Willi Sumser regularly invites to workshops on the island Alicudi. The island is pretty rudimentary: with it’s small shops, a small street close to the harbour and not a single car. It is the perfect place to see the world through different eyes. Alicudi resembles a sugar loaf – as the mountain begins at the harbour. At the refreshing height 500m above sea level the group spends their nights in loam houses, which are built along the lines of primeval times. The view of the sunrise in the morning is stunning, this place forces you into a state of dreaming and contemplation. It is a place of contrasts, that will lead you back to nature through it’s both, soft and hard sides.
Even only the attendance on the island is already an important part of the workshops, because the island itself seems to lead the arts of movement. Willi Sumser responds swiftly to new circumstances and adapts his sequences of motion in a way, so that they harmonise. That is movement after Chi-impulses. Correlating to the atmosphere the training takes place at different places and on different times. There are no prescriptions or strict plans, because it‘s just about the moment. During the workshop the group finds itself more and more and grows with the mutual interaction. The exercises help to regain strength from self-honesty and the present situation. The island Alicudi helps to free oneself from the entanglements of every day life to face it with a fresh view and new visions.
Above 500 meters there is something like a mental free zone on Alicudi. The nature and the elements are coming so heavily through the skin, that the mental fades into the background and body and mind experience a peaceful cooperation. To me it is a more than precious gift to get in conscious contact with the essence of life through the work of motion. To break the walls of isolation of daily routine on eye level makes deep sense. Alicudi is a place that supports the change of people and helps to transform fear to bravery, to walk new ways with clearness and pleasure – with your own hands on the steering wheel.
Volcanic Island
Infos about Alicudi
Alicudi is the smallest of the seven aeolian volcanic islands Vulkaninseln (Islands of the winds).
- 5,1 km² area
- ca. 100 Inhabitants
- 690 m altitude
- Paths are made of handmade stone-stairs
- no cars
- UNESCO world cultural heritage