Baris Mihci >>> Turkey & Italy

barismihci@gmail.com

About Baris

ABOUT BARIS

Baris Mihci was born 1976 in Wuppertal, Germany. He graduated with degrees in social pedagogy, German language, Sports and special education for physically disabled children at the University of Cologne.
In Wuppertal he passionately followed the work of Pina Bausch and her Tanztheater for over 15 years and completed his studies with a social-cultural research thesis referring to Pina Bausch's Tanztheater and its artistic research about human relationships. Through this process Baris then decided to begin his dancing life. His curiosity about the art of dancing was strongly influenced by following the work of Pina Bausch. Coming from an athletic background, movement was always a big interest to him. In 2001 he was introduced and immersed himself in the Axis Syllabus enabling. Baris acquired a teacher's certificate in 2005 and has been teaching regularly for dancers, movers and movement interested across Europe since. He has taught at Studio Hybrid, Dancetrumjette, Espace Catastrophe, Tanzquartier Wien, the Nomadic College, DOCH, the Cullberg Ballet, Mimar Sinan (İstanbul), ODTÜ Ankara, among many other professional dance training institutions.
Baris’ performance work is based in solo, site specific, improvisation and intuitive creation. He has presented solos at Belgart Moment Festival, Festival tanzhautnah, RAC Festival (Brussels), among others. He has also collaborated extensively with Collectif en Transit, devoted to bringing dance to urban public spaces.
Since 5 years he developed workshop modules in the countryside with the focus on combining movement principles with the present environment, applying AS tools on natural surfaces and developing creative exchanges with trees, stones, rocks and other life.
Baris is a key organizer of the Nomadic College, a one month event dedicated to the AS research exchange, since 2004 and artistic director together with Frey Faust since 2012
As a member of the Axis Syllabus research mashwork he is taking part in organising and facilitating Labs for the AS teachers certification, transmission and pedagogy, perception and communication and resources cultivation.

Teacher's statement

SmartMoves - a view on resources

When I think of old martial arts movies I remember how the masters always tell to their students to use their heads instead of their muscles, that cleverness is more powerful than any muscle. 

I have been moving, doing sports, dancing and studying movement for 17 years now. Throughout this time, the Axis Syllabus has served as an information pool and a diagnostic instrument for all my activities. The AS is a profoundly logical system, and the study and application of the AS is deeply stimulating cognitively. So the sensei's counsel to reconsider, reflect and use logic to evaluate and improve the way I move is intimately familiar to me. I have no doubt that the development of skill and grace is synonymous with applying cleverness to the way I observe, move or teach movement.

How can I choose my movements with more conscious wisdom? How can I have fun and take risks, yet treat my body with care and find deeper meaning in the ritual of moving? How can I help others to discover this refined and nourishing joy?

New research shows that besides our central brain we seem to have many areas in the body that have similar concentrations of nerves and are also capable of processing and local decision making. It is entirely uncontroversial that the nervous  system extends into the whole body.  We can therefore assume that body parts learn and get smarter through experience just like the brain. We can assume that the smarter we are about how we move, the smarter our whole body becomes.  
Clever choices and strategies are impossible without a constant effort to gather knowledge of our bodies' potentials and limitations and the environment we inhabit. 

Being clever is not a given. It is an attribute we develop and cultivate if we pay attention as we align empirical experience with study and experimentation. In simple words develop kinesthetic intelligence.

"The collaboration of the mind with the body is endlessly inspiring."  B.Mihci

This fundamental mental aspect helps me to enhance body awareness and to evolve adaptive strategies for new situations. Working intelligently has allowed me to develop movement that respects my limitations and abilities as I match or validate my imagination with the laws of physics. Once the possibilities have been arrayed, there are seemingly endless options and variations to explore in a "movement".

I feel that the Axis Syllabus has given me the means to understand the body and how or why it moves as it does in various contexts. The AS includes information from anatomy, physics, psychology etc., providing a pool of associated and inter-linked information, a constellation of clues and solutions that i use to evaluate my choices as I move and eventually make more optimal ones. 


SmartMoves is an invitation to review and revise our movement habits with the help of perspectives from various scientific disciplines, as well as increase efficiency and elaborate any and all movement, including everyday miracles such as walking, running, jumping and dancing. Another interest for me is to use these skills and experiences in other parts of my life, i.e. planning, information transmission, designing clothes and furniture, communicating, increasing performance and challenging this miracle of engineering with respect and love.  

My intent with this initiative is to assist others to develop the skills that will allow them to discover what is going on and what to do about it themselves instead of being told what to do. Provided an education in the methods and strategies of those who came before us, the process of finding personal solutions leaves a deeper mark on the memory and is a stronger influence on our practice..