My junior year in university I enrolled in a course with Erin Manning. That course might have been the most informative class I took during my 4.5 years in the IMCA program and opened my brain to the possibility of actually combining my interests in the body (movement) with my interests in philosophy and new media. While I am still thinking about the ways that I want to approach those ideas in some kind of holistic manner, Erin is creating some pretty amazing projects and events exploring the dynamics and politics of movement, touch, and sense(ability). Erin Manning Research.

As a dance and yoga person, I have become somewhat of a connoisieur of movement photographers. It’s not an easy thing to capture the essence, fluidity and prose of the body in motion. I posted earlier about Dan Schmidt in Boulder, who does wonderful work with yoga asana. I’m happy to have found another photographer here in Portland taking amazing pictures! With an extensive gallery of dance, yoga and portrait-style photography, Brian McDonnell is bringing the art of movement photography into the realm of fantasy, romance and nostalgia. What beautiful visions! I’m inspired to move more gracefully just looking at these images!

http://bmacstudio.com/

Ok. This post isn’t about food or yoga… per se. But it could be! In case you don’t already know about the flash mob phenomenon, there are all sorts of “happenings” that are springing up everywhere. Mostly they are funny/ arty/ surreal, sometimes they are political, and sometimes they are for marketing. But here’s what most of them have in common, they are fun! And not only are they fun, they are free, and also fairly easy to organize. And… (this is where FTY comes in) they could also be about food and yoga.

Imagine this: You are taking a nice stroll through the park one day, there are lots of people out and it’s the middle of summer. You look around and notice how many people are carrying grocery bags. “That’s odd”, you think to yourself, “there must be lots of picnics.” Suddenly all the people around you (there are many) all open up their grocery bags and pull out all different kinds of food and then start giving it away, all the while singing “Rub-a-dub-dub! Thanks for the grub! YAYYYYY GOD!!” “How weird.” You think to yourself, “These people are nuts.” Just then a man walks by and gives you a packet of peanuts.

The next day you wake up early to get a bagel before work. As you are getting on your bicycle and heading to the café something in the corner of your eye catches your attention. Look just over there on the street corner there’s a few people doing sun salutations. You scratch your head, “This has been a strange week.” As you continue towards the café you notice that on every corner there are two or three people, all facing east, saluting the sun. Now your reaction of ‘weirdness’, turn to one of happiness. “How lovely it is to see all these people moving together. What a peaceful start to my day”

Oh… I know. My ideas are cheesy and hippy-ish. So make your own!! Let me know what you’re up to and I’ll post on FTY. People can participate all over the world, make a facebook event, start an email invite campaign for world hopscotch day. Whatever. Make it fun, make it free, and make some smiles ; ) Here’s some inspiration:

Improv Everywhere: MP3 Experiment

Improv Everywhere: Frozen Grand Central

Spontaneous Dance Combustion on Facebook is in Montreal. SDC also occurs elsewhere, though I am not sure how linked the ideas are… Whatever! Make you own spontaneous dance party- share the joy!

The beauty of all these projects is how accessible they are. You can organize them anytime, anywhere, for fun, activism etc. Now get out there!

I have had the good fortune of knowing Melissa Michaels since I was just a youngin’! She was (and continues to be) one of my most influential mentors. I have seen her organization Golden Bridge grow into an international force that brings together youth (and elder) leaders from all corners of the globe building community, fostering positive action, social awareness and creative expression. She is tireless in her mission to spread love and inspire transformation through movement and ritual. Yay Melissa!

Melissa leads summer programs for youth and adults, weekly classes and regular workshops. She is continually accepting applications for her summer dance programs and now travels regularly to teach so she just might be coming to your corner of the globe sometime soon.

Can I just take a moment and to tell you how great Jessie and Eugene from Ashtanga Montreal are? They are great- so great! They are the most fun teachers/performers/parents/partners/people to work with/around/near ever. Their energy is fantastic, they are both absolutely wonderful yoga teachers with very different teaching styles and approaches but when they get together they are BAM! KAZOOM! KAPOW!! If you ever have a chance… I highly recommend having something to do with them, whether it’s dropping in for a class, catching one of their super acroyoga blast workshops or even just watching them perform in this exquisite video. Get more info and go check them out!!