Workshops

 
 

These workshops are developed by Cassola during her journey in search of spiritual and physical healing looking into body consciousness, movement awareness and holistic wellbeing. Since 2004, from Japan to the Amazons, Mongolia and the Andes she studied and practiced numerous techniques, dances and theatrical expressions that investigate emotions, thoughts and physical conditions including pain and tensions. With the help of one to one or group conversations, games or movements, she leads participants through a series of exercises she developed to convey one’s creative energy via the body and integrate it as a driving force in life, work and relationships. Avoiding distractions, following a lead and concentrating on a set of unique, easy and fun activities, the practice improves focus, determination and the ability to generate new ideas, creativity and feel better. This type of preparation brings the body and mind to a different, serene state. Declined in different forms according to the historical moment and location, the experience is described as a performance itself where the participants are given a set of tools to manage the challenges of the mind (the “survival kit” as the artist calls it).

The workshops are addressed to performers but also anyone who may have or may happen to encounter a crisis in life or who simply wishes to try a new, fun and creative experience.

 

DHARMIC MOVEMENT WORKSHOP

 

Department of reflection (D0R),
Special Commission on Roads. South Beach, March 31, 2021

Two people wearing masks standing next to an orange street sign that says "WE NEED TO TALK". Photo taken during the Dharmic Movement Workshop by Paola Cassola.
People wearing face masks on a street, standing and sitting on green road blockers. Photo taken during the Dharmic Movement Workshop by Paola Cassola.
Lady looking at a green road blocker. Photo taken during the Dharmic Movement Workshop by Paola Cassola.
Artist Paola Cassola wearing a mask and microphone, surrounded by participants of the workshop. Photo taken during the Dharmic Movement Workshop by Paola Cassola.
Three people crouching down in a park, touching the sand with their hands. Photo taken during the Dharmic Movement Workshop by Paola Cassola.
Close-up of hands touching sand. Photo taken during the Dharmic Movement Workshop by Paola Cassola.
Lady wearing a face mask taking a selfie with a drawing on a metal pole. Photo taken during the Dharmic Movement Workshop by Paola Cassola.
People walking down white staircase, wearing face masks. Photo taken during the Dharmic Movement Workshop by Paola Cassola.
Woman drawing on a metal pole with a marker. Photo taken during the Dharmic Movement Workshop by Paola Cassola.
Healer Christelle Chopard speaking at the Dharmic Movement Workshop by Paola Cassola. Participants sit in the background wearing face masks.
Participants of the workshop standing in a circle in a room. Photo taken during the Dharmic Movement Workshop by Paola Cassola.

In the Dharmic Movement Workshop (DM) Cassola shared different ways of using the body as a creative and expressive tool. The source for the workshop’s tasks are based on the findings discovered during the creative process of her performance pieces “My Back-Story” (2014) and “SchitzoFREEnia" (2015), while information is also brought in from the artist’s theatrical and dance practices.

The workshop is both physical and creative and includes the sharing of thoughts and discussions. Movement and the use of group games are the creative tools explored. As a process, DM workshop brings wakefulness and awareness to the creative and viewing processes through the integration of movement and interaction. As a product, it is art that wakes people up and increases body consciousness, relaxation, wellbeing. More specifically, the participants have been shown different ways of embodying everyday conversations and unconventional actions, developing and improving the quality of movements in their process of subjectivation and creation, reducing anxiety and improving self esteem. Within the program the artist invited Christelle Chopard, friend, healer and facilitator throughout karmic journey, to include a closing enlightening meditation.

 
 
 

LITTLE HAITI CULTURAL CENTER ART WORKSHOP 

 

Miami (US), 2018

 
 
 

The artist organised chalk painting workshops for the children of the after school program of the Little Haiti Cultural Center, the cultural heart of Little Haiti's neighbourhood. The conversation was on the idea and imagery of the dream in art history: from Starry Night by Van Gogh to Flight of a Bee by Klimt.

 
 
 
 

THE DREAM | IL SOGNO

 

Miami (US), 2019

 
 

Cassola worked with 5th and 6th grader’s students learning Italian in selected schools of Miami. Through open discussions, games and art exercises she shared her creative process and led them to the identification, sharing and telling of their dreams while paving the path towards the fulfilment of them.

 
 
 
 
 

DREAMLAB x NETWORKSHOPS 

 

Selected schools of Miami (US), May-June 2018

 

Cassola conducted The Dreamlab Arts workshop, carried out within the broader educative project called NETWORKshops, promoted by the Consulate General of Italy and addressed to students of Italian in local American schools (Ponce de Leon Middle, Metropolitan International and G. Washington Carver Middle and Elementary, to gather dreams from individuals) from 5th and 6th grades, in the months of April and May 2018. She led students to the creative representation of their dreams through drawings and paintings, highlighting aspects of her talent and technique. The students’ original 100% sustainable creations, sculpted using the papier mache’ technique (with recycled paper, water and flour) and final outcome of the workshop, were then exhibited in an on purpose space, during the International Week dedicated to the Italian language in Miami.

 
 
 
 

EXPLORE THE SPACE BETWEEN: DREAMS & REALITY

 

Laundromat Art Space, Miami (US), 26th April 2018

 

Cassola invited everyone to a workshop towards the fulfillment of dreams. In collaborations with the spiritual guide Christelle Chopard the artist’s installation maze, made of fabric twisting walls, was activated while providing the guidelines to start a personal healing journey. Papers with written or sketched dreams were attached with magnets to the installation Follow Your Dreams, They Know The way (2018). The artist led a dance, a walk through and a meditation within the space set for the experience. This collaboration follows previous healing transliterations of Cassola’s work, but here it foregrounds the dreams, the heart and the subconscious structures apparent in both approaches.

 
 
 

EXPLORE THE SPACE BETWEEN: DREAMS & REALITY

 
 

Soho Beach House, Miami Beach (US), 3rd May 2018

 
 
 

In this workshop we had an introductory presentation of what it means to have a dreamlike experience, by artist Paola Cassola. Then a meditation with Amarun ~ Christelle Chopard, who shared with the audience insights and tools on clarifying the space between dreams and reality and the fundamental steps to attract the manifestation of dreams, in a simple and natural way. Cassola finalised leading a moment of artistic creation inviting the participants to put on paper the visions and inspirations that came during the meditation. The audience was also invited to hand in their final work. Furthermore, with the collaboration Laura Guido, a Jungian psychologist specialised in dreams, the artist provided a professional and individual interpretation of each dream imagery. About 30 participants attended and everybody did a drawing and handed it to the artist (see photo above).

 
 
 

DREAMLAB AT THE CENTER FOR INDEPENDENT LIVING OF
SOUTH FLORIDA

 
 

Miami (US), 2018

 

During 2018 Cassola held regular workshops as part of her DreamLab project at the Center for Independent Living of South Florida, a non-profit organization addressing the needs of people with disabilities in Miami. Cassola worked with disabled students, offering them an artistic outlet and assisting them in finding their own creative process.