𝐐𝐈 𝐅𝐋𝐎𝐖 𝐓𝐀𝐈𝐉𝐈 + 𝐂𝐈: 𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐌 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐌𝐋𝐄𝐒𝐒 with Daniel Rojasanta

𝐐𝐈 𝐅𝐋𝐎𝐖 𝐓𝐀𝐈𝐉𝐈 + 𝐂𝐈: 𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐌 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐌𝐋𝐄𝐒𝐒 Workshop & Laboratory with 𝐃𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐞𝐥 𝐑𝐨𝐣𝐚𝐬𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐚 11,12,13 April 2024 Koh Phangan 𝐐𝐈 𝐅𝐋𝐎𝐖 𝐓𝐀𝐈𝐉𝐈 + 𝐂𝐈: 𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐌 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐌𝐋𝐄𝐒𝐒 is an Intensive Movement Workshop and Laboratory which started to take form in Hangzhou, China, where I began to experiment and collide my personal practice of Taijiquan (Taichi), with my teachings on Contact Improvisation. Later on, a formal version of this Workshop toured in Tokyo, Japan, with the name TAIJI + CI: EXPLORING QI. And now, an extended 3 days version of this Workshop would take place in Koh Phangan, Thailand, now opening space also for research in the form of a Movement Laboratory. In this intensive, I share principles Im researching on my Taijiquan practice, exploring ways to apply them to Improvisational Dance and Contact Improvisation, finding stability and maintaining a careful listening of our inner rhythms in order to expand the strength, the delicacy and the precision of the self. We practice to activate a sharp keen attention from our center and from it, spread power and softness all over the rest of our body, to harness the opportunities that the forces involved in a certain given situation offer in order to enjoy its momentum and flow without losing ground. “Taiji is an internal martial art with an ancient history influenced by traditional Chinese philosophy, particularly Taoism, and Taiji cosmology. Taiji’s path is one of developing naturalness by relaxing, attending inward, and slowing mind, body, and breath. This allows the practitioner to become less tense, to drop conditioned habits, to let go of thoughts, to allow Qi to flow smoothly (…) It is thus a kind of moving meditation that allows us to let go of the self and experience no-mind (無⼼) and natural spontaneity (⾃然). Taiji also adopts the Taoist ideals of softness overcoming hardness, of effortless action (⽆为), yielding into its martial art technique while also retaining Taoist ideas of spiritual self-cultivation.” - 𝐷𝑜𝑢𝑔𝑙𝑎𝑠 𝑊𝑖𝑙𝑒 (2007) "𝑇𝑎𝑖𝑗𝑖𝑞𝑢𝑎𝑛 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝐷𝑎𝑜𝑖𝑠𝑚: 𝐹𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑅𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑔𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑡𝑜 𝑀𝑎𝑟𝑡𝑖𝑎𝑙 𝐴𝑟𝑡 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑀𝑎𝑟𝑡𝑖𝑎𝑙 𝐴𝑟𝑡 𝑡𝑜 𝑅𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑔𝑖𝑜𝑛". 𝐽𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑛𝑎𝑙 𝑜𝑓 𝐴𝑠𝑖𝑎𝑛 𝑀𝑎𝑟𝑡𝑖𝑎𝑙 𝐴𝑟𝑡𝑠. 𝑉𝑜𝑙. 16 If there is up, there is down, If there is front, there is back; If there is left, there is right. If one wants to go up, there is also simultaneously intent downward. And If you lift something, there should also be pressing down. - 𝑇𝑎𝑖𝑗𝑖𝑞𝑢𝑎𝑛 𝐶𝑙𝑎𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑐𝑠 𝐴𝑡𝑡𝑟𝑖𝑏𝑢𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑍ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑔 𝑆𝑎𝑛𝐹𝑒𝑛𝑔 太極拳經 張三丰 The Workshop and Laboratory mainly directs its attention to three areas of research: 𝐏𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐢𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐓𝐚𝐢𝐣𝐢𝐪𝐮𝐚𝐧: The Movement fundamentals that allows the form to come to life. The basic qualities that can be experienced initially in stillness, and act as the sustenance for the emergence of the movement. 𝐓𝐚𝐢𝐣𝐢𝐪𝐮𝐚𝐧 𝐌𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬: The practice of specific Taijiquan moves from the Wu Style, consisting on very specific transitions, that required a keen attention on the details, and a special state of bodymind awareness in order to find physical precision, smooth rhythm and controlled coordination. 