Yoga is, more or less, a personal activity. For some, it is even private.
But for many others it is also a uniting activity. Skim the classifieds to see how many group yoga classes are available on any given night in Durango. Sheryl McGourty and Celeste Greene are counting on yoga’s popularity to make a successful weekend of “Premanata.” It’s a live yoga-inspired dance performance of the The Living Yoga Project, which McGourty and Greene created earlier this year.
“It’s a way to connect the internal practice of yoga into the hearts of the audience,” wrote McGourty, who opened Yoga Durango eight years ago. Greene is an instructor at Yoga Durango and both will perform Friday, Saturday and Sunday in “Premanata.”
The show will include choreographed performances by 28 local yoga participants, some with dance experience and others who will be putting their yoga skills on display for the public. They will move to live music by Durango Drums, Robby Overfield, Lisa Byrne and Derek Van Atta. Greene and McGourty direct and the numbers were choreographed by several of the professional dancers in the troupe, Rusty Toth, Erika Wilson and Jessica Perino.
Proceeds from the event will benefit Unite Our World, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to further the efforts of projects around the world that are uniting for peace, freedom and goodwill.
Other local cast of performers include Allison Smith, Brady Wilson, Brandon Brashers, Bryant AuCoin, Casey Patten, Claire Bradshaw, Elizabeth Shepard, Ellen Stein, Ellie Ellis, Elsa Jagniecki, Emmy Unterreiner, Jacqueline Boudreau, Jessica Pierce, Jonathan Mitchell, Kara Stansbury, Kate Greenberg, Melissa Bates, Natalie Brandsma, Nick Gould, Nicole Dohm, Ryan Osborne, Scott Fallows, Terra Brooks and Tracy Farmer.
ted@durangoherald.com
If you go
The Living Yoga Project will give three performances of “Premonata” at the Smiley Building, 1309 East Third Ave. Show times are 7 p.m. today and Saturday and 4 p.m. Sunday. Doors open 45 minutes before the performance. Tickets cost $20 ($15 students/$10 kids 12 and under), available at www.brownpapertickets.com or at either Yoga Durango location and Maria’s Bookshop. For more information, call 749-7052 or 769-6875.
