WHY do BAD things happen to GOOD people (?) (!)

M. just told me, one of his mothers best friends, Vera -  has just discovered she has lung cancer.
We were so socked, all of us - Vera is a Buddhist and a vegetarian for the past 3o years, always so kind, so generous and so health careful ( she is always taking care of everyone) -  such a kind , beautiful soul - why (?) (?) (?)

Why do bad things happen to good people (?)
Vera all the love in the world for you and please remember our toughths, hearts and strength are with you.

The body is so week, unpredictable, unreliable
and still it  has the enormous responsibility  of containing the soul

We overlook,
keep on forgetting the importance of the body
(we dont eat, dont rest, dont listen to the body)
and still nothing can be done
in this life
without a body

The body scares me sometimes
my own too
and I fear
sometimes
for m own week body

My own body
who at the age of 14
let me down so bad

my spine injury
I had to quit so many years of ballet training
the ballet academy
and a promising  future ( my teachers said)
and my dream
at the time

I could never dance ballet again
professionally

I was left with a different
asymmetric body
for many years I did not know what to do with my new body
how to use it to dance again

so for so many years
I forgot about my own body
and my dreams


The body
is so precious

To Vera,
with Love
xxx

ITS DONE - OCTOBER IS NY BUTOH :))))

:))))))
all booked, all payed
October is going to be New York, at the CAVE arts and performance center and butoh intensive with   Yukio Suzuki + Leimay 2x week workshops
now is work, work, work till them to get money to eat
(but who cares about eating when u will be in Brooklyn (?) (!))

^^ ----- ^^
(cant wait)
Thank you.
Life is EXCITING (!)

The day that I die

Had this persistent peaceful thought for a while now, the day that I die I would like to say goodbye to this music. The last sound on this life, because it touches me so deeply the poetry, the beauty of this song: Ultima by Alain Marcus.

And the moment I leave this body I am hoping I am going to see something like this. So much space, so much freedom, so much peace, so much fulfillment.

To A. pls acept my thank you for creating and sharing this wonderful piece of work .

Thank you and peace.

ART - pathos the evocation of sympathy vs pornography (technique and high definiton) in art

M. went trought my photos and what a compliment: these are the words he used to describe my photo work: evocative.

Many people seem to compliment my photo work these days -  I dont take it too seriously ( typically, like all my work - I dont take it too seriously, this way is easy to maintain total freedom of expression -  anulating fear of mistakes or failure - I set myself free to explore mistakes too.

M. uses his own definition of pathos (greek word) to describe how my work feels for him -  on his own words:  you are drawn in and want to know more ... it evokes my mind and imagination ... I start asking questions and building stories with you images ( reasonably as he is a writer).

And from this conversation he went to another very interesting point: what is art (?) how should be supposed to feel (?) he says anything who creates a evocative reaction on him has or is ART potential -  and a good way to really understand this truthful evocation feeling is to look as so many called ART today - a piece of high definition, of brilliance technique - a piece of visual, mental PORNOGRAPHY -  and by pornography M. explains - he means a piece of art where all is so explicit or technically brilliant that there was no space left for the viewer personal evocation : the viewer stares, but feels no need to question, to wonder, to explore - This is NOT ART.

I STRONGLY agree.

( he choose this photo to write a short story)

THIS IS WORK - V. Goodman atelier session (Ali Farka soundtrack)

Usually I refuse private atelier work -  for obvious reason.

But  I was really looking forward to work with this particular painter, as the work was really good.
My gut feeling accurate as ever -  the day was perfect and the work exciting.

The atmosphere is much more intimate, but also surprisingly much more relaxing  - and incredibly I am able to pauses between posing time (great (!).

The poses tought were (some) physically demanding - this is where my asthanga comes into help: legs + back and torso tensions - no problem (!) -  still it is really this more poetic but physically demanding work I LOVE to do anyway, as there is a strong connection with movement and expression.

longer sustained arm poses involving weight and lifts- still room for improvement - more asthanga on the way (!)

