Motion Workshop, Vienna - July 2017.

People,

Just back from the Motion workshop in Vienna by Ido Portal. Once again, hosted by my good friend Sharik and in the company of my fellow Mirko. The city is clean and surrounded by a dry aura of tranquillity. It did not give me the impression I was in a hurry or that I was wasting my time - feeling that I usually get in big cities. It somehow reminded me of the dreamlike situations à la Animatrix. The architecture is a mixture between the old and the new. All is kept in a solid balance by colours and lines.

Everything runs smoothly and the people are calm and open.

It’s not hard to imagine why Vienna is considered one of the cities with the highest life quality in the world.

Of course, not everybody speaks English but that’s when my spaghetti ability to deal with somatic communication comes into action.

The weekend has been filled up with both theory and practice. I must say on this one, that Ido has been brave. He created a workshop that is much more in a line with his philosophy, key message and paradigm, but it is less digestible for the public. It is still serving people’s needs but not the needs that brought them there at first.

This means that people have to catch up.

If you go there for fitness, aesthetics, functionality, or strength training purposes, you are going to have a bad day. However, if you switch glasses you can make it one of the best in your life.

It is such an interesting phenomenon to see all the many short term strategies connected by the same vector on a longer chrono-line, unfolding.

And it is happening right now.

 It is about the education of a big slice of the worldwide population, not of a couple of people in the backyard of your village.

Why do I respect all this so much? Because I have heard similar thoughts many times in my life, travelling here and there. But if no one can hear you – nothing will change.

Influencing, walking the talks, taking risks, reshaping people.

Impact factor matters, and yes, everybody’s life is important– so if you live your life like a hermit it will still be important. But making a difference is on another thing.

Creating a culture that lives after you …well, judge it yourself.

Practically, it all started looking at how to build organizational capacity of the spine through different drills. Making sure a movement terminology was there and all the phases of learning were met. If a conceptualization is not there, motor control will not follow, unless talent supports the process. A detailed awareness is made of constant small realizations.

Adding complexity into this primordial soup, allows the process to be scaled between different levels and insures continuative progress.

In this fashion, we started to look at different basic principles in the matrix through different contexts and scenarios. They stay the same throughout the tasks while the manifestation of them changes. What are the roots of movement? How to achieve and teach them? Well day by day I am getting closer to understand how to do this.

Then we moved on integrating the motions in relation with another person (movement + culture, not movement + movement) and we used this relationship to introduce limitations and task orientation in both space and time.

 We finished off the day with some floor knowledge, going through exploration of elements based on certain boundaries, all the way to improvisation via environmental constraints created by a partner. A couple of reflexions upon breathing and calming down later, the system declared the end of the first day.

On the second day, we went through spinal work once again and then we moved on into how to boost reflexes in general. I found this part brilliant. I won’t spoiler anything, but I found a way to create an emotional recalling to produce a physical effect and wrote it down in my body. Genuine material.

After more floor knowledge, we moved into the analysis of some basic codes underlying coordination. We used simple tools to build complex systems. A body, a partner, a ball. I practiced a lot with my good friend Miss Summer O’black. Great times, frustrating ones, moments of growths. Loved it. When I got back home I killed all the mosquitos like a flash, with one hand behind the back. Easy work.

I know this post is blurry. But it is meant to be so. You would not understand much by reading a text and I will not aliment this system. However, attend a Motion workshop and get back into this. You will find a summary and some questions might arise.

Next stop is the European Movement Meeting, so see you there for the ones who are following these events.

Now I am packing for Denmark to go and present the interpretive dynamics,

Gerlev, IG 2016 - bigger this year?

See you in Gerlev next week, smart ones!

Marcello.