Inside...

...open the window to the west,

and dissappear into the air inside you...

Kabir

Lost cultures : the Nubas of Niyaro

Tribal beauty survives through oral traditions and passionate lovers of "otherness". European and Arab war lords have crushed cultures that had chosen "mother" consciousness models rather than "father's"...here's an extraordinary video excerpt of the amazing Nuba people in Sudan! It's another planet!

Photo par : Leni Riefenstahl (!?) Do you know what this woman did for the Nazis??? Are these photos her personal exorcism against her dark past?

(I assume there was a copyright problem : blogger erased the photo of Riefenstahl...Hmmm....)

2009-09-26_Street performance in Antananarivo

2009-09-26_Street performance in Antananarivo, originally uploaded by speedykoala.

How to dance when there are thousands of street kids around?
The opening of the festival i Trôtra (pronounce the "r" the american way) is on september the 30th. I worked with young, non professional, dancers this time and it was a moving experience. Bernardo Montet worked with the professional dancers. In one of the poorest countries in the world with high corruption I have the chance to realize once more, how deeply existential dance is. The urgency to create newtopias, even ephemeral, and live them through embodiment is a state of "freedom" and a source of inspiration; inspiration to live through regimes like the one in Madagascar and have visions of a "better" world...
Freedom in greek : ΕΛΕΥΘΕΡΙΑ, means openness to that which will come; openness to the unknown...
In the picture you see dancers with street kids...For more pics go here : Flickr-Madagascar

Eros & the Dragon

"Eros is born of chaos, implying that out of every chaotic moment the creativity of which we have been speaking can be born. Further more, eros will always hearken back to its origins in chaos and will seek it for its vivification. Aristophanes writes even of their mating. Eros will attempt again and again to create those dark nights and confusions which are its nest. It renews itself in affective attacks, jealousies, fulminations, and turmoils. It thrives close to the dragon."

James Hillmann

Photo (CC) by : Ed_meister (Flickr)

Bons enfants!

This Sunday we danced at Mauricio Cordero's gallery : Du Coté des bons Enfants, in Tours!
It was during the exposition of Olivier Jauzenque!

Photo by : Mauricio Cordero
(http://lesbonsenfants.bonnes-nouvelles.fr/)

More good news!

Controlling the arm trade is becoming a reality! Almost all countries voted for a treaty!
Guess who didn't want to sign? look here : Control arms

Photo by phauly

Dance in Chile

Third and last day of the workshops taught by Bernardo Montet and Dimitri Tsiapkinis in the University of Santiago / School of the Arts.
Sharing experience, mouvement and dance theories.
We also participated in a conference about Bernardo's approach to dance with video excerpts, and also about the role of National choréographic centers in France.
We conluded the conference with a dance improvisation between me and the Chilian musician Pajaro.
We were assisted by Andrea Muñoz who also captured the image of this note.
I will stay for one more week to visit Santiago, Valparaiso and Serena.
May the space be with you! :-)

Para aquellos interesados aquí es una bibliografía :
* Ken Wilber : Breve historia de todas las cosas. Barcelona. Kairós. w4.
* Le mouvement dans tous ses états. Eve Berger, 1998. Editions Point d’Appui (Français)
* el sitio web de la Danis Bois Método (Inglès, Français et portugués) : http://www.cerap.org/
* un text de James Hillman en espagnol : http://homepage.mac.com/eeskenazi/azur.html
* James Hillman : SpD94a La Cultura y el Alma Animal. Trans. Maria J. Bustamante. Caracas: Fundacion Polar. Engl. D97d.

(Para más propuestas, me contacto a través de este blog después 5 enero 2009 :-)

Some good news for us all!

Yes! We are less greedy than a few years ago!
Africa will take a nice deep breath from the 1 billion € the EU agreed to give!
More info here : one.org


Photo (CC) par Michael Sarver

Liste of urgent actions!

