Next SOMA workshop in London – Tuesday 20th JuneSOMA is a series of physical workshops, which are based on principles of self-organisation. It seeks to recover communication skills and encourage solidarity, which are being lost in today’s highly competitive, branded world. Social and psychological well-being are so interlinked that it is possible to both change the way we organize our lives/ activities and maintain our mental and physical health in the process. SOMA is always conducted in groups with an emphasis on the autonomy of the individual within the support of the group.
SOMA is concerned with the politics, not of institutions but of everyday life. Capitalist values of competition, profit, aggression and sacrifice of pleasure contaminate our belief in the possibilities for freedom, equality and peace. With so many blatant and latent repressive forces in society, the search for your own health, pleasure and happiness can be a highly political act.
At the beginning of the 1970s, SOMA was created in Brazil by Roberto Freire as a means of resistance to help people fighting against the military dictatorship. SOMA uses drama games, sound and movement exercises and Capoeira Angola to help salvage spontaneity, playfulness, communication, creativity and awareness of anarchist organization where no one is boss.
Capoeira, like SOMA, was created under a repressive regime. As the African slaves were developing Capoeira to withstand the inhuman conditions they were subject to under the system of slavery in Brazil, they were also freeing their bodies and minds so that demands for freedom could no longer be ignored.
The body is the material to resist and create with in the world. The pleasure of being yourself challenges the body forgotten, develops new skills and turns the capitalist reality upside down.
Introductory Workshop
Tuesday 20th June 2006 (and further dates)
7 pm
Venue: The Square – 21 Russell Sq
Info: 020 7733 6220 or 07722003465 or jorge.goia@bol.com.br
