Edward Clark: On Tripsichore, Physical Theater and the Emergence of Critical Practice

In this episode of the Baseworks Transmission Podcast, Patrick Oancia sits down with Edward Clark, writer, theater artist, and director of Tripsichore Yoga Theater. Their connection goes back to 2007 in Bali, where Edward's uncompromising teaching style and critical approach to yoga immediately stood out.

This conversation traces Edward's journey from Calgary to London's physical theater scene in the late 70s, through the influence of Stephen Berkoff and Lindsay Kemp, to the pivotal 1992 discovery that yoga held untapped choreographic potential—leading to three decades of creating work that physicalizes phenomenological landscapes.

Topics covered:

• Physical theater training: Stephen Berkoff's Metamorphosis and Lindsay Kemp's extreme performances
• The accidental birth of yoga theater in 1992
• Fundamental differences between asana and vinyasa philosophy
• Teaching to fund artistic practice
• Intensity, injuries, and the reality of long-term practice
• Social media yoga and the authority problem
• Two books with anthropologist Laurie A. Greene examining contemporary yoga teaching and practice
• Why Patanjali's Yoga Sutras became "classical yoga" (historical accident)
• Academic yoga studies with Mark Singleton, Jason Birch, and James Mallinson
• Critical acceptance: embracing hypotheses while evaluating them
• International touring and ending teacher trainings to focus on art

Edward Clark is a theater artist and director of Tripsichore Yoga Theater whose work emerged from London's physical theater scene in the late 1970s. He has co-authored two books with Laurie A. Greene: "Teaching Contemporary Yoga: Physical Philosophy and Critical Issues" and "Yoga and the Body," both published by Routledge.

This conversation was recorded on May 30, 2025, at Circuit-Est Centre Chorégraphique in Montreal, Canada.

For full show notes, chapter timestamps, transcript, references, and companion reflections, visit:
https://baseworks.com/podcast/edward-clark-physical-theater-critical-practice

Transmission is copyright to Baseworks | Shaspo LLC.