Overground Movement

The “OM” is an open art forum that welcomes individuals from all walks of life who believe in the idea of “Unity in Plurality” to engage in a mutual Cultural Renaissance Movement. The Movement of Cultural Renaissance is made possible with the help of all volunteers who are willing to participate in international creative, spiritual, scientific and cultural projects, addressing some of the most poignant issues of our time /war, terrorism, racial discrimination, ethnic inequity, natural resources depletion, environmental pollution, etc./ Overground Movement was created in 1991 as a spiritual alternative to the avant-garde trends of the ambiguous “Underground” with the main objective of reconsidering culture and spirituality in an evolving world. “OM” calls for MULTIFORMITY and the recognition of man as an evolving species in the interdependent hierarchy of phenomenal existence. Overground is in search of a common identity in the “holon” of Higher Order. “Overground” is an invitation to every individual to bring one’s own authenticity, in the global gospel of the Information Age.

Brief History of Overground Arts Alliance:

Overground Arts Alliance is a multi-ethnic arts & culture not-for-profit organization based in Brooklyn, NY that came together to undertake a fourfold mission: to present groundbreaking works that challenge and enlighten the audience; to establish a home-base and develop a community of spiritually and culturally aware artists and intellectuals; to promote cultural exchange of artists ; to organize creative labs and field trips for creative development and cultural anthropology, to organize and conduct cultural lectures, exhibitions and workshops pertaining to all art forms and to publish artistic, cultural and esoteric literature.

The organization was initially established in Bulgaria in 1991 as a foundation for cultural development “All who Seek in All Paths” . It offered a holistic approach in addressing environmental issues and raising public awareness on cultural identity in the epoch of globalisation. In 1999 the organization relocated in Zurich, Switzerland under the auspices of “Global Arts Synthesis Lab”, where the concept of art fusion as a medium of artistic expression was further explored. The Lab provided an open forum fostering new experiments in the emerging trends of art synthesis. In 1996 – 1999 the Lab was supported by the Ministry of Bulgarian Culture and Education served as a base in Bulgaria and Switzerland for conducting cultural anthropological research in Bali, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, India, China, Mongolia. The expedition culminated with lectures, performances, and workshops on Indo-European Ritual Theatre traditions and heritage. From 1999 – 2002 the organization bridges tradition and modernity by organizing cultural and peace-promoting events in Switzerland. Most notably, in 2001 was awarded the Monteveritas 100 Anniversary Jubilee Prize for preservation of dance heritage for reconstructing the “Song to the Sun” ritual dance of Rudolf von Laban and modern dancer Charlotte Bara, who pioneered their work a century earlier at “Hellerau”, Switzerland’s emerging cradle of modern and expressionistic art. Since fall of 2002 the organization is seated in Brooklyn, NY and continues to launch the concept of cultural anthropology, art fusion offering an integrated approach of art, culture, science and spirituality for the creative development of the individual. For the past eight years the Alliance has produced and showcased over 30 dance theatre performances at renowned NY venues, over 30 workshops for creative, psycho-physical and psycho-spiritual development at the Qi-Yo Holistic Center in New York, has participated and lectured in yoga, contemporary art trends, dance theatre and esotericism in NY. Most recently, the Alliance is organizing its first Yoga Teacher Training Certification Program in NY and offering master classes and workshops in Physical Theatre, Qi-Yo Yoga and Yogea – a contemporized yoga style.

Currently, the Alliance together with Overground Physical Theatre Company is working on its most recent project “Urban Tao” and “Ecocentric” - a cross-genre work that incorporates live performance, drama, physical theatre and multimedia in an attempt to convey the urgent need to raise

consciousness on environmental issues. About Overground Physical Theatre Company

“…By offering something rather than a cliché ridden movement and superficial themes Overground Physical Theatre Company provides dance nourishment for audiences starved of food for reflection…” David Lipfert, Attitude Magazine, NY

Overground Physical Theatre Company directed and choreographed by Antonia Katrandjieva brings together internationally acclaimed artists of dance, theatre, literature, fine arts, film and music to present groundbreaking multi-disciplinary works that challenge and enlighten the audience. The Company’s repertory falls into the unexplored niche of esoteric Dance Theatre, creating experimental cross-genre work that bridges the virtual causality of theatre with the abstract reality of dance. It explores the parallel realms of dance and theatre and their spiritual roots in the ritual and the sacred, retrieving the sacred relevance of the art forms and dressing ancient wisdom in modern thought. The boutique work of Overground based on original scripts and dramaturgy offers compelling visceral, verbal and kinesthetic landscapes and excavates association-laden movement from human conditions, relationships and social patterns. The company employs a “total theatre” approach and swings boldly between Chechov’s “Psychological Gesture,” Becket’s “Absurdist Existentialism,” Brecht’s “Alienation Effect,” Bausch’s provocative “Tanztheater,” Butoh’s “raw transcendental states” and the current European avant-garde dance theatre idiom.