𝐓𝐚𝐢𝐣𝐢𝐪𝐮𝐚𝐧 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐈𝐦𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐯𝐢𝐬𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧: Besides practicing specific forms and embodied principles, the Workshop and Laboratory opens space also to play with movement in a Dance Improvisation setting, applying the quality of consciousness of Taijiquan, and allowing it to merge and find a free manifestation in scenarios where we propose a solo or interact with others, finding ways to respond to the environment, allowing the form and the formless to meet. This Workshop and Laboratory is proposed as a contained experiment to clash two different disciplines with quite different qualities, from the East to the West, and research movement through this meeting. In those hours dedicated to the Movement Laboratory, participants can bring their own questions or interests about the shared content and material, and explore them in solo or in groups, giving space for curiosity and creativity to lead us, to later share our findings and intuitions with the collective. 𝐏𝐞𝐫𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐏𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐒𝐩𝐚𝐜𝐞: An additional space to witness the movement that merge from this research, will be open as part of the Laboratory, to contemplate movement in its Performative quality. 𝐓𝐀𝐈𝐉𝐈 + 𝐂𝐈 𝐐𝐈 & 𝐈𝐌𝐏𝐑𝐎𝐕: 𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐌 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐌𝐋𝐄𝐒𝐒 𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐩 & 𝐋𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲 ■ When? April 11 - 12 - 13 10:00 - 13:00 ■ Where? The Source, Koh Phangan Thailand ■ How much? - Supportive Price: 3900 Baht / 100 Euro (In case your financial situation is comfortable and you wish to support the event and the facilitator to keep developing this Movement research) - Regular Price: 3000 Baht / 80 Euro - Low Income Price, Early Bird before April 7th and Special price for participants of the past “Spine Flow” Workshop: 2500 Baht / 65 Euro *Registration required **Reach out if you have financial limitations but you really want to join ■ Registration: @danielrojasanta (Facebook & Instagram) +66 98 075 1796 (WhatsApp) ■ WHO IS FACILITATING? 𝐃𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐞𝐥 𝐑𝐨𝐣𝐚𝐬𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐚 Multidisciplinary Performer Artist born in Latin America. Studied Plastic Arts & Contemporary Art at the Colombia National University, got a Master degree on Traditional Chinese Painting at the China Art Academy, with a thesis about Painting & Performance, and learned Physical Theater in South Korea with the Theater Troupe Georipae. For more than a decade, he has been living and developing his Art work in Asia, specially in China, integrating his Western experiences on Contemporary Art, Capoeira, Clown, Improvisation & Physical Theater with Eastern Arts and Culture: Meditation, Zen, Yoga, Tea Ceremony, Calligraphy, Butoh and Taijiquan (Tai Chi). After co-creating the first CI community in Hangzhou, China, seven years ago, he toured extensively in China, opening workshops of Somatics & Contact Improvisation, and performing his own Dance pieces co-created in collaboration with Contact HZ, as well as Dance & Theater pieces produced by The ASK in Shanghai, created by the Theater Troupe Teatre Animal from Spain and the Dance Company Ingrid Olterman Dans from Sweden. He had performed at the India Art Fair in New Delhi, the Myriang Village Theater in South Korea, the National Grand Theater in Beijing and the Power Station of Art at the Shanghai Art Biennial; was part of ECITE, the European Contact Improvisation Teachers Exchange in Italy and Belgium, and was Teacher & Performer at TOUCH, the China Contact Improvisation Art Festival; he has developed his Performing practice together with explorations on Theater, Music and Literature, in Art Events and International Festivals in India, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Georgia, China, Japan, South Korea, Colombia, United States and Thailand.