Promo Video
Workshop Dates
to be advised
O keep squeezing drops of the Sun
From your prayers and work and music
And from your companions' beautiful laughter
And from the most insignificant movements
Of your own holy body.
Now, sweet one,
Be wise.
Cast all your votes for Dancing!
~Hafiz~
Workshops by Arashi
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note: these are guidelines and individual workshops vary by city
Things every spinner should know
Focus is on proper posture during movements, teaching body mechanics relevant to spinning, and yoga postures useful for the weapons spinner. Beginners are encouraged, as are intermediate to advanced spinners who are interested in dance, body movement, or martial arts, and want to learn more about how these arts can be integrated into their spinning style. There will be a relatively small amount of spinning in this class and it is approached much like a yoga class. Basic postures from Tai Chi, Belly dance, Kung Fu, and various ethnic dance forms will be covered, as well as an introduction to spinning basic moves while performing postures from each.
Choreography, presentation, and improvisation for spinners
Focus is on body movements, technical move families and how they interact with the body during dance, and integration of dance styles with spinning. Class will also introduce music theory, drumming and beat counts, and how they relate to poi. Fundamentals of dance improvisation and performance will be covered, as well as methods of choreographing a routine for performance or fun. Finally students will be asked to present some of their favorite dance moves and the class will then walk through some ways to integrate poi tricks into the movements. If time allows the class will then split up into groups and each will organize dance moves into a routine which will be performed together.
3Dimensional spinning and the spiritual ramifications thereof in the 21st century
Tech poi time! Focus is on fundamentals of technical spinning, specifically how the beginner and intermediate can teach themselves using the muscle memory and instinct necessary for technical poi tricks. Class will focus on as much as possible depending on the skill levels of those present, with specifics covered at the students' discretion. Examples for curricula begin with but are not limited to the following:
Isolation theory, dragon's tongue, stalls, 2D patterning (pendulums, flowers, cascades, fountains, etc.) 3D patterning (atomics, conicals, obtuse spinning, etc.) inversions, insides, trinities, box spinning, and whatever else Arashi has come across in his travels.
Individual and troupe consultations
Not a workshop normally offered at intensives- available through prearrangement. Focus is on specific choreography, building or refining solo pieces or group works for dedicated hobbyists, performance, or competition. Efforts are made to intrude as little as possible on the artist's personal style.
Bullwhips1
Safety, whip fundamentals, rolling the whip, whip length characteristics, basics of multiple cracking
Bullwhips 2
Target work, multiple cracks, patterning, double whip tricks, crossover points, trinities, moving the crack directions from the same line, fractal patterns
Beginner World Fusion Belly Dance
Basics of body isolations, posture, undulations, belly rolls, arm work, level changes, and theories in movement
Arashi Bio
Arashi aspires to combine dance, movement, trance states, and performance art to create what he calls “time sculpture.” As a lad his interest in anthropology, mythos, and art fused together and became manifest in a desire to create phenomenological experience through mythology and theater. He began exploring the world of archetypal storytelling with the study of maskmaking, maskdancing, and pupeteering. After focusing on metal/fire sculpture and puppeteering for many years, he realized that his favorite medium of puppetry and sculpture was the human body, namely his own. He was already studying martial arts as part of his meditative practice, but achieved a new passion in self expression when he began intensive study of fire dance and weapons forms and their possibilities.
He started performing with fire and dance 12 years ago, with a small family of artists and dancers who went on to be known and respected as pioneers in the U.S. in the art of combining theatrical performance art and dancing with fire weapons. He began training with bullwhips at about the same time, in 1984. 2 years later he began a love affair with chains (poi) which has plagued his social life ever since. His dance influences started with mosh pits as a teenage “punk rocker,” but he performed on stage for several years in contemporary urban improvisational styles before graduating (snicker;) to “tribal fusion” belly dance in approx. 2001.
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