I really like V. work - the strong but natural use of colour, the boldness of the size of the compositions and especially, the kinda off serene dynamic energy in the paintings.

We were looking for movement and body expression/tension - so the beg. of the session started with me being free to create a series of short very dynamic/intense/movement poses (just what I love doing ).
I used a lot of butoh -  no one in London seems to know what it is - but all get really fascinated with the concept.

The 5 hours went fast, especially at the sound of Ali Farka Toure albums on Spotify - a perfect days work - what else could I ask for (?)

In the end looking at the drawings produced, I feel I start to be able to identify the natural quality of my body/movement  3 words come to my mind: poetic, fluid and a kind of soft intensity.

Here are a few shoots of  some of my  fav. drawings from V. (full story to come later),
Thank you.

V. CAN Draw (!) (!) (!)

3 minute pose aprox.

(butoh inspired)

5 minute pose aprox.

(classic + butoh  inspired -  expressing torso +arm fluidity )

5 minute pose aprox.

(butoh  inspired -  paying attention to the composition of the hand)

5 minute pose aprox.

( butoh  inspired -  paying attention to the expression of the hand)

(V. drawing suddenly changing to Egon Schiele style)

5 minute pose aprox.

(butoh  inspired -  exploring idea of collapsing / falling -part 1)

(paying attention to the expression  of hands, feet and head)

(very Egon Schiele style)

5 minute pose aprox.

(butoh  inspired -  exploring idea of collapsing / falling -part 2)

(playing with compositional possibilities with feet + hands)

(very Egon Schiele style)

THIS IS MUSIC - Ali Farka Toure

My latest musical love finding: Ali Farka Toure.
I discovered this  great man music  while working for a painter -  it was a amazing work session, 5 hours posing and listen to Ali Farka Toure non-stop. I could listen to it non stop for days - and I am -  2x albums straight to my I-POD.

His music is a powerful, joyful, healing blend of traditional north african music with blues and arabic influences. When I listen to it, my body smiles all : the hands, the arms, the fingers, the head, the torso, the feet - and it really feels like all the body parts are awaken to a kind of healing joy - and the different arts of the body start to talk (move) naturally, fluidly with each other.

It as if, while listening to this music, the body rediscover a very ancient, natural form of speech. And even trough the language barrier ( of course I dont understand north african dialect), there is such a stronger spiritual, human message in the music, that clearly comes trough different ages, races, beliefs, because I cant imagine anyone listening to this music and not feeling good inside.

Thank you for letting me discover this man and his art.
Thank you for all good, all the beauty, all the humanity still existing in the world.

This IS FILM - Monday Tango Pratica

Mondays are always loooooong days ... leaving home 7.30 for my weekly asthanga follow up (self practice) and returning home after the Tango pratica anything between 12.00 and 1.00 am.

Its really a punch start of the week. But I must say, asthanga has made such a difference , it really energizes me for the all day - better late, them ever - I found my energy balance secret.

Finishing the day with Tango practise is always so nice, especially since the I had the pleasure to be adopted (kinda off) by the lively Germans ( Lukas, Gabriel and Jana) - theyre great (!) def. makes Tango more fun.

Just a couple of shoots of the last pratica -  featuring Miss Jana,  Mr Lukas, Grabriel, Joel (sorry I hope I got the name right).

Lukas and Joel

beautiful tango dance partners (!) (?)

he usually dances with me but this time I got swapped (lol)

Lukas teaching some basics to Joel -  he is an actor and doing a new project

 its own piece translating/fusing Shakespeare and Tango (Tango and Text)

he is a a very creative  Tango dancer

and I really like to dance together

he is fearless and very free in his approach,

so we always try new things

(really exciting) (!) 

and of course, my favorite male tango shoes in London

  Jana and Gabriel

Jana is a flower artist ( we are planning to do a project togheter) 

Gabriel does graphic design - he is really cool -  but he likes to wear tango followers distractive t-shirts (lol)

They are soooo nice :)))

Geill (!) (!) (!)