Canggu Creative Weekly | Fitness Is The Fundamental Form Of Creativity
On the precipice of Nyepi, there was no telling whether the day of silence would end, or continue forever.
Uncertainty as far as the eye could see.
For business owners, large and small, staying a float in the rising tides of the known was the name of the game.
For everyone, it’s still too soon to tell.
Here, we wanted to share the story of how Genesis Creative Centre is still operating, our appreciation for those who made that possible, and our renewed dedication to keeping the creative spirit alive in Canggu.
Having a beer on 24th March in our Pantry was like having a beer at the end of the world.
Not a soul in sight.
Why stay open?
Why not rush for the hills with everyone else, turn off the lights a day early and hope we’re all alive to quarantine another day?
Because one man had other ideas.
Nick Thorogood of Odyssey MVMT Gym faced an existential crisis of his own.
One of the most popular, community-centric gym’s in Canggu suddenly had a tribe further away than a mere social distance.
Following protocol involves sink or swim decisions for such a business.
Nick only allowed himself a modicum of self-pity.
A momentary window of sorrow that was heaved shut in pursuit of the only known solution to a fitness freak of nature such as himself.
Endorphins.
Adrenaline induced by the Herculean challenge of a lifetime.
If the business was to survive, it needed to go online.
Even as he sipped his Summer Solstice at the end of the world, the future looked bright.
Come what may, he would continue onwards, carrying the weight of his bricks and mortar business on his shoulders into a digital new world.
It’s quite incredible what you can achieve in a month of the apocalypse.
Nick, along with his Odyssey MVMT partner Erin, have clocked up over 30 hours in pursuit of their goal.
But those hours of footage have meant that Nicely-Chisled-Nick has also had to at least treble the amount of time editing in front of a computer.
(Nearly-Nerdy-Nick, anyone?)
As a result of the hard work - the effort that comes naturally and that which is out of his comfort zone - Odyssey Movement has successfully migrated their business online, with much more to come.
They already boast a bank of exercises, routines, virtual on-demand classes and livestreams.
This has allowed them to not only reconnect with their disassembled community, but they are now also able to reach new members everyday.
Staying active, positive and progressing is the mantra that has seen them re-open their gym with a new way of staying in meaningful, sweaty contact with their community from a safe distance.
We couldn’t be happier that Nick and his team of fighters have come out the other side, treating the daunting obstacle as yet another practice.
How stoic of the owner of the gym on the corner of the shortcut.
(Check out their awesome workouts and get a GENESIS SPECIAL when you join in May : )
With Nyepi over came the 1st April.
We didn’t know what prank the universe would play on the fools left behind.
Thankfully, the Universe felt merciful enough to bestow upon us an Angel.
Her name is Sophie Dear.
As flights back to her native London nosedived to zero, she was faced with a choice many Canggu based citizens are familiar.
Fly back to familiarity, or stick to her guns in the face of the unknown.
Sufficed to say, she stayed for the fight - and she has the battle scars to prove it.
Her plan was always to migrate online.
So it would take more than a pandemic to stop her.
Filming dozens of hours solo in an isolated studio, she would shoot her Yoga classes in the day and edit them by night.
The launch came just in time for her dedicated following, eager for physical and spiritual fitness from a familiar face.
With a fantastic Yoga course, she’s a special Yogi, who undertook a special endeavour at a special time.
Thanks to these diamonds in the rough world of the new normal - shining and thriving through, along with a handful of others who’s stories we look forward to celebrating - we are still alive.
Thanks to the imaginations' who’s creative spirit remained unwavering amongst the chaos, Genesis Creative Centre still stands.
Filming.
Shooting.
Recording.
Producing.
Creating.
Collaborating.
Exhibiting.
April 2020 taught us how fine the line between existence and nowhere truly is.
It also provided us with a valuable example we hadn’t fully appreciated until now.
Fitness is not only a form of Creativity.
It is the fundamental form of Creativity.
Those who who have undeniable creative fitness - an endurance to see through their projects in the face of unequivocal adversity, tend to be the ones that stay fit for a living.
The ones who’s existence is to align the mind, body and soul.
Those who never sacrifice purpose for excuses.
Never negotiate with the unnegotiable.
They just do it.
They Just Create.
Here’s our massive appreciation for the people who’s ungodly strength of will, when Atlas shrugged, kept us afloat in the rising tides of the new normal.