. This meeting with Vanda introduced her to a new form of consciousness in the study of yoga and body/mind awareness. At Vanda’s urging, Diane began teaching in the late 70′s in Italy and later in Canada, England and the United States.
The intuitive yoga of Diane Long is a progressive physical practice with the intention of leading one to the vital core, the spine, and is based on the concept that the spine divides at the 4th and 5th lumbar vertebrae. It is here that strength grows into lightness. The base of the position is where one is rested and anchored into the earth. Refining the awareness opens the vision to wholeness and harmony, guided by this intention and concept. This becomes a way of being, a form of meditation, which allows for new sensation and a different approach to asana.
This yoga is clearly visible in Diane’s body teachings. In her classes and workshops, she demonstrates and helps participants to experience the particular subtle quality of movement, breath and attention that Vanda taught, working hands on as much as possible with each student.
Diane is now based in Rome teaching regularly in the UK with several visits to the United States and Canada.
www.dianelongyoga.com
Jonathan Horan is Gabrielle Roth’s son and closest collaborator.
He has been immersed in the 5Rhythms® throughout his life and continues to be a key catalyst in its evolution.
From the mountains and oceans of Big Sur to the skyscrapers and theatres of NYC, I grew up in extremes and learned a deep respect for the wilderness that is both nature and human nature. When I was nine, I participated in my first 5Rhythms workshop — my grandfather was dying, my mom was very fragile and I was worried about her so I hung around. I fell in love with the work, the rhythms, the people, the freedom and the discipline. By seventeen, I had dropped in fully and I have done almost every workshop Gabrielle has taught in the last twenty-five years. I follow in her dancing footsteps as student and teacher and am committed to keeping the fire of her core teachings alive.
Kathy Altman: while highly trained in many forms of dance, it wasn’t until her catalytic meeting with Gabrielle Roth 30 years ago that her true calling found her. As Co-Director of The Moving Center School, Kathy was the first person asked to help Gabrielle bring her work out into the world. Over the past 20 years Kathy’s teaching has brought thousands of people back to the joy of their own, original movement. Using dance as the medium, Kathy illuminates for her students “as on the dance floor, so in life”. She is devoted to inspiring people to live the teachings of presence, patience and practice long after the music ends. www.movingcenterschool.com
Robert Anderson is an independent dance artist based in London. Since 2001 Robert has been teaching and facilitating contact improvisation classes, jams and workshops in London. Robert has taught at international contact festivals in Germany, Israel, Poland, Sweden, Russia and Italy and participated in co-teaching gatherings in Estonia, Finland, Scotland and Austria. In teaching dance improvisation Robert seeks to help students find a deeper connection with the body and our modes of perception. The somatic movement techniques he offers enable students to study the physical forces of gravity, momentum and friction and utilize them artfully in their dancing, both in and out of contact with others. His classes encourage a state alertness and openness and invite a sense of pleasure, play and poetry for the dancing body.
Jonathan Burrows is a former Royal Ballet soloist, but now tours widely internationally with his own work. He has been commissioned by William Forsythe for Ballett Frankfurt as well as Sylvie Guillem for the film ‘Blue yellow’, and collaborated memorably with theatre director Jan Ritsema on Weak Dance Strong Questions (2000) which was seen in 14 countries. For the past six years he has been working on a trilogy of duets with composer Matteo Fargion, beginning with Both Sitting Duet (2002) and followed by The Quiet Dance (2005) and Speaking Dance (2006), which have been performed 170 times across 25 countries. In 2002 Jonathan was given an award by the New York Foundation for Contemporary Arts in recognition of his contributions to contemporary dance, and “Both Sitting Duet” was the winner of a 2004 New York Dance and Performance “Bessie” Award. In 2008 he was Associate Director on Peter Handke’s ‘The Hour We Knew Nothing Of Each Other’ at The National Theatre London. Jonathan is a visiting member of faculty at P.A.R.T.S. in Brussels, and is also Visiting Professor at the Theatre Department of Royal Holloway, University of London.
Chris Crickmay is a visual artist and writer specialising in installation work and in collaborative work connecting art and dance. He has a particular interest in the role of the arts and creativity in everyday life. He is the co-author, with Miranda Tufnell, of two books: Body, Space, Image: Notes Towards Improvisation and Performance, Dance Books, (1990) and A Widening Field: Journeys in Body and Imagination, Dance Books, (2004).
