For the most part, yoga is an inward experience – a quiet, introspective and individual practice. Dance, on the other hand, tends to be outward – an exuberant expression, a shared experience and an emotive art form.
The two worlds will collide in a beautiful mash-up of ancient tradition and expressive movement this weekend in Durango with the return of the Living Yoga Project. The performance, “Trikala,” which will take place at the Smiley Auditorium, will feature two dozen local yoga practitioners, dancers and musicians exploring the multi-dimensional convergence of asanas, beats and body expression.
“There’s a freedom of movement that we’re allowed to blur in this performance,” said co-director Sheryl McGourty. “We’re taking (yoga), expanding it and sharing it with people. To me, it’s like an offering.”
The project is the result of the creative collaboration of several Durango dancers, yoga instructors, choreographers and musicians. Performers who range from stage newbies to dance veterans will be featured in pieces that fuse the two forms of movement and showcase the stunning capacity of the body to bend, balance, bow and bounce – as well as convey a range of human emotions.
The Living Yoga Project is the brainchild of McGourty, who grew up dancing before devoting much of her life to teaching and practicing yoga. McGourty, who co-owns Yogadurango, said she had been entertaining the idea of melding the two movements for years as a way to create a unique performance. But it wasn’t until she shared the idea with fellow yoga instructor/dancer Celeste Greene that she found the enthusiasm and partnership to take it forward.
The women gathered together local choreographers, held auditions for performers and staged their inaugural performance last November. It was a hit.
This time around, the show is directed by McGourty and Greene with help from choreographers Rusty Toth, Jessica Perino, Erika Wilson Golightly and Talia Bamerick and musicians Robby Overfield and Evan Suiter – who will be providing live accompaniment.
Toth, who was a professional ballet dancer for 20 years, said he always likes to bring dance into his yoga instruction. But this project had allowed him to take the practice out of its usual linear patterns and into a more expansive expression.
“This allows me to take yoga to a three-dimensional form,” he said.
Perino, who choreographed three duets for the project, said she was really interested in the physical intersection of yoga and dance. But, she added, the performance goes beyond that.
“The philosophy of yoga can be infused into the creative process of dance,” she said. The aim is to strike at a common chord that exists in everyone.
“There is a level of commonality that we share that is beyond words that is in the body,” Perino continued. “We’re trying to find the things that will resonate with our audience, that will strike at that common chord.”
McGourty said the process has been “co-creative.”
“I love the multidimensional aspect of it being yoga, movement and live music – and it being all local,” McGourty said, adding that she hopes it’s both empowering to the performers and inspiring to the audience.
kklingsporn@durangoherald.com
If you go
The Living Yoga Project’s performance of “Trikala” will take place at 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday and at 4 p.m. Sunday at the Smiley Auditorium, 1309 East Third Ave. Tickets are $20, $15 for kids.
