I asked Sonia (co facilitator, Sonia Moslero Mellado) to share some thoughts about the movement sessions she'll be guiding us through during the workshop

and I felt so inspired by reading the words she sent me that I wanted to share them.

This session she describes is  called Earth and Air (Tierra y Aire in Spanish) and
involves a series of movements
inspired by music that is in turn
inspired by the
complex and nuanced history
of the Alpujarras.

TIERRA Y AIRE by Sonia Moslero Mellado

In a culture governed by the masculine, we need to restore the feminine principle to balance our energy. For a long time, the bias in our culture has been towards the masculine, towards the need to know, to understand.

A universe that is only male is sterile;  the same with a universe that is only female.
We want to restore the balance between masculine and feminine in order to create.

Sensations connect us to the present.

Our bodies are a pathway to the present through our senses. Sensations like the breeze that brushes, the smells from the kitchen, the sun that warms us, or that arm that causes us to wince when we raise it, the hip that feels like cement...

Every cell in the body has sensations. If we put a cell on a plate and add a little acid, it will contract

The reasons for the feelings we feel could be varied - connected to something that is not happening, or to something that we carry, or something that is in our mind.

Whatever the case, they exist in the present and we can make use of them to be more in touch, more present in the present. 

The feminine is inherent in the present.

Through flamenco Alpurraneo, we will work on our sensations, on expressing from within, on connecting with the wisdom of the body.

We are not going into a "dance" class; rather we are going on a path towards a more complete and balanced being, sincere, simpler, more intuitive; the first objective is to be present.

To be present is to give space within us us to the feminine principle, so that we can create, rather than repeat.

Our tools emerge from a mestizaje, a mix of traditions.

First we use flamenco as a tribal dance, evoking its origins, without shoes, anchoring ourselves on the land. We seek communion with our roots by opening ourselves to sensations. We look for beauty without beauty, primal, animal, organic.

Through arm and chest exercises, we seek to release the heart chakra, breathe with awareness and work with the air element.

We will feel our chest opening to life, the limitations of our movement, the weight of our arms moving like windmills, our hands caressing the wind, our wrists that rotate, creating breezes.

Through middle eastern dance, we will work our hips and the earth chakra. We are going to activate our center to transform our old worn out energies into a new energy that fills our bellies and our hips with sensations and life.

We dance and with our movements, we appreciate the fullness of the cosmos and we feel part of it.

Our movements connect us to the cycle of life, and with our bare feet, we take hold of the earth and root our energy to that of the planet while raising our arms to the sky and expanding as we breathe enjoying the air and the feeling of living

And why Alpujárride

The Alpujarras constitute an environment with a special light. Its peculiar environment has been captured by numerous travelers and taken advantage of by different spiritual currents that have established centers in it.

The excellent quality of the air, the cadence of the water of the acequias, its location between the Mediterranean Sea and the Sierra Nevada make the place an environment where nature gives us its strength and its intense feminine energy. Filled with this energy, we have imprinted our dance of presence, slowness and conscience.

A calm and rhythmic rhythm that invites us to feel, to breathe deeply, calmly, bathing with sensations.

Again a combination, a mix, a melding of music of techniques, all to be everything, all to be nothing.
 
We learn these technique for the purpose of enjoying them.

We will not win prizes, we do not want to be professionals, we do not want to succeed, or receive a diploma at the end of the day.

We will empty ourselves of pretensions and play with the movement.

We want to feel free and barefoot,

We want to feel alive and joyful.

WE WANT TO FEEL, AND CREATE.