Claire Cunningham Originally a classically trained singer, Claire Cunningham began developing an interest in aerial work and movement in 2005 (largely as a result of work with Blue Eyed Soul Dance Co. and US choreographer Jess Curtis who introduced her to Contact Improvisation). A Creative Scotland Award in 2006 enabled her to develop skills that have now led to her becoming one of the UK’s leading disabled artists and a performer in international demand. In Nov ’08 her solo, evolution was presented at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden and in 2009 she will perform throughout the UK in Sputnik – a large kinetic sculpture powered by Cunningham, in a collaboration between Sharmanka and Fittings Multimedia. A member of Jess Curtis’ Gravity since 2006, she has collaborated with Jess on a variety of projects, including the award-winning Under the Radar, and her latest solo work mobile, co-produced by Gravity, and commissioned for DaDaFest International ’08.
Jess Curtis Living and working in both San Francisco and Berlin, Jess Curtis has created a body of work ranging from the underground extremes of Mission District Warehouses with Contraband and CORE (1985-1998) to the formal refinement and exuberance of European State Theaters and Circus Tents with Compagnie Cahin-Caha and Jess Curtis/Gravity (1998-present). Along the way Mr. Curtis has collaborated with the renowned FabrikCompanie in Potsdam, Germany to create the award winning fallen; and been commissioned to create works for companies such as Artblau in Germany, ContactArt in Milan, Italy, Blue Eyed Soul Dance Company in England, and Croi Glan Integrated Dance in Ireland. In 2000, Jess Curtis founded Gravity as a research and development vehicle for very live performance. Gravity aspires to the creation of exceptionally engaging body-based performance that explores and addresses issues and ideas of substance and relevance to a broad public. With Gravity Mr. Curtis has produces four full-evening performance works: No Place Like Home (2000), fallen (2001), Touched: Symptoms of Being Human (2005), and Under the Radar (2007). Gravity is dedicated to the highest quality of work at an international level and maintains offices and staff in both San Francisco and Berlin. www.jesscurtisgravity.org
Matteo Fargion was born in Milan, Italy in 1961. He studied composition with Kevin Volans at the University of Natal, South Africa, and later with Howard Skempton in London. He met Jonathan Burrows in 1988, and has since written music for many of his pieces, including ‘Dull Morning’, ‘Stoics’, ‘Very’, ‘Our’, ‘Hands’, ‘The Stop Quartet’ (with Kevin Volans) and ‘Things I Don’t Know’, in which he also performed ‘Donna Che Beve’ for 3 amplified cardboard boxes. Matteo has also written music for theatre including an oratorio (‘Das Kontingent’) commissioned by and performed at the Schaubühne Berlin and TAT Frankfurt, a chamber opera (‘Le Bellezze d’Hortensia’) at the Theaterhaus in Stuttgart, as well as incidental music for many productions at the Residenz Theater Munich. In 2004 he wrote music for Thomas Ostermeier’s prize winning production of Jon Fosse’s new play ‘The Girl on the Sofa’ shown at the Edinburgh International Festival, and in 2005 he collaborated and performed in Canadian choreographer Lynda Gaudreau’s ‘Document 4’ in Gent, Belgium. His piece ‘Duets’, written in collaboration with Kevin Volans, is released on Black Box Records. Matteo also runs composition workshops at PARTS, the school of Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker in Brussels.
Deborah Jay-Lewin Deborah Jay-Lewin has spent more than 20 years combining her passion for 5Rhythms with her deep love of the spiritual principles she has learnt whilst living in the Findhorn Community in Scotland. She teaches regularly in Scotland, Europe and South-East Asia. Her workshops are known for being full of vitality, open heartedness and a unique approach that awakens transformation. Deborah is engaged in ongoing study with Gabrielle Roth and is certified to teach both Waves ® and Heartbeat® levels. www.vitalmoves.co.uk
Karl Jay-Lewin is a professional dance artist who has been choreographing, teaching and promoting dance for over 13 years. His curiosity and fascination with the intelligence and physicality of the body is central to all his work. He is Artistic Director of Bodysurf Scotland and lives at Findhorn.
Eva Karczag is a pioneering dance-maker, dancer and educator. Her performance work and teaching are informed by dance improvisation and mindful body practices. Through her performing and teaching she aims to communicate her love of full-bodied dancing and her interest in the practice of being in the moment. Her ongoing collaborations with Chris Crickmay have led her into the world of objects and installations.
Mary Prestige: originally an Olympic gymnast in the 1960′s, Mary’s first professional work was with the dance company, Ballet Rambert as a contemporary dancer. In the mid 70′s she co-founded the radical X6 Dance Space and its successor Chisenhale Dance Space, in London, and was a member of both artist collectives until 1989. These organisations provided an important context for the research and development of new dance forms and practices in Britain during that period. Mary has been an influential practitioner and teacher of new and experimental dance in both the independent dance scene as well as the specialist academy. She continues to evolve new work through collaboration with other artists and art forms in a variety of performing contexts. Mary has been a lecturer in dance at the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts since 1995 until 2008. She currently shares a studio in Liverpool with dance artists Andrea Buckley and Paula Hampson.
