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Press Article | Animated Magazine |
Patterns in the Sand:
The inimitable work of Jasmine Pasch. Her belief in the potential of movement work with older people has driven her practice for more than 15 years. Informed by phenomenology and philosophy it nevertheless remains practical and dynamic. Sophie Hansen finds out why. |
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photograph Derek SpeirsI catch Jasmine Pasch on her way to the gym. Physically, Pasch will be "working it with the beefcake", but philosophically, she will be experiencing the flow, which psychologist, Csikszentmilhalyi, theorises as a key component of human happiness. After training as a dancer, and working in education with countless companies, as well as developing a ground-breaking freelance career, Pasch has studied the scientific and medical theories, the psychology and philosophy of dementia and its effect upon the human experience, before coming back to moving herself again. Smiling on the treadmill, she finds phenomenological parallels in the sheer physical pleasure of the movement. "The experience is first class", she enthuses, "and it makes me ask, what it is that makes people happy? Investigating this in relation to the people I work with and myself, leads me to think about physical and psychological well-being, and that is what I am all about." In September, Firkin Crane's Moving Age, an international symposium for dance and older people, will provide Pasch with, "the perfect environment in which to swim; alongside people who wish to improve what they are doing, by thinking and doing. This combination of theory and practice, developed and exchanged within a dynamic community, sustains Pasch's belief in the potential of movement work with older people. "Scientific enquiry does not actually tell us as much as we need to know about the person." Whilst Pasch is clearly enthused by the sciences, she insists, "I am a doer" She is a listener too however, and above all else, a learner. Pasch is looking for "practical information about what I do and how to do it better." |