Thingamajigs Performance Group returns with Alex Boyd for a new workshop on music and movement.
In Daoist practice the manifestation of vibration whether as movement, sound or what can be seen or felt, is led by the creative spirit within consciousness. Yet it is energy that transforms intention into actualisation. Intention on its own is not enough to turn thoughts into reality or to live our hopes and dreams. Therefore all Daoists agree that the cultivation, storing, harnessing, directing and utilisation of energy is the cornerstone of their practice alongside developing virtue - the outcome of of this alchemy being whatever they want it to be!
It is a privilege for Thingamajigs to be invited by Dr Alex Feng to collaborate in Moving Energy: Music and Movement at Zhi Dao Guan, The Taoist Center in Oakland on Sat the 7th April. Our 2-hour event starts at 6pm and follows on from a 2 - 5pm afternoon of Lishi Daoist arts practice being led by Dr Alex Boyd who is visiting from the UK - see www.lishi.org/oakland. Although not obligatory, we really recommend you attend both the afternoon and evening sessions if you have the time to do so. The evening event builds on previous collaborations between members of Thingamajigs and Dr. Boyd and will feature participatory exercises, demonstrations, and in-the-moment experiments on the intersection of embodied sound and energy practices.
Our evening event from 6 - 8pm is free of charge yet we will provide an honesty jar to collect donations. We would love to make a contribution towards the running of The Taoist Center and other costs.
About Dr Alex Boyd
Dr Alex Boyd completed his UC Davis Performance Studies PhD in 2014. In his dissertation he considers a 30-year immersion through a Taoist family system called Daojiao Lishi Quanfa or ‘Lishi’ of which he is an inheritor, taught by grandmasters Chee Soo and Desmond Murray. Dr Boyd has been teaching since 1991 and has built on the methodologies that he himself experienced in order to enable other westerners to learn and progress through the sophisticated syllabi and in depth embodiments that Taoist practice brings about.
Alex is UK based and began teaching students in Leeds and then in London, and in both cities his former students are now teachers themselves. In 2000 he began developing and resourcing educational and health related programs in the UK and Europe so that disadvantaged and socially excluded young people and adults could benefit from Taoist practice.
Dr Boyd has travelled extensively in China to meet and learn from traditional Wushu and Taoist practitioners, and travels world-wide to research, teach and exchange practice. As a Research Associate at UC Davis, he is investigating how actors can cultivate and utilize their internal energy in performance.
About Dr Alex Feng
In 1997, Dr. Feng was named as one of the top ten practitioners of Traditional Chinese Medicine, in a survey conducted by the San Francisco Focus magazine. He combined his passion for Traditional Chinese Medicine, martial arts, and Taoism by creating Zhi Dao Guan, the Taoist Center, one of the first Centers for the study of Taoism in the San Francisco Bay area in 2002. An ordained Taoist priest, he is the lineage holder of Zhi Daoism and has been a leading force in bringing Taoism to the West.
In collaboration with Dr. Amy Matecki, Dr. Feng has developed integrative medicine programs for Alta Bates Comprehensive Cancer Center and for Highland Hospital, Alameda Health System. He is the founder of I Am A Seaweed Qi Gong – a method for teaching healing qi gong to practitioners and to patients.
Dr. Feng has lectured nationally and internationally on Traditional Chinese Medicine, Qi Gong and Taiji. He has been inducted into the Martial Arts Hall of Fame and has produced numerous state and national champions in the external and internal styles of martial arts. He has served as a preceptor and mentor to many students of Chinese Medicine, Taoism, and Martial Arts.
About Thingamajigs Performance Group
Thingamajigs Performance Group (TPG) is a sound-based ensemble working co-creatively in a variety of mediums and with a wide array of local and international artists. Formed in 2008 from longtime Thingamajigs contributors, TPG continues to break new ground in performance fields such as durational performance, alternate tuning, group and open compositional formats, inter-disciplinary and inter-cultural collaboration, and site-work.
Current Members : Dylan Bolles, Keith Evans, Suki O'Kane and Edward Schocker
Collaborators (past and present) : Gelsey Bell, Rae Diamond, Ann Dyer, Sasha Hom, Shinichi Iova-Koga, Eric Kupers, Michael Meyers, Robert Moran, Pauline Oliveros, Stephen Ratcliffe, Zachary James Watkins, Jeffrey Young