Summerschool in St. Petersburg 2013 - "Danse Macabre" - Dance Theatre Laboratory

Summerschool in St. Petersburg 2013 - "Danse Macabre" - Dance Theatre Laboratory

A Dance of the Dead and the Living
July 27th to August 4th 2013 in Orechova near St.Petersburg
"Death makes all human beings equal, so let's dance!"
illustrated information (pdf)

Death and dance where in the Middle Ages not a contradiction - they were part of the same live reality. The famous death dance paintings at the "Spreuerbrücke" in the Swiss city of Lucerne are witnesses of this time.
What does it mean to die? How do we cope with this certainty?
Life and death are two sides of the same door. One cannot exist without the other. Our mortality gives us the chance for transformation. It is the access to a mystical journey - back home to our source.

The following topics will be discussed and researched:

  • Death as a Lover
  • Death and Mystic Transformation
  • A Dance of the Death and the Living
  • The Source of Life and Death

We will do this with body work, dance, music, prayer and humour.
The theatre laboratory includes a basic preparation for stage work in dance and acting. Further parts are body school, warm up, "mise en scene", voice training as used in Movement Concept, and the work with sacred steps and dances from the Sufi tradition. The seminar includes rehearsals for a laboratory performance at the end. During these rehearsals we will go through challenges, cathartics, discovering and deep inner transformation.

Climax of the seminar will be the performance "Danse Macabre", which is a modern dance theatre and a mystery play at the same time. Partially we will use live music.

This training is open for all people who are interested in body art, theatre work and spirituality. It provides the option to gather experiences on stage and behind the stage.

Part of the Summer School will be the following workshop:

Making masks and mask dance performance

Anna Yunysheva has studied music education for children. Since 1991 she lives in Germany. She completed the training as a make-up artist at Staatstheater Mainz and the Movement Concept® - education program with Ingo Taleb Rashid. She offers "Creative Communication", individual and for groups as well as mask making. As Movement Concept® assistant she participated in various performances. She is an active member of the El Haddawi Dance Company

Where?
Recreation centre "Orechovo", Priozersky area, Leningrad Region, Russia.
This place is on the bank of Bolshoe Barkovo Lake, in the forest, not far from St. Petersburg. There you can have a swim in the lake, find mushrooms and berries in the woods or enjoy a Russian traditional sauna.

When?
27/07 (Saturday) at 19.00: dinner, 20.00: opening
28/07 at 07.00: intensive training program starts
03/08 (Saturday) at 18.00: performance "Danse Macabre" and celebration party
04/08 after lunch time: departure.

Additional program:
"Mystic City at the Neva" - Excursions through unknown St. Petersburg from 25/07 to 27/07

Seminar instructor:
Ingo Taleb Rashid, M.A., descended from Iraqi Naqshbandi-Rashidiya Sufi-tradition, stage director and choreographer, and founder of El Haddawi, School for Dance-Theatre and Bodywork, originator of Movement Concept®.

Dates and tuition of the Summer School:

Tuition whole seminar: 27/07 Opening 20.00 to 04/08 lunch:
300 Euro (early registration 250 Euro)

Accommodation and meals

  • Pension, double room: 250 Euro
  • Summer house, double or triple room 150 Euro
    (meals included breakfast, lunch and dinner with traditional Russian food)

Total: 450-550 Euro (Early registration (400-500 Euro)

Fee of additional program, including accommodations, transfers and guided tour
200 Euro

Early registration until 01/07.

"Mystic City at the Neva" - Excursions through unknown St. Petersburg

July 25th – 27th

St. Petersburg was founded by Peter the Great in 1703 as the new capital of the Russian Empire. In the beginning of the 20th century it was one of the most beautiful cities in the world. At the turn of the 19th - 20th century temples of all of the major religions in the world were built here. As a result you can find there

  • masterpieces of Russian architecture - Orthodox churches and cathedrals, monasteries and chapels,
  • Catholic and Armenian churches,
  • the big Choral Synagogue,
  • one of the largest and most northern mosques in Europe,
  • the most Western Buddhist temple – a Buriatian Datsan.

St. Petersburg is the city of paradox:

  • built in the marshes and today a highlight of European architecture,
  • white nights in the summer and black days in the winter,
  • it was a place of extreme luxury and also suffering.

St. Petersburg was and is the crossing point of religious and cultural, political and civil movements between Europe and Asia. It gathered the most advanced influences of Russian science, culture and nature and fused them within its mystical spirit. Today it is again one of the most remarkable cities of the world.

Our plan is to visit the temples of different religions and cultures and do a boat trip on the numerous rivers and canals of the city. We will pass amazing days and nights on the streets, plazas and courtyards. We will walk on the roads of Dostoevsky’s characters to feel the life of different centuries in this city.

We can pass by the Smolensky Cemetery and the Cemetery of the Alexander Nevsky monastery, where the most prominent figures of culture, science, art and spirituality are buried. Another of the many possible places worth visiting is called «Rotonda», where in 19th century Free Masons were doing their ceremonies and which in 20th century was an underground Rock Club.