Republic of Movement

Ido Portal mentorship-led movement studio. Based in Miami.

Adventures

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Ido Portal Movement Camp Trip 2019: Thoughts and Photos

Still in the clouds from Movement Camp! What an adventure the whole trip was – for bringing along a one year old homo sapien, for the incredible experience of the camp itself, and for the two day layover in Hong Kong. Some thoughts that came up during the trip… (photos below)

  • We ask too much of Free Will – that it grant omnipotence. “Free” doesn’t mean infinite in all directions. It means that there’s a “will” that is unconstrained. That means the discursive mind, the thing you think of as yourself, is NOT in control. You are NOT the discursive mind, so why should that aspect of yourself be what is free, in the conceptualization of Free will? Free will is not that I can pick from infinite choices – free will is what happens when the discursive mind steps aside and something nebulous but distinct (the djinn) manifests. Completely counter-intuitive, that free will means you are not in control. But not so counter-intuitive, when you realize that control is order, and order is… everything free will is not. Chaos neither is free will. It’s in the interplay between two polar opposites that something logically impossible (free will) arises.
  • The improviser is a person who trusts their djinn, has developed a relationship to it. If you insist on being in control, you will not be improvising.
  • Dance is a collection of cousins, descending from a thing which was not divided, which was experienced as the whole, but then fractured with complexity and evolution – we start with dance, but now we have two main descendants – “dance-as-art” and “dance-as-celebration”. This is a near perfect analogue to the evolution of species… And just as species are imaginary categories, just as EACH PERSON IS A SPECIES. We only realized it when the intermixing overwhelmed the categories (it’s always been clear to diaspora populations that cultures and ethnicities cannot be easily demarcated…)
  • When I go to party on the weekend, I start dancing by referring to specific systems and movement vocabularies, in which I am in control and shifting between. But that simply sets the conditions… soon after, something else takes over, and it feels like that’s where my real creativity is. Not when I’m working inside systems, but when I let myself be possessed – the djinn takes over. I can’t voluntarily do it – I can only set the invitation. And in the long term, practically I can only gradually improve my recognition of the conditions in which it occurs, and recreate them.
  • Just like you don’t directly create anything, but rather something involuntary but still distinctly you, does the work… Insights don’t come when engaged in hard thinking; they come when you’re 1/2 asleep, or showering, after the fact of hard thinking. Even when you think your hard thinking directly yielded some fruit, what happened was that you had a short mental lapse and during that brief rest, your djinn-mind found an its answer.
  • There’s this evolution of both the idea of dance, and the functions it performs, from a point where it is at its most simplest, not existing for any other purpose. But over time, it undergoes increases in complexity, transforming it – from the sacred to the religious to the secular, through a role of being subservient to pantomime, then elevated to existing for its own sake, and now presently undergoing what I suppose we consider post modern and beyond. But it’s not a full circle thing – it’s evolution – dance now fulfills functions it could not in its infancy. When I look at movement, it seems that there’s a similar trajectory, where movement just was, and eventually was reduced and broken up, and then subjected to subservience of disciplines, and now through Ido’s work, can evolve similarly.
  • Just as other arts progressed from concrete to abstract representations, dancing seems to be moving from lions to… sylphs and fauns… to concepts like “dissonance” as a concept (which is the word Shai used to describe the underlying theme in some of the work she was sharing). I think this can be reconciled with Noverre’s demand that dance imitate nature – who said nature is trees and birds, or 1 specific thing at all? It seems more likely that nature is things as they happen, however that may be. As our own nature evolves, as we become more complex, we move from beings that dealt with the concrete literal world, to a more interpretive world, to one where concepts like dissonance become central themes of our lives.
  • Harbors are a place of peace for me…
  • I love footbridges…
  • Dim Sum! Pre…
  • Dim Sum! Post…
  • I love skylines…
  • Okuda in HK!
  • At the police married quarters
  • Didn’t forget to bring back some tea.
  • Coffee culture in HK is another level
  • “Your kung’fu is strong”
  • People watching
  • The Star Ferry
  • Panoramic view from the IFC

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10 Years With Ido Portal

It will soon be 10 years (October) since we fortuitously discovered Ido Portal‘s work through his “Self-Dominance” video.  At the time, he had a blog from which he began to create an incredible resource (even in today’s over-saturated world, one of the best online resources you can turn to is simply an old blog).

