#74 – Keen on Yoga Podcast with Edward Clark

Edward Clark is the creator of Tripsichore, the London-based yoga
performance group that has delighted audiences around the world.
The performance company was created to explore the possibilities
of a form of theater that would celebrate yoga philosophy and
extraordinary physical prowess. Edward began studying yoga in
1978. Notable among his teachers are Narayani and Giris
Rabinovitch, but he also admires Ashtanga vinyasa, Sivananda,
Iyengar, and viniyoga practices. The Tripsichore group has
practiced daily for the past 20 years. Constantly devising and
refining its techniques for asana, pranayama, pratayahara,
dharana, and dhyana. Edward fuses his keen artistic vision with a
deep understanding of the essential pursuit of yoga practice. His
classes are entertaining, demanding, and exhilarating.
Vinyasa Applied to Yoga Philosophy

Edward says, “The concept of vinyasa as applied to yoga
philosophy could either be considered very ancient or radically
new. In either case, vinyasa seems to be one of the great
contributions to yoga of this particular generation of yogis.
VINYASA in our definition, is the evenly metered flow of
movement, breath and thought. This resulting in a smooth,
uninflected state of being. The vinyasa techniques are pursued to
bring about clarity and stability to one’s thoughts and actions.
Tripsichore endeavours to do this in class and onstage. Most yoga
discipline has worked on refining one’s self in the direction of
greater stillness – an absence of movement in the mind and body.
Superficially, vinyasa would seem to contradict this. However,
the mental focus and physical technique needed to bring about
continuous fluid movement can also bring one to a “seat” of great
stability and clarity. The stability is not only in the posture.
It is in addition in the transition between postures – to the
point where there is no distinction between movement and
stillness.
Yoga Choreography

Tripsichore began in 1979 as a company devoted to creating full
length dance narratives.  They explored a variety of
stylistic forms including punk ballet, conventional modern dance
and strict neo-classical technique.  They used masks,
performed with rock bands and did pop videos.  While yoga
was always a part of their training, it wasn’t until 1992 that
they realised the expressive potential and choreographic
viability of yoga postures.  Once they began to devise works
using yoga asanas, their extraordinary artistic logic became
evident.  Surprisingly, it would seem that there has been no
orthodox tradition for using yoga technique to create dances in
the 5000 year history of the discipline.  The postures are
the ideal vehicle to express the themes of harmony, balance,
spirituality, ecstasy, bliss and mysticism because they are
exactly about these subjects in and of themselves. 


See more about Edward and Tripsichore on the website here.