#8 What If Center Is Everywhere? — BFA Amy Morrow
Where´s Your Center?
One would say that the center is in the anatomical lumbopelvic and hip region.
Or perhaps in the hara, yin space or center of power related too the center of the body.
But Amy Morrow challenges us asking us:
- WHAT IF?
- What if center relies on other engines to become as such?
- What if center is open?
What If Center Is Everywhere?
The Theorists´s logo from Amy depicts an open chackra. As an open center to come and go, give and receive.
The idea of having an open center like an open door provides a nice fluidity.
Working The Center Through Questions
Work with a lot of questions to make the body more available, to connect deeper with each other, to oneself and to the environment.
Start with questions on what the idea of center is. Ask with the enthusiasm of the eternal beginner.
- What if?
- What if there´s no center?
- What if alignment is everywhere?
- What´s the center of the universe? Is it a reference of home? A connection to a certain chakra? A center powerhouse center of home?
More than what center is, focus on how it´s connected with everything. Like an open system that adjusts like a relationship flow.
Working The Center Through Movement
What are the engines of my fist?
If you want to know what your center is try to stand in one leg for 15 minutes, or hold your arm up for a long time. You use energy all around you.
So, what if.
What would be a shortcut to connect with center?
No shortcut. Hold your arms up for 10, 15 minutes, you can´t cheat time passing, your body will show you to where the weight is shifting.
What If Center Is Moving With You?
What if my center is always moving with me, that is always in relation to where I am that is connected to you and the sun and the universe.
Center of body, organs, systems. Even like the heart that blood flows everywhere and comes back.
The Center In Different Movement Methodologies?
Powerhouse in Pilates. Lena in Gaga. Is the area between the navel and groin.
Find home to start. Explore the distance of things. And go far away from home and come back home, it keeps you coordinated.
Because life doesn´t happen on center!
What if center is everywhere?
What if I´´m never thrown off center?
Then you´ll just find how you´re connected at all times. You can be your own home!
The Efficiency In Many Centers
Is more efficient to have many small engines than one big engine or center. And regard center as where information is coming and going.
Look on a cellular level, we are made of many small engines rather than one big engine.
Coordinated.
Delicate.
Listening.
Humbling to be questioning, what if I am not the center?, what if there is no one “I”?, I am made of trillions of cells and experiences and moments: here and gone, here and gone. If I´m not fixed the its dynamic.
Ask More Questions
Can we find what center is without being lost?
What if center is everywhere?
What if?
Come to Austin with Amy!
WATCH The Sensual Sessions #8 With Amy Morrow Founder Of The Theorists:
About Amy Morrow
Founder of The Theorists, Amy Diane Morrow, is a teacher, dance-maker, consultant, and Artistic Director of AM Arts. Morrow served on staff for The American Dance Festival 2009/11. She was a Communications Specialist for The Barnabas Agency 2011-14, consulting clients such as Malcolm Gladwell, and NYC Leadership Center. As Manager for Idan Sharabi Dance, she coordinated tours across five continents from 2014-2017. AM Arts co-hosted screenings for the award-winning documentary, Mr. Gaga across The US and México including The North American Premiere at SXSW. Currently, AM Arts produces Country Music Hall of Fame, Bob Livingston, edits short films for Lionic LLC, and consults independent artists.
Morrow is a veteran teacher of the revolutionary movement language, Gaga. Trained and Certified by Ohad Naharin, Morrow travels internationally offering Gaga & Toolbox workshops. She taught Ballet, Improvisation, and Gaga at the University of Texas and consulted DISD employees on improvisational tools and a survey of Indian Dance. Teaching invitations include Suzanne Dellal Center for Dance, Arts Umbrella, Addo Platform, American College Dance Festival Association, American Dance Festival, The Seldoms, Foramen Ballet, Compañia Nacional de Danza, ConArte Festival, Escuela Nacional de Danza, The Liz Lerman Dance Exchange, New Dialect, Alabama Dance Festival, National Dance Institute, and Universities including Chapman, Vassar, SMU, TCU, TWU, UC Fullerton, UMCP, UH, UNM, UC Boulder & Emory among others.
Since 2013, Morrow produced 70+ professional TBX [ toolbox ] residencies with internationally lauded artists. Presenting partners include The University of Texas, Texas Performing Arts Center, and Proyecto Intrigosa in México. Movement research includes sessions in Gaga, CounterTechnique®, Repertoire with Black Grace (New Zealand), Multi-media Labs with Jason Akira Somma, & Performance Development with Deborah Hay.
In 2015, Morrow became the Artistic Director of The Theorists, a nexus for multi-disciplinary international artists to train, collaborate, perform and ask “What if?” Collaborators come from diverse backgrounds from physics to psychology, geology, and technology, ages 14-94 with movers of mixed abilities. They hail from México, Guatemala, Brazil, Columbia, Richmond, Korea, NYC, India, The Middle East, and deep in the heart of Texas. Their collaborations have been shared extensively across the Southwest, México, and from New York to Delhi. They performed in interactive installations for Meow Wolf’s Austin debut during SXSW 2018 and co-hosted interactive performances for Live Action Set and The Deep Dive at the Historic Wooldridge Square. The annual Theorist Fest premieres 50+ award-winning and emerging music and dance artists from five counries. 2018 featured Ido Tadmor (Israeli Ballet), Ballet Hartford, tap dancer Matthew Shields, Bharatanatyam Austin Dance Hall of Fame Anu Naimpally, and Bob Livingston. Morrow attended International Exposure 2018 in TLV as a curator for The Theorists’ 2019/20 Season.
In 2018, Morrow successfully launched Theorist Practicum, an artistic exchange program for artistic ambassadors from Texas, México, Canada, and Israel to train, collaborate, perform, and tour cross-boarders. The 2018/19 Season features 12 workshops, 15 master classes, 9 performances, and 4 festivals in Austin, Tel Aviv, CDMX, Cuernavaca, Monterrey, Chihuahua, Vera Cruz, Puebla, Hermosillo, Dallas, San Antonio, Santa Fe, Albuquerque, Seattle, Brownsville and Vancouver, Canada. Two of the four coveted recipients of the Creadores Escenicos Grant in México selected Theorist Practicum for their year-round professional development and will present their culminating solos at Theorist Fest 2019.
Commissions for The Theorists include The Downtown Austin Alliance, Detroit Dance City Festival Gala, AROVA Ballet, Wanderlust Dance Project, Ballet Dallas, and Avant Chamber Ballet in collaboration with the Dallas Symphony. Nancy Wozny selected “The Lady of” portrait as one of Arts & Culture’s standouts for the 2015 season, “a sassy mix of precision & abandon, something we rarely see on contemporary dance stages.” Favorable Press is covered by Dallas Morning News, FW Star Telegram, Theater Jones, Texas Arts & Culture, The Austin American Statesman, KUT, and The Chronicle among others.
Morrow was awarded the 2017 Austin Critic’s Table Award for Best Dancer as well as the Dance Council of North Texas Artful Dance, Austin Emerging Arts Leadership Award, Community Initiatives, CORE, & Capacity Building funding from the Austin Cultural Arts Division to produce programing for collaborators of diverse backgrounds, abilities, & ages. Graduating with a B.F.A. Dance Honors, Morrow’s senior thesis contextualized multi-disciplinary collaborations cross-culturally under the mentorship of Jesse Zaritt. Morrow received the Nikolais/Louis Legacy Workshop work/study under Joan Woodbury, Murray Louis & Phyllis Lamhut.
Contact Amy at: www.thetheorists.org
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