We were immediately obsessed. When he began to use the blog to share carefully designed and multi-tiered workouts, we participated religiously. We joined his forum in which we would discuss progress and concepts related to movement (I’ll always prefer a good forum to social media…).

Around this time, Ido came to the U.S., so I (Sean) traveled to Boston to take a few classes. I still laugh in my head that people I knew wouldn’t walk down the street to take this workshop… what gold we were exposed to then, one decade ago, that goes unrivaled by any handbalance workshop you go to anywhere else today.

In Boston, I got a chance to talk more with Ido, discover he loves dirty jokes (“feels good, looks bad”…), and to realize I needed to go much further. So I continued with coaching, and began attending his bigger seminars and events – Upper Body Strength, a week-long Movement Camp in Berlin…

And the snowball continued. For our wedding honeymoon, we melted down all our gifts and used them to travel to Singapore for another Movement Camp. We hosted the first Movement-X in the United States here in Miami.

Eventually, the reality of the situation had to be confronted – we’re clearly not going away, so we might as well get as cozy as possible. We joined Ido’s mentorship program.

Now I get a chance to travel to assist in workshops, we’re meeting with Ido throughout the year, he’s guided us in the opening of our space, and he provides critical feedback for our classes. He’s sharing a vision with us; we’re humbled to work alongside the vanguard.

Every step of the way, he reveals a little more of the big picture – there’s always a slight discomfort, some growing pains, and as we move past them, we see the logical progression. There’s an incredible element of design in Ido’s work, but also in his philosophy – nothing is patched together, there are no seams. Intense, prolonged, and persistent thought was clearly invested in the evolution of a philosophy that continues to grow, swallowing everything in its path.

We don’t trust people easily, especially when it comes to absorbing massive philosophies – but when you meet somebody like Ido who has a track record of 100% success rate guiding you in the right direction… you start to acquire a sense of trust. It might sound monomaniacal, one-sided – we don’t go to other workshops, we don’t spread our attention thin, we don’t take on side projects, we’re not interested in other approaches. Because working inside of this one produced all the results – and all the results in our students as well. Yes, we’re obsessed – for the past decade, and for many more.

Ido Portal Mentorship

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Ido Portal Mentorship – Off to Berlin

Ido Portal Mentorship

We have the unique opportunity to be mentorship students of Ido Portal (inside of the Ido Portal mentorship program). We travel throughout the year to meet, and in a few days, we’ll be a week with our teacher, osmosing furiously.

Ido has been the vehicle for the paradigm shift that has taken root inside of us and that we aspire to reverberate into our own community. We have seen the message spread into our students and subsequently proliferate even further. There’s no greater pleasure than in being a carrier for this virus. To be a catalyst or facilitator in someone’s personal development is always a special experience, but the joy is doubled when it’s around something so profound as a movement practice.

From this mentorship, we’ve received firsthand instruction not only on how to practice, but also how to share. This practice is something we take seriously and we want to share it in the best way possible. Anybody who knows us well knows that we devote countless hours into thinking about our classes, projects, themes, that we are persistently evaluating student progress, individualizing and recalibrating ruthlessly. So when we are presented with a master pedagogue, we absorb everything possible – both the implicit and explicit guidance regarding the infinite parameters of the learning experience.

It’s a true blessing to have been along this journey with Ido for so long. For nearly a full decade now we’ve been following Ido’s work obsessively. And for the last several years, we’ve been following from within the Ido Portal mentorship program – joining a select few other schools and teachers around the world who share the same obsession. The program has fundamentally driven why, how, and what we teach.

Wondering what our classes actually look like? Take a look at our schedule and join us.

Ido Portal Mentorship

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Ido Portal Locomotion New York – May 19/20

Friday (5/18)

Went through my morning process- starting with a cold shower. Hard to get a good cold shower in Miami. (Lucky for me, I’m off to Rochester…) Then, some stillness/sitting practice. Been following Dudi’s instructions every morning, and the stillness becomes more and more accessible…

Aaand, off to the airport. Sage came along for the ride; when it was time to get out, it was weird leaving her 🙁

In line for the flight, a stranger began talking to me. It was an opportunity to practice not being so shy. Anyways, I love people, but it’s sometimes awkward for me to talk about random things.

