DESCRIPTION

“Into the forest I go, to lose my mind and find my soul.” John Muir

5Rhythms and field recordings: Liz Collier

Cellist: Ben Michaels

Organisation and Installation: Sarah Johnson

Our Invitation

With a sweet wolf howl we call you to The Wildling Ball. Your whole self is welcome here. We’ll be dancing to uncover and recover our shy, untamed parts. Our night of delicious music and sensorial movement will recall us to our soft animal bodies. With field recordings evoking nature at all scales we’ll usher wildness into the room - big skies, raging rivers, stormy weather, dewdrops, sunbeams, tweets, snarls, trickling, splashing, squelching… Whilst elemental live cello will lead us to the heart and breath of the singular, perfect, present moment. 

Our 5Rhythms

Created by Gabrielle Roth and practiced by tens of thousands worldwide, 5Rhythms is a philosophy, perspective, performance art and a dynamic movement practice rooted in the principle that if you put the psyche in motion it will heal itself. Movement is both the medicine and the metaphor, reaching across all languages, cultures and age groups to transform suffering into art, art into awareness, and awareness into action. Wherever the 5Rhythms are practiced, a community is born to dance, to sweat, to change, to support, and to provide a safe space for each of us to shatter the ego’s hold and awaken the juicy, unpredictable, fascinating, edge-walking, rock star part of ourselves that yearns to be free. Creativity. Connection. Community.

Our Ballroom

A pristine 327sqm expanse of semi-sprung maple. Unfortunately accessibility is limited as it is a historic ballroom on the first floor with no lift. There is plentiful onsite parking.

Our Dance Guide: Liz Collier

I'm an artist/DJ/cleaner/mother/friend/restless spirit.

I am grateful for this practice that holds us together as we fall apart, over and over and over.

I value tenderness, humour and time to create.

I find all this and more when moving through the waves of our practice, on and off the dance floor.

I'll be travelling from my rural home in the North of Yorkshire, having recently returned from a two month spell of walking, painting and dancing on a Greek island.

I will be bringing with me the wide open skies, distant horizons, unpredictable island weather and the empty space of the moorlands as my offering to us all for our dances of wildness, celebration and appreciation.

I am delighted to be invited and I look forward to being with all the different shapes of you.

Our Cellist Guide: Ben Michaels

A British cellist based in South London, passionate about chamber and contemporary music. Most recently Ben premiered his project - for cello, by cellists - six newly commissioned solo works written by different cellist-composers. He was awarded the inaugural Keith Harvey Memorial Award by the London Cello Society (2022) in support of this project. 2024 included world premieres as part of Apartment House at Wigmore Hall, Ben echoing around Lightroom for an immersive David Hockney exhibition with music by Nico Muhly, performances onstage as a solo cellist for three-actor contemporary theatre and French baroque opera with the English Concert. Before exploring his passion for music, Ben studied Biochemistry at Clare College, Cambridge. Ben plays on a Gaetano Gadda cello, generously provided on loan by an anonymous benefactor

SPACE ETIQUETTE

We are drug- and alcohol-free.

We are adults responsible for our own wellbeing.

We are aware of and respect each others’ bodies and boundaries.

We touch only with mutual consent.

We celebrate diversity.

We dance barefoot, in grippy socks or soft dance shoes.

We avoid synthetic perfumes.

We turn our phones off.

We communicate using movement not words.

We participate, we do not spectate.

We start and end our journey together.

PLEASE BRING

LAYERS: the 5Rhythms take us from Flowing, to Staccato, into Chaos, then Lyrical, before Stillness - you’ll maybe want to change along the way.

ACCESSORIES: let’s see your wildling self on the dancefloor – petals, feathers, fur, vines…

FLUIDS - water or herbal tea, to keep you hydrated.

TIMING

7:00pm Doors Open

7:00-7:30pm Warm-up

7:30pm Doors Close

7:30pm 5R Ball

9:45pm Closing Circle

10pm Leaving Time