So, here we are, Fall has arrived and we are a starting back up with all of our routines saying a gentle goodbye to the last days of summer. Welcome back to class, enjoy the news.
Here’s what some of the teacher’s have been up to:
Bridget Cuff
My treat at the end of the summer was a 4 day visit to Rochester, where I was one of 8 assistants to Judith Lasater in her Relax and Renew (trademarked) trainings. There were 80 people at the training, so she needed all of us! Judith does some talking about the physiology of restorative yoga, the philosophy behind her development of it and the reasons for doing restorative yoga, but the main bulk of the training is learning to set people up in restorative poses and how to look at bodies to find places where they cannot release, or are unsupported. The objective in restorative yoga is to have the body fully propped, so that the props do the work of the pose and the mind and body simply relax into the props. These trainings end up being somewhat international. Although about half of the students were from the Rochester area and connected to the studio of Francois Renault, who sponsored the workshop, there was also a couple from Belgium and a group from Montreal, as well as the students from out west, Florida and the Washington, D.C. area. It`s a great way to get to know a lot of different people, including the other assistants, from New York City, Connecticut and Cleveland, among other places.
For those who don’t know her, Judith has taught yoga for over 45 years and is the primary developer of the practice of restorative yoga. She did her original yoga training with B.K.S. Iyengar. She also completed her degree as a physical therapist. Through her example, teaching yoga became a viable profession. In addition, she is very clear about her values and her boundaries, she is down to earth and funny, and she has no problem showing how much she loves her 3 children and 2 grandchildren. I always leave Judith feeling like I know more about my own values, I have a better idea of how to communicate with my students, and I have learned to see more about how to assist my students to find their own path and their own strength. I was really flattered to be asked to return and look forward to finding another of her trainings that I can assist at.
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William James
William James has had a busy few months, making a major foray back into dance performance, beginning last June with a Performance Intensive led by New Zealand/Maori dance artist Charles Koroneho, who led a group from across Canada and Greenland in an exploration of solo dance and group ritual.
Will then continued to take a summer intensive with Kahawi Dance Theatre in Toronto, studying Butoh with Japanese master teacher Ko Murabashi, Embodying Story with New Mexico-based Rulan Tangen, Gyrokinesis with Andrea Nann, and a second performance intensive with Koroneho and Columbian born artist Alejandro Ronciera.
In September he has taken a week intensive with Berlin-based Shannon Cooney who led an exploration of movement based in Cranio-Sacral and other neuroscientific practices that she has developed.
William has also recently been shortlisted for the Soulpepper Theatre Dance Award for 2014. The shortlisted artists will perform in a gala on October 26, where the winners will be announced. The award is a cash grant plus a two-week residency in the Soulpepper Theatre in Toronto’s Distillery District.
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