Karola Lüttringhaus - Choreographer, Director, Scenic Designer
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'Just briefly some brainstorming about peace, movement, and democracy ...'

6/9/2019

 
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by Karola Luettringhaus, who will teach June 2-4, 2017 from 9-12.

'Movement is intelligence. Watch a person move, walk, tackle the challenges that day to day activities pose. The tremendous complexity of seeming simplicity is overwhelming and awe inspiring!

I dare to hypothesize that hierarchy does not exist! There is no prime mover, no leader, no follower. 

There is not better or worse, no more or less important. What is really at work here is a democracy, an interplay and inter-connected-ness. 

As a movement researcher, I am fascinated by this complexity, the beauty, and by the intelligence of the human body. Our body thinks, it acts independently, has autonomy. It is worth a look, study and the desire to understand its workings. Our bodies reflect back on us what our universe looks like. Our body reflects back on us a community and a sense of interdependence that is omnipresent in all, and among all, structures.  

Our bodies reinforce the wisdom that we are alike, all of us, and that we are all kin under the skin. Compare the skeletons of humans, cats, turtles, birds, snakes, fish. The similarities are striking! Our nerve cells look the same, our building blocks are the same. We are made of the same material which begs to conclude that we all experience the world very similarly on many very fundamental levels. 


Contemplating this gives me great insight into my own body, and the meaning of life. 

Study our joints, our tissues and discover that movement is essential for life, that happiness is derived from movement, that all bodies are built to move, to constantly change and evolve, respond and play with one another. We can deduct that happiness can come from focusing on these issues, by listening, by allowing us to go back to the basics, by listening rather than imposing goals that we, or society, has imposed on us. What is truly important, what does that even mean, what is arbitrary, useful or unnecessary? What is to achieve, what is to gain?

​Answer, at least for me: Peace. A body at peace, at joyful interplay, at ease, at collaboration. A world at ease, at play, at collaboration. Studying the body gives me open mindedness, and willingness to listen, to receive, to contemplate, to allow the body to respond instead of 'defend'.

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In my class, 'BII - The Body's intrinsic intelligence' we study being in the moment, listening foremost, and then responding to real demands, to actual challenges and developing a sensitivity to our selves and our environment. We engage both the body and the  mind... come to find the two are not as separate as we typically conceptualize. The body is intelligent, the body feels, talks, responds, gives, analyses, suggests, supports. Let's listen and go with the flow!

I look forward to discovering and playing with you in my BII classes.

Karola Luttringhaus

Constant Becoming

6/9/2019

 

By Karola Luettringhaus

I need to eat every day.
I need to breathe constantly.
I need to drink every day.

Why would I think any differently about my need to move?

I need to move every day.
But what does that mean? Does it mean walking to my car, to the grocery store, sitting down, writing, making food, etc? or does it mean I need to move every joint mindfully and creatively, for the purpose of allowing this system to do what it does...

Our bodies are extremely complex collaborative systems that all serve very important purposes. The calves are considered 'the second heart', as they significantly support blood flow back to the heart, against gravity (if we remain upright), helping the veins stay healthy. The lower leg musculature and fascial tissues, as they stretch, contract, release, wind and unwind, support the heart as it tries to pump blood through the body. They support lymph flow, which does not have a 'heart' and solely relies on the mechanical pumping action of the muscles, etc. in order to stay limber we need to allow our body's joints to 'experience their lives fully', ...

I like this: 'Allow your joints to live their lives fully, unhindered, no stress, no restrictions...' If you are honest with yourself, how do you feel sitting at a desk, when do you start to feel stagnation in your circulation, stiffness in your joints? I can feel it after only 20 minutes.
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We are a constant work in progress: an ever changing organism, constantly responding to demand. no day is like any other. Once established things don't just remain the same, they change. If you stop putting demand on the body it will respond and stop production of bone and muscle.
 


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Karola Luettringhaus. Photo by Greg Jamback
The body is in a constant state of becoming, changing and adapting to our needs.

It will support your habits of sitting or standing all day, building fascial support, helping you lock into a position rather than allowing for  mobility and flexibility.

So movement is like eating, drinking and sleeping. As important, as enjoyable. as necessary.

Let's 
move.

Let's see what our body suggests as to how it would like to move....

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