Journey into the Sunrise

Events

Upcoming public performance of Gurdjieff Dances by Amiyo’s group (with pianist Alan Kremski) on 2nd April 2017 in Munich – video of 2015 event filmed by Hamido.

When doing some research online we came across, quite accidentally, a beautiful video of Gurdjieff Dances in Munich performed by Amiyo’s group in 2015. The video channel Art & Spirit was linked to Kardell Media and a quick email brought us in contact with Mr Kardell, aka Hamido. We agreed to contact Amiyo because, as he said, there will soon be another public ‘performance’ of the Dances: on 2nd April 2017, 5pm, again at Leo 17 in Munich (details PDF). (If you see a man behind a video camera also in this performance, you know it is Hamido!)

Watch on YouTube

The 19 dancers performing have been in Amiyo’s workshops in India, France, Russia and elsewhere in the world. There is a core of dancers which meets regularly during the seminars but always new dancers join in. Some live in Munich where the group meets often. Amiyo says, “Gurdjieff Dances are mostly group dances, which become truly alive when a group spirit arises; we are not just a group of individuals dancing together.”

Alain KremskiAmiyo was over the moon when, just the other day, she heard that Alain Kremski will be playing for them this time. Kremski is known for 12 CD recordings of the music by Gurdjieff/De Hartmann. He has also orchestrated all the Sacred Dances and Sacred Movements in Peter Brook’s film, Meetings with Remarkable Men. “This event will be a meeting – in one creative act – of two worlds: the one of Osho and the one of Gurdjieff,” says Amiyo.

We have seen demos of the Gurdjieff Dances after the workshops in various halls – Buddha Halls in Pune and Corfu, Mandir in Dharmsala – mostly in halls where the Dances were taught, so it was intriguing to see them ‘performed’ in a public space. Again ‘performed’ in inverted commas, because of what Amiyo says, “I do not like the word ‘performance’; we are not performers, we are just playing our part in the moment, as best as we can, sharing a moment of meditation in movement, and the beauty and depth of Gurdjieff’s creation.

Gurdjieff Dances with Amiyo“At first we did the demos in much less glamorous locations, like by the side of a pool, or in a church, in a city hall. Then we heard of this theater which was designed according to Rudolf Steiner’s principles of architecture, adjacent to a Rudolf Steiner school, in the center of Munich. It has all the technical facilities we need, and 500 seats. This will be the third time that we perform there.

“I do not remember when I had the idea of presenting the Movements publicly. It just appeared to me that here we had something that was so beautiful and unknown and that we could maybe counterbalance our world that is submerged in negativity – social, political, economical – by presenting a different aspect of what life can also be, of meditation in movement.

“I often ask myself, ‘Why did Osho insist on the performance at the end of a workshop?’ Having done so many of them I know that any performance is a double-edged sword.

“The birth of one of these ‘babies’ is far from being painless; we have had more than one strong ‘being quake’. In 2015, the costumes arrived just the day before the demo. Moreover, their sizes and shapes were all wrong, so much so that we all had to sit on the floor, undo and re-do them, whether we knew how to sew or not! A very Gurdjieffian scene…

“But the main pitfall, in these kinds of events, is the ego stealing the show. The performances enhance some aspects of our personality; wanting to be seen, recognized, wanting to be in the front line, or hide in the back line, feeling hurt by our mistakes, being a prisoner of our self-will or our fear (the Movements are an excellent mirror of how we are in life).

“The price to pay is losing the ego, but the reward is worth it; a quiet spacious mind, an open heart, and a body full of vitality. And this sublime joy of knowing that we are the transmitters of these beautiful Movements. No matter that I dance them since 1989, I am still again and again in awe at the insight and depth of Gurdjieff’s creativity, inwardly bowing down to both Osho and Gurdjieff.”

gurdjieff-dances.comkardellmedia.deArt & Spirit on YouTube

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