FULL CATASTROPHE DANCING

an investigation of being in ecological disaster

by and with Raphael Jay Adjani and associates

It is better

To live your own destiny imperfectly

than to live

an imitation of somebody else's life with perfection

- The Bhagavad Gita

Dance is Raphael’s daily yogic meditation, creative expression, ecological consciousness, and existential survival.

Dance is a way of surviving and hopefully thriving in a “profoundly sick world”  - Philosopher Jiddu Krishnamurti

Dance is their “full catastrophe living” - Meditation teacher Jon Kabat-Zinn

FULL CATASTROPHE DANCING: an investigation of being in ecological disaster

is an inter-disciplinary dance-based program combining practice and theory. exploring being at a time of ecological disaster.

The program is constrUcted to allow flexible delivery in diverse contexts:-

We offer FULL CATASTROPHE DANCING to:

• University departments of philosophy, auto-ethnography, art, dance, theatre, psychotherapy, ecology

• Studios of Art, Dance and Theatre

• Mental Health and Addiction Recovery Centers including those focusing on addressing trauma, depression, violence, burnout, and identity exploration

• Wellness centers and spas

• Yoga and Meditation centers

• Community and activist groups

• Tailored program for Individuals who can commit to a rigorous creative exploration

ARRANGE A CONSULTATION FOR A BESPOKE PROGRAM RAPHAEL CAN DESIGN AND TEACH FOR YOU

OMOMUKI: Mindfulness-based Art Psychotherapy

FULL CATASTROPHE DANCING is the latest incarnation of a wider creative therapeutic and existential program, created by Raphael called:

OMOMUKI: Mindfulness-based Art Psychotherapy

OMOMUKI is an inter-disciiplinary . It spans dance, music, painting, drawing, photogrpahy, writing play, architecture and engaging with the natural world

OMOMUKI is a Japanese word meaning: Atmospheres, Deep flavors and Tastes of Space”.

OMOMUKI is strongly influenced by Zen Mindful Art such as the Tea ceremoney and Noh dance-theater as well as the South Asian art philosophic text, The Natrya Shastra.

Each OMOMUKI program focuses on a specific art form with inter-disciplinary crossover. Each is exploring Being through a particular art form in the context of deep ecology and ecological catstrophe

OMOMUKI is Raphael’s way way. It embodies a lifetime exploration of being through creative practice and academic research. The creative and academic pathway ran in tandem with the meditative pathway and the way of psychotherapy

Art has enthralled Raphael since childhood. Creative writing, dance, theatre and music. Archiecture fasscinated me too and it became an area of academic research.

Raphael’s ongoing research is the creative, personal and academic research of being, of being-in-the world, of relational being. It is embodied in their doctoral thesis:

Toward a Deep Ecology of Art, Technology and Being,

with particular reference to the rock-cut edifices of Ellora and the Water Temple of Tadao Ando

Raphael has created and directed innovative art programs across a rage of media. These theory and practice based courses have been shared in diverse locations:

• Faculty member of Goldsmiths, University of London UK

• Children’s pop up studio on the streets of an impoverished district of Paris, France

• Other courses, lectures, workshops around the world

• Hospital for the criminally insane UK

• BIPOC oriented mental health center UK

• Awakening and Healing Center, Thailand

Raphael has a way of

immediately making people

feel at ease with the present.

Feelings and thoughts are validated in that moment.

This made it possible for

communication and engagement to flow.

The students valued Raphael's demystification of

quite complex philosophical ideas.

They were able to examine their everyday experiences

and

appreciate the art of simplicity and conviviality

in a present and authentic way

- Dr Daniel Somerville Senior Lecturer, University of Worcester,

commenting on Raphael’s playshops with his masters students

ARRANGE A CONSULTATION FOR A BESPOKE PROGRAM WE CAN DESIGN AND TEACH FOR YOU

Raphael is an Enabler

This is their skill

Below are some gallery images of personal experiments and quotations that have influenced Raphael. They are shares to give you a taste of FULL CATASTROPHE LIVING . Please remember this is not a form or way to be copied. Raphael is inviting you to find your way of living and dying in catastrophe

This is a dark time,

filled with suffering and uncertainty.

Like living cells in a larger body,

it is natural that we feel the trauma of our world.

So don’t be afraid of the anguish you feel,

or the anger or fear,

because these responses arise from the depth of your caring

and the truth of your interconnectedness with all beings.

- Deep Ecologist and Meditation Teacher Joanna Macy

I had the pleasure to teach Raphael.

I cannot forget the moment

When they presented to me their final PhD artwork:

“Relationship-Place Naka-Ma”:

It was so serene

Just magic!

- Professor Toshio Watanabe, Mentor for Raphael’s research

My profession is the business of human rehabilitation,

which goes today by the name of dancer…

All the power of civilized morality,

hand in hand with the capitalist economic system and its political institutions,

is utterly opposed to using the body simply for the purpose, means, or tool of pleasure.

Still more, to a production-oriented society,

the aimless use of the body, which I call dance,

is a deadly enemy which must be taboo

- Pioneer of dance-theater Tatsumi Hijikata

I don't believe

architecture has to speak too much.

It should remain silent and

let nature in the guise of sunlight and wind

- Architect Tadao Ando

When one considers the body in relation to dance,

it is then that one truly realizes what suffering is:

it is a part of our lives.

No matter how much we search for it from the outside

there is no way we can find it without delving into ourselves.

Tatsumi Hijikata

A human being is a part of the whole called by us

universe,

a part limited in time and space.

He experiences himself, his thoughts and feeling

as something separated from the rest,

a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness.

This delusion is a kind of prison for us,

restricting us to our personal desires

and to affection for a few persons nearest to us.

Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison

by widening our circle of compassion

to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature

in its beauty

- Physicist Albert Einstein

Dancing is a spiritual exercise in a physical form

- Choreographer and Dancer Merce Cunningham

There is no other knowledge

no other Learning,

no other Art,

not even Yoga or Action

that is not found in Dance

- The Natya Shastra

ancient text exploring creating art as a philosophical practice

In the dance, everything belongs to everything else:

the music, the set, the movement and whatever is said.

- Choreographer and Dancer Pina Bausch