Dear friends, I know most of us suffer from info pollution and some even from Cognitive Overflow Syndrome (info here).
I have read about info saturation before but I heard about this term (C.O.S.) in the very impressing performance of Thomas Ferrand in our festival "Danse d'éxistence, Danse de Résistance"...
So while our festival is still going and I'm dancing tonight Apertae by Bernardo Montet, I urge you to participate in the following actions, without having to go to many places :
1. http://www.timetolead.eu/
2. Ask Obama!

And some good news : marine conservation in Hong Kong

Photo (CC) by kelvin255

The Good Consumer

Work less, gain less, live better...
November 29 : BUY NOTHING DAY!

JFK Calls for a Revolution

We can do it JA???

Promises & poverty!

Excerpt from the avaaz site :

This week world leaders gather at the United Nations General Assembly in New York. Here, all focus is on a multi billion dollar bailouts of financial institutions and the real untold scandal -- global poverty -- risks being forgotten. France, Canada, and Italy are threatening to slash their development aid budgets and break their promise to assign a mere 0.7 % of national income to the world's poorest. If these countries retract on commitments, others may follow -- it’s time to raise the alarm.

Click here to sign for a better world : poverty_promise_breakers

Photo (CC) by foko_madagascar

Sharing dance in Madagascar

My first week in Antananarivo in Madagscar is full of creativity and emotion...
I'm teaching young dancers from the island and a few from the African continent and it's a very warm hearted group. We dive into body consciousness together and then, progressively, into high energy mouvement behaviour...There follows an improvisation course and they make me dream away!
The workshop was organized by the Cultural Center Albert Camus and the CCNT.
Bernardo Montet will join me to finish the workshop together but also to dance his solo "Batracien, l'après-midi"!
Of course there are also "negative" emotions when seeing the poverty in the city...Apparently there are 25000 homeless here... :-(
How much energy and food do we spend, and on what?
Living conscioussly becomes more & more urgent, but I also keep receiving good news!
The world is changing! Keep creating your utopias!

My news...

This past week I spent time in Paris for a conference named Body in Action and for dance classes.
Body in Action was organized by the College de France and it was dedicated to the French philosopher Maurice Merleau-Ponty. I did not attend the second day for it was very dense and most information concerned neurophysiology research : my expertise was far from enough! One participants, Anne Fagot-Largeault was very inspiring though, and suggested concepts that reminded me of the Integral Theory! And then I took a few dance classes : from release technique to fusion-modern jazz! Ah...dancing!!! Poverty, humanity, richness, spirit was there in Paris...Like everywhere else...There's work to be done!

Photo (CC) by : skinr

Save food quality in USA

For my American friends : Here's a petition to stop quality degradation of food & water in the world! Petition : http://www.healthfreedomusa.org/index.php?page_id=184

And if you want to be always well informed on 21st century health matters check this site and sign up for their newsletter : http://www.naturalnews.com/Index.html

Photo (CC) by : kool_skatkat

Back to basics!!!

The basics for life (?) : Water, oxygen, and love

"You're not sick; you're thirsty. Don't treat thirst with medication..."

Drink water! Of course too much water is dangerous also, but usualy we're chronically thirsty...Read interview here : naturalnews.com
and find out why "it's fair to say that pharmaceuticals, as packaged by modern medicine, are the third leading cause of death in this country"


Photo (CC) par malla_mi

Finality Over Fairness!

EXECUTION DATE SET: SEPTEMBER 23 AT 7 p.m.

Protect Life & take action : Amnesty USA

Human rights issues do not concern only China!

Good news from Dell!

This blog began as a place for good news : proof that humans are able to create newtopias without being trapped by local fatalisms and misery...
Here you have an article of how even big companies like Dell can make a difference : Dell for a greener planet!

Photo (CC) by : danielguip

love your sun?

Ok! I'm back from Greece, tanned and i will never use sunscreen again!
I do not pretend to know why sunscreens are not "good" but my intuition and the following article made me decide so : organic lifestyle magazine

Vacation!

By tomorrow I will be in Nikiti and occasionally in Thessaloniki, in Greece.
I wish you wonderful vacations full of inspiration!