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UNIVERSITY OF CHOREOSOPHY (U.C.)
School of Humanist Art

The University of Choreosophy (UC) opened in 2017 as a new central pole of the Danza Duende community, thus joining the evolution of a project that has been bearing fruits for 13 years.

The Danza Duende community, or Danza Duende International Network, was created by Yumma Mudra in 2004. A nomad, “dancer of life”, producer, author, teacher and choreographer, Danza Duende is the result of her own artistic and humanist research through dance. Since then, we have witnessed the growing throughout the last thirteen years of an intensive laboratory, an international collective, a sort of "artistic family".

The Danza Duende Network can be somewhat considered as pioneer in what we call the Conscience of the Interdependence of all things, especially applied to the framework of art and creativity. This creativity is channeled through a communal discovery of the intrinsic human basic wisdom, to the benefit of each particular being and for society in general.

A change in the name of what was formerly known as Danza Duende International School became necessary, since through time Danza Duende has mainly come to comprehend a community of dancers, of artists, or otherwise researchers, in a path which is both solitary and solidary (the Danza Duende International Network), while Choreosophy is a term that describes specifically the tools of the school, which embrace the wisdom (sophia) of the dance (chore).

The University of Choreosophy (U.C.) proposes a flexible dynamic between
3 Cycles, which take place in three consecutive years.

CHOREOSOPHY

Choreosophy is a neologism brought to us by renowned dancer Michel Raji, who has been offering his experience to the Danza Duende Network since 2013, as a result of his own dancing path.

Born “in-dance”, as he calls it himself, M.  Raji has literally transformed his body through his own personal and alchemical research on breath as a tool to an infinite discovery of the manifold dimensions of the human being through matter and movement, which he calls Sensorium.

M. Raji has been developing extraordinary keys and extremely efficient and varied tools for living ant teaching Choreosophy. His immense body of work is of great coherence, allowing the students to gradually decode the essence of the form and of the non-form in themselves, as well as to find ways to manifest it in a powerful way.

M. Raji's acceptance to integrate Danza Duende Network as a master teacher has been infusing a new structural flair to the school. Through the use of powerful and efficient techniques in the gesture/breathing dynamics, he is able to unify and vericalise the community, thus bringing a whole new breath to the core of the network, with an unparalleled pedagogic precision.

The network proposes to reunify human beings through dance:
physically, mindfully and deepening  the “Art of Riding our Breath” .


DANZA DUENDE TRAINING 

Since its creation in 2004, the intensive training in Danza Duende has been gathering the tools for "Dancing our Lives". Under this vision, every activity of our daily lives is seen as art itself, just as our lives are seen as a dance. This "formless" dance can thus take just about any "form" and it is not limited to "dance" in a strict way.

Each student is guided to develop their different activities based on their own true nature and deep intrinsic talents. Danza Duende has thus inspired an entire artistic community of artists by promoting an authentic synergy among them and helping them face the complex challenges of our times. Today, this community includes, not only dancers, but also actors, puppeteers, tai chi practitioners, yoga practitioners, singers, musicians, computer scientists, fashion designers, cooks, consultants, managers, filmmakers, psychotherapists, poets ... who work closely together and use the Danza Duende tools in their daily art.


THE UNIVERSITY OF CHOREOSOPHY 

The University of Choreosophy offers 3 different Cycles of Expertise, each lasting two weeks:

•   The Cycle of the Dragon • It is open to students having participated in the "Dragon Retreat".
•   The Cycle of the Five •  It is open to students having participated in the "Retreat of the Five".
• The Cycle of the Mysteries • It is open to students having participated in one of the following retreats: "The Intimate Breath of  the Sophia", "The Alchemists of the Breath", or the "Sensorium Retreat".

Students may attend 1, 2 or 3 cycles. They are independent, although interdependent. 
The first cycle covers the foundations of our artistic research; the second one is linked to a deepening of this research and the third one implies a certain expertise in that same research. 

"The beginner's mind" is at the heart of the whole training.

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NB: if you wish to have more detailed information about the next Cycle, please contact: a.deketele(at)live.be