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NEXT WORKSHOP:

Danse Shaolin – Ciel et Terre

a proposition by Dimitri Tsiapkinis, M.A. for professionals and amateurs of movement

Animal movements, explosive sequences and sensitive expressiveness

– 26-27 February 2022, at the Petit Morier, 81 Boulevard Jean Royer, Tours / Saturday-Sunday, 14:00-18:00.

Price : 50€

Reservations only on : Helloasso/evenements/danse-shaolin-ciel-et-terre

Series of workshops on the possible links between Shaolin martial arts and contemporary dance

Kung Fu and Tai Chi Chen are two forms that the dancer-choreographer Dimitri Tsiapkinis has had the privilege to study, with master Shi Yan Jun, 34th generation Shaolin, in Tours since 2005. Assistant of the master for 12 years, he proposes to study the possibilities of gestural expressiveness inspired by Kung Fu and Tai Chi. Anchoring on the ground, acute concentration, speed and precision of movement are among the key elements in Shaolin training, but also in dance training.

The fusion between martial arts and dance has been going on since the dawn of time. Chinese actors train as much in dance as in martial arts and we can see that in many movies. The battle scenes go beyond the finality of knocking down the rival and aspire to vertiginous choreographies with mouvement exploring the aesthetics of gesture.

On the other have we have the aspect of violence. How to express it, how to control it, how to dodge it, how to transform it? Nobody wants to get hurt. Well, almost… As choreographer Bernardo Montet used to say: violence in itself is not “bad”. A flower that opens experiences violence at its own pace. A woman who gives birth experiences a transforming and life-giving violence. Master Shi Yan Jun claims the need to go through pain often, not only to know how to bear it, but also to know better how to avoid it. Over-protected children with rubber floors in schools delay their postural development because they do not practice real falling…