Overground Physical Theatre Company earned its critical acclaim in 1996 with two award winning shows “Octaves of Reflection” and “Copper Tones” (which won the Boundaries-Horizons Prize for Experimental Choreography in Sofia, mentioned in the History of Bulgarian Experimental Theatre & Dance”) and ever since has toured Europe to present at international dance and theatre festivals (Bulgaria, Italy, France, Spain, Germany, Austria, Switzerland), Asia (Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Sri Lanka), Latin America (Bolivia, Mexico) and the U.S. Currently the company is based in NY where it has presented work full-length work at: La Mama Experimental Theatre, City Center for Dance, Judson Memorial Church, Dance New Amsterdam, Brooklyn Information & Culture Center, Theosophy Hall, Theosophical Society, Meta Center, Julia Richman Complex, to mention but a few.

Overground works blend theatre, dance, architecture, pantomime, martial arts, video, poetry, multi- media, live art and yoga. Overground has no affinity to a particular style, but instead tries to develop original non-literal choreography and authentic scripts for every new project. The creative lab work of the company is structured like a “multiversity”, where various physical theatre and body mind- centering techniques are explored on a daily basis, and each individual is offered the space for personal creative development and spiritual growth. For more than 15 years the lab has become a self- refinery where dancers are not only taught to move, “understand what moves them” enabling everyone to live, experience and share the journey to the source.

In 2010 the company launched a branch called Clothe New World which promotes arts and crafts development in local communities in third world countries and by selling their work around the globe, provides funds to answer their needs.

Another branch of the company is Yoga Glopbe's Qi- Yo Holistic NYC. Yoga Globe is a branching of Overground Arts Alliance’s spiritual science domain. Yoga Globe represents “Qi-Yo Holistic Center” in NY, set up with the objective to disseminate the new evolved multi-yoga method “Qi-Yo, derived on a plethora of ancient spiritual psycho-physical practices from the teachings of Yoga and Qi-Gong all over the world. The Holistic Center conducts workshops, seminars and private sessions utilizing a unique combined approach of yoga, vibrational healing and creative development. Most recently Qi-Yo Holistic Center, under the common dome of Underground Arts Alliance, is involved in the production and publishing of a “21 century Yoga” – a unique yoga style contemporizing the Eastern and Western Spiritual practices. For a detailed workshop schedule and events calendar, please visit the Qi Yo website at: www.yogaglobe.com

The objectives of the Overground Movement are to launch a New Human Design Project /The Science of the Total Man/, integrating the various sciences and fields of knowledge under a common umbrella of Education, Science, Culture/Arts and Spirituality

• to found a dynamic international, cultural “OM Center”, where allied arts and spirituality are assigned a prominent place in the process evolution of human consciousness
• to offer a lab for experimental work in the field of art, education, science, culture and spirituality is to be carried out.
• to establish a healing sanctuary where integrated and complementary healing therapies are offered for total wellness.
• to propose a system of consciousness-based education synthesizing art, science, culture and spirituality
• to advocate the art of fusion concept in performance arts, creating cross-genre and style groundbreaking performances that challenge and enlighten the audience.
• to conduct cultural and spiritual anthropology, preserving spiritual and cultural heritage worldwide
• to contemporize tradition in the field of performance arts and yoga with the aim to offer a well-rounded system for intellectual, creative, psycho-physical and spiritual development
• to raise consciousness on poignant global and environmentally-related issues
• to produce and publish cultural, artistic and esoteric literature
• to organize events, seminars, workshops and festivals that raise public awareness through the media of, Contemporary Dance, Theatre, Yoga and Spirituality.
• to launch cross-cultural environmental, interdisciplinary, interfaith projects propagating the “Unity in Plurality Concept”.
• to promote the understanding of other cultures, religions and ways of life
• to foster international understanding, human unity and world peace, by dissemination of literature
• to invite everybody to contribute to the peace and happiness to the world, with his smile, his work, with his good deeds, with his work for the collective good of all.