Vincent Bolletta
Series A and Mu
VINCENT BOLLETTA
For yoga instructor Vincent Bolletta, yoga is more than a physical, mental and spiritual activity. It’s an artistic adventure that expresses the elegance and extraordinary subtleties of the human body .
In his yoga workshops and his photographic project of yoga postures, or asanas, he focuses not only on the alignment of breath and movement, but also the artistry of the personal and healing properties of yoga. “My ambition is that people start to work from a perspective of subtlety,” Bolletta said. “And to start to establish the idea that yoga really begins with a home practice. The real work starts then ... the inquiring and exploration into oneself is when the practice is relevant in your space.”
Bolletta arrives in Steamboat Springs today for a 10-day stay during which he will teach five workshops and hang his artwork for a month long exhibit at the Eleanor Bliss Center for the Arts.This weekend, he’ll offer two workshops at the Yoga Center of Steamboat. The next weekend, he will offer three workshops at the Depot. Workshops are $25 each or $45 for any two, $60 for any three, $70 for any four and $80 for all five. A reception for the art exhibition is at 4 p.m. March 6, 2011.
Grant Bursek, a board member for the Steamboat Springs Arts Council, helped bring Bolletta to Steamboat after taking his workshops at the Telluride Yoga Festival. When Bursek saw the photographic element of his work, he asked Bolletta if he was interested in visiting Steamboat for the first time. “In terms of his artwork, the photographs really show a nice balance between yoga asana and just taking it outside a yoga studio,” Bursek said. “He’s a very gentle creature, and I thought he’d just be great for Steamboat.”
Bolletta began his yogic journey in 1990 in Auckland, New Zealand, and was teaching five years later. He said he’s always loved the artistry of the movement of yoga, but it was just five years ago he set out with photographer Marc Mateo on a creative journey into the heart of yoga asanas.
The photographic series featuring pictures of Bolletta in various poses and environments will be on display at the Depot starting Tuesday. “It was more of a reaction in respect to the yoga photos that I saw in the glossy yoga magazines,” Bolletta said about the project. “It was all portrayed with these beautiful waterfalls and forests. But most people don’t practice that way. They practice in an urban environment. I wanted to capture that yoga is adaptable to wherever you are, and I wanted to show it in the photos.”
In the photos, Bolletta’s body is juxtaposed against urban architecture and artistic lines in the natural world. “I wanted to show a grittier side,” he said. “I don’t want to show these unrealistic pictures of enlightenment.”
But he doesn’t expect the photos to bring yoga practice to life the way he hopes to in his small group and private session at his studio, the Yogashala, in Auckland. “The photos possibly capture people’s imaginations,” he said. “And the journey begins when that happens.”