Dance for Health
based on the 5 elements

Our body is our personal territory in which life is happening. Equally this territory is the dancers' stage where they unfold their dance. Our whole life story is stored in this space-body. This is why we can contemplate our body as if looking on a map as we constantly leave traces of our past.
But does this storing of information work?
Our emotions and thoughts decide on the flow of energy in the body, they send commands to our muscular system, which reacts adequately. This succession of commands and its reaction serves as the information to be stored.
The movement in the muscular system is shaping our body. The vitality and tension of the muscels influences our charisma. The interaction of hundreds of muscles has an effect on our individual expression, which on its part is reflecting what happens within. Equally this conscious perception of the muscular system is giving numerous informations about ourselves.
George Goodheart, founder of Applied Kinesiology believed that muscels correspond with certain acupuncture meridians and that the function of particular muscles can give information about the energy flow in their relating meridian and vice versa. In Traditional Chinese Medicine the meridian channels are arranged into 5 elements (earth, wood, metal, fire and water), of which each corresponds to muscles, meridians, emotions and metaphors.
The workshop will analyse and highlight the five elements as well as examine which muscels, postures, gestures, blockages, rhythm, emotions et cetera belong to it. We will learn to develop a general alertness of energy flow and fluctuation of tension in the muscular system and how to become consciously aware of the relationship between feelings and expression. Equally we will activate the energy flow in the body by practising specific kinesiologic exercises and self-massage in order to dissolve blockages and correct possible disfunctions. The aim is the creation of an energetic balance of the self.
A journey to the inner self and the exploration of the own lanscape of our personal map will start.This is an opportunity to discover our living space, our body, which is our home, observe and start to consciously inhabit it.

In the centre of our work is the :

energy flow of the body
techniques for the creation of a balanced energy flow
the meridian channels and their corresponding muscle-groups
learning which muscles give information about which emotions and how they influence our expression
the individual self-perception of the own body and therefor the decrease of injury-tendency




Fabiana Pastorini
Fabiana Pastorini was born in Buenos Aires (Argentina). She received first lessons in dancing at the age of nine, attended the National Dance School parallel to her high school years and obtained a Bachelor degree in Pedagogy. She specialised on Modern dance, learning the two most important techniques - Graham and Horton - 1988 in New York. In Germany she met Ismael Ivo for the first time in 1991, resulting in a collaboration for a span of several years.

Since 1992 Pastorini resides in Vienna. She teaches and choreographs at the Ballet School of the State Opera of Vienna, the Conservatory Private University of Vienna, the Ballettseminar Wolfsegg, Tanz für Europa and in various European cities.
For several years now she works as guest teacher at ImPulsTanz in Vienna, teaching Dance for health and integrated dance for groups of people with and without disabilities.
She followed an invitation to Argentina by EMA, an association to help patients suffering from multiple sclerosis, to work with them.
Studying Kinesiology helped her to develop her Dance for Health technique. This unprecedented system has the goal to help people become more aware of themselves.

In 2011 she completed her training in Integrated Breathing Therapy. Her interest in the healing methods of the Quetchuas Aymaras (descendants of the Inkas) in her home country, led to regular visits in North Argentina, where she could deepen her connection to her roots. The inseparable connection of this culture with her surrounding brought her to invite more and more people to dance at pristine places, in the midst of nature. This led to a new series of week seminars, which brought participants to a natural stage setting, such as beaches, mountains, deserts and rivers and facilitated the strengthening of the connection to this source.