In flight, a good time to experiment with binaural beats. It’s been on my mind lately. For a long time I disregarded B.B. as bullshit, but been curious. Using some sleep-oriented B.B., I’ve had some singular sleep experiences (the hypnagogia getting out of hand, and aural hallucinations as well…).

Todd/Carcara, the event host (a capoeirista who runs a facility and some events as well), picked me up from the airport and we went to his place. Meghan (Soneca) showed up (she was also hosting; she came from Pennsylvania to participate). Got into a few sets of handbalance, just alternating between Todd and I. A bit of other internal work.

When Johnny arrived, we went to the famous Wegman’s – a huge grocery store. Finally got a chance to try a recipe I’ve been curious about: dandelion greens. Well, I guess that’s not really a recipe, it’s more of an ingredient, but whatever.

Meghan and Todd exposed me to Art of War, a dice game. I won! My competitive side slithered out and soon I was making evil eyes and wishing ill fortune upon my enemies.

Saturday

Morning cold shower – got more than I bargained for! That shit was COOOOLD. But I stuck with it. By the end, felt like knives in my skin, but it does the job.

Since Johnny’s around… of course I’m going to make plantain pancakes (plancakes!), with a side of spicy sausage.

Event was at the same spot as last year, a Crossfit box. Many familiar faces, and… so many Canadians!

Spirits were high throughout. While assisting, I always start to feel “depmoved“, so I’m grateful every time Johnny asks me to demo. As he put it, after one demo that culminated in some applause, it’s not a performance, just an opportunity to sneak in some workout!

Lunch break; forewent the nap, had coffee and read. Sat down with Nick for a bit, then, back for the second session of the day. This was when participants began to feel it the most.

For dinner, I lost 2 games of Art of War 🙁 I think it actually had endocrinological effects on me).

Sunday

Another round of pancakes alongside some ground bison. Johnny exposed me to that famous chaga-coffee. I feel so hip now! But we still had real coffee afterwards. It’s a fun idea, but… I enjoy the coffee ritual.

During lunch break, played with some material that we’re sharing over the weekend. It’s always good for me to revisit the basics, from a basic perspective. After lunch, hanging out with Johnny and some coffee, talking about this and that.

Afterwards, the routine of photos and such. Always a good moment to have 1 on 1 time with participants, a human connection, even if it’s short.

Afterwards, BBQ ribs at Sticky Lips! What a place… some participants met us there, and we ate well.

Back home now… maybe tomorrow we get some sun!

Monday

We got some sun!

Johnny took me through a few partnered tasks – I failed miserably, but I’ll be chewing strongly on them with Aylin.

Before the airport, we got a coffee. Well, Johnny got two. His obsession is… intense.

Then, a park to practice. And Rochester has some NICE parks. We found a hill, and decided to work with some acrobatics. The idea of rolling down the hill escalated into some crazy ideas.

There’s something liberating and gratifying in that moment when you’re presented with some new environment or structure, and you can approach it in a way that you will grow… Liberated, because suddenly the world feels open to you. And gratifying, because you can pull something from anywhere. I went to this hill-side with a one-dimensional concept, and walked away with a refined 3 dimensional perspective.

In flight, I watched Star Wars. I didn’t grow up on S.W., so I don’t know much about it. But I was quickly, like others, interested in real-life analogues of this idea of a “force”. Except, I don’t think it’s chi, prana, energy, etc…

It’s the brain’s mapping, the way our minds create representations of the world. Our minds, through exposure, can co-opt ANYTHING. It allows us to feel what others do, their bodies, objects, space, floor…

Holding a stick extends your maps beyond your body, and so does relating to other humans, so does anticipating the floor, etc… this is a super-power available to us. These representations aren’t illusions, or irrelevant/unimportant. They shape what we can do, define how we feel. To be a person who feels through a physical stick held in the hand, is to have a different experience while holding a stick, and also to be able to produce a wider array of outcomes and consequences.