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Om Yoga Morocco is organizing the first EPIC Yoga Festival in Marrakech from June 21 to 23.
EPIC will not just be about yoga. It promises “a new multi-sensorial experience” through a unique combination of yoga and performance.
The festival offers a special yoga program at Om Yoga studio in Marrakech and five giant yoga masterclasses (in spaces for up to 500 people) hosted by the Marrakech Palais des Congres, the Hotel Movenpick Marrakech, and the Golf Al Maaden.
The masterclasses will be led by teachers from around the world to the eclectic sound of Moroccan and international artists. Festival-goers can, for instance, attend the “Sahara Sunrise” session, which will focus on yoga sun-salutation postures to the sound of electronic DJs and drums.
“We wanted to give Moroccans and people from overseas an opportunity to experience a unique fusion between yoga, music and dance,” said Aurelie Martin-Scally, the founder of Om Yoga.
“This masterclass-performance concept is completely new. It exists nowhere else in the world.”
A festival dedicated to African culture
The festival is dedicated to African culture. It blends yoga, DJ sounds, and African performing arts to create an interactive, collaborative experience.
“We want to show people that there are real avant-garde initiatives happening on our continent,” Martin-Scally added.
The festival will also bring American artists Lamonte Goode and Vandana Hart to Marrakech.
Lamonte Goode is behind the “cyberyoga” movement which blends calisthenics, breakdancing, and yoga. His movement has an Instagram following of over 68 000 people. Goode, who is also a professional hip-hop dancer and acrobat, will lead a yoga class and a dance performance.
Dancer and filmmaker Vandana Hart will be filming the festival as part of her Netflix documentary series “We Speak Dance” on how dance connects people across the world. Her documentary on dance and performance in Morocco will be broadcast in September.
EPIC festival will also support two non-profit organizations, Project Soar and Africa Yoga Project.
“We want this festival to give a voice to people who are doing great things in Africa,” Martin-Scally told.
Project Soar is based in Marrakech and works to empower teenage girls in Morocco and Uganda. Africa Yoga Project is a Kenyan non-profit organization which teaches community yoga classes in 19 African countries.
