‘breakdancing for non-breakdancers’ masterclass with Elia Mrak

11th October – 4.30pm/7.30pm – Teatro Kismet OperA
(professional dancers and all levels/abilities)

This is a breakdancing class for non-breakdancers.  We will use contemporary techniques and approaches to access the spirit, spontaneity, and physicality of breaking.
We will learn skills, a process, and have fun.
There is no greater range of physical technique than that of the pathway from horizontal to vertical, and back to horizontal again. Mining the techqniues of Qigong,  Bboying and Flying Low, through games, exercises and phrases, we will train this pathway. Transforming the force of gravity around us to run, fall, jump, suspend,  and pause, we will learn how to play in the extremes. Through this practice, we will learn how to use our feet to ground us and our hands to guide us. We will hone our senses, to hear music more acutely, observe the space more fully, and invite the touch of others more tactility. This is an integral technique that blends the finite powers of the body with the infinite powers of the imagination. We will risk, we will sweat, we will perform. We will train. We will have danced.

‘Never confuse movement with action.’ -Ernest Hemingway

Elia Mrak

Elia Mrak is a storyteller.  He performs, directs, and teaches.  His practice fuses Qigong, Bboying, Flying Low, and dramaturgy of the theater.
He has performed, taught, and directed throughout the last decade of traveling and living in Europe, Central / South America, and the USA.
He includes in his list of masters: David Zambrano (BELGIUM), Park Young-Cool (KOREA) and FeverOne (USA).
In 2014, he was awarded the SCUBA grant to tour through the USA with Erica Badgeley and present their collaborated solo, “erica”.
In 2014, he was also awarded the Iberescena Fellowship in partnership with Viko Kaizen (MEXICO) and Martin Piliponsky (ARGENTINA)  to organize a traveling project in which they created a new piece in Seattle, and a world premier in Mexico City.
In 2015, he has been working in México, Seattle and New York.