Virgil Spier
Free Play
Be a fool in the land of the stranger
Virgil Spier, a former Olympic athlete with over 30 years of track and field experience, is one of the co-founder of Movement Based Athletics. Despite excelling in high-intensity activities, he encountered a recurring challenge – he couldn't perform everyday tasks without discomfort. How could someone with exceptional physical abilities struggle with simple activities like walking or sitting comfortably?
Driven by this puzzle, Virgil embarked on a quest for knowledge, seeking insights from top trainers, therapists, and movement coaches worldwide. His journey led him to discover the Movement Approach, which profoundly impacted him and inspired him to dedicate his life to it. Now, he strives to redefine Movement, aiming to help individuals move with Grace, Joy and Competence while prioritizing long-term well-being.
Virgil's research focuses on various aspects of movement, including how to move better, physical conditioning, longevity, communicative partnering, and play fighting. Through his work, he aims to empower people to move with grace, joy, and proficiency, all while emphasizing the importance of sustainability and longevity in their physical pursuits.
Virgil's Movement practice is all about unlocking options, embracing agency, and nurturing autonomy without sacrificing long-term results. As time passed, play and improvisation took center stage, adding a whole new dimension. Imagine ditching traditional exercises in favor of engaging tasks and games that not only benefit your body but also spark joy. And what if these activities could serve as powerful metaphors for navigating life's challenges?
Through various iterations, Virgil's practice has evolved from physical conditioning to enhancing movement quality and uncovering our true selves. It's about fostering connections, encouraging interaction, and embracing a playful spirit – ultimately, it's a journey towards becoming a more fulfilled and well-rounded individual in every aspect of life.
Tina Afiyan Breiova
Axis Of Action
Sincere Failure is an integral part of the learning process
Tina is a movement director and teacher of Armenian descent based in the UK. She is a graduate of P.A.R.T.S., and over a varied multi-disciplinary career, has collaborated artistically with the likes of Marina Abramović, Alexander Vantournhout, Roberto Olivan, Thomas Ryckewaert, Milan Tomášik, Cie. Willi Dorner and Cirk La Putyka. As an independent choreographer, she has created award-winning work for dance and circus; her most recent duet, Ruina, is currently on tour. For film, Tina has worked with artists including Paul Thomas Anderson, Thom Yorke, Damien Jalet, Laurat Delforge, Simon Riechel, and Ran Li and with the movement departments of Warner Brothers Pictures & Universal Pictures. Tina is a Unit Leader at an MA Dance: Performance program in London Contemporary Dance School (The Place) and has shared her pedagogy at renowned institutions across the globe.
The workshop will examine fundamental movement principles through embodied daily practice and situational games designed to reveal our physical 'blind spots' and familiarize us with the phenomenon of sincere failure and its integral role in the learning process.
We will examine the use of image and imagination in texturing physical work and the utility of visualization in artistic/athletic performance. Overall, we will aim to enrich the quality of our conversation with ourselves and observe how it shapes the relationships and interactions that we cultivate as humans.
Jakub Zeman
Fighting Monkey
Search for creative solutions to help your body self-organize
Jakub is a practitioner and educator from the Czech Republic with a background in martial arts, capoeira, dance and information technology. Since 2015 he has been studying closely with Linda Kapetanea and Jozef Frucek within the Fighting Monkey. Movement and dance as the essential means of human communication, expression and development form the core of his research and teaching. As a FM teacher he is looking how to create a meaningful practice and practical philosophy that will be supporting us in our ever changing life circumstances.
Jakub is interested in development of a Movement Practice (or rather Practice) as an ongoing dialogue of a living human being and the ever changing environment. Such practice should support life, offer tools to harness feedback about our organism and facilitate positive changes, and cultivate the ability to keep learning. Jakub is researching and facilitating tools to test and study ourselves within playful movement situations, cognitive games, coordinative challenges, reflective and somatic practices. Such varied stimulation that encourages creative solutions seeking can help our body to self-organize better and move through the world with ease. Movement is our means to communicate with our surroundings and a beneficial practice helps to leverage that while supporting our training partners, identifying potential problems, changing our behavior and creating overall better learning environments.
Joseph Bartz
Lebenspraxis
Continue
Joseph was born in Rostock, Germany, where he attended a Waldorf School, which taught him the basics of various handcrafts. While still in school, he started training in martial arts and parkour and became increasingly interested in philosophy and diversifying his practice.
After graduation, he went directly into practicing full-time—movement, Wilderness Skills, Language, etc.
He started to teach when he was 18 years old.
After years of training with different teachers, reading, and traveling, he concluded that he wanted to share not a particular practice but "the practice itself". He now started to call his work "Lebenspraxis "(life practice) and focused all his attention on developing this approach.
Joseph has holistically explored the field of movement, starting with martial arts and Parkour as a Teenager and, from there, exploring a vastness of concepts and disciplines like Dance, Climbing, Natural Movement, Somatic Work, Weight Lifting, Acrobatics, Tai Chi, BJJ, Partner Work, etc.
Joseph is teaching movement as a general idea and has added many concepts to the field, like his Map of the Physical Practice or his Soft Range of Motion Practice.
Erwin Maaswinkel
Play is not optional. Neither is improvisation
Erwin Maaswinkel has a Ph.D. in Human Movement Science and co-founded Movement Based Athletics (MBA). With a passion for movement and a broad range of interests, Erwin has studied with numerous teachers, trainers, and coaches in fields such as dance, martial arts, athletics, and more. His mission is to educate people on the importance of quality movement for a quality life and equip them with the knowledge and tools they need. He believes in teaching individuals how to fish, rather than just giving them a fish, for lifelong benefits. Erwin has been a practitioner and explorer of various sports, including extreme endurance events, dancing, rock climbing, martial arts, and more.
Being able to move well plays a crucial role in everything you do throughout your life. Not just in terms of sports… pretty much anything you do, any participation in society and the vast majority of activities depend on your ability to move.
Practicing movement in all its forms is one of the best schools of life. It can teach you emotional regulation, how to cooperate with other people, how to overcome fear, how to show vulnerability, how to learn, how to trust, how to express yourself… It can teach you perseverance, setting and recognizing boundaries, and how to take responsibility.
Our practice is made so you can enjoy and excel at multiple physical activities while optimizing your longevity. So you have a body that allows you to fully immerse yourself in different kinds of Movements and this idea that you need to take care of your body for as long as you live is built in right from the start.
Daelwijcklaan 144, 3554 HK, Utrecht
KVK nummer: 76649660