Musings + Art + Happenings from our Tribal Individuals
The 5Rhythms practice | A lens for life
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TO THE BEAT OF THE DRUM WE TRAVEL ON by Irene Hernández Sánchez, Spain
"To the beat of the drum we travel on
Courageous we sail into the storm
Singing our song and feeling strong
On a voyage to where we all belong"
~Morcheeba - Beat of the Drum
I have always felt hopelessly attracted by the rhythm. I bought myself a pair of drumsticks when I was 6 – it was my first owned part from an entire drum set.
Then I got distracted following 1000 other threads: studies, ballet classes and a huge list of projects and ’to do things‘.
But the beat of the drum kept coming to me.
I went to a music summer camp when I was around 13 and met a drumming teacher who showed me the basics to play Cajón flamenco. I fell in love: the rhythm directly from my heart, to my hands to the Cajón and out into the space for others to catch it and move with it. Pure impulse!
After an intense week playing and making music with other young people passionate about music, I came back feeling full and excited! I so wanted to continue. … But slowly I forgot about it again. Cajón and percussion got buried in the 1000 other threads as I became distracted.
It took more than 10 years for the drum to come back, this time through an ex-boyfriend. He knew I loved it but I never found the time or energy to practice. So he bought me a Cajón to have at home. I was staring at it and it was staring at me for 2 years. It was hard to find the impulse to play with it on my own.
After breaking up with him and continuing with the 1000 other threads, I found a class for adults to learn Cajón in Murcia (my home town and where I´m based right now) and didn´t doubt it. I signed up! This was only 3 years ago.
It started as just a place to unplug from the daily stress and fast speed rhythm of multitasking with 20 different projects. In this hour, I had to put all my attention into one thing: following, understanding and practicing the rhythm pattern the teachers were showing us. Letting the fingers and hands copy first and then flow on their own. It was actually a moving...READ MORE
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NOTHING MORE. NOTHING LESS. A DANCE. by Meghan LeBorious, based on an interview with 5Rhythms teacher Tanya Goldman, New York City
Tanya and I shared a workshop this weekend that was focused on the 5Rhythms emotional map, Heartbeat. At one point, we were working with the emotion of anger, and the room was explosive. We were instructed to line up at one end of the room and several sets of partners at a time would cross the floor to the other side, expressing the emotion of anger with our bodies.
One issue I’ve personally been working with is how to know when to help people and when not to, and how I relate internally to those two options. In fact, in a Sunday class the week before, a man had come in with a walker and paused at the side of the dance floor. I happened to be near him and asked if he wanted a chair. He was irate: “Why would I need a chair? There’s nothing wrong with me!”
Although I have never discussed it with Tanya, I wonder if, because of her disability, she has to contend constantly with people projecting their ideas of what her experience is and should be onto her. When I was pregnant in 2009-2010, I struggled with the visibility of my pregnant body and how much people wanted to tell me about my experience. I felt like a walking screen for everyone’s projections, and that if I heard one more birth horror story I might possibly harm someone.
With Tanya, I want to be available to help, but also don’t want to insult her by offering, and sometimes I get myself tangled in stories about helping/not helping instead of simply trusting myself to communicate effectively and do what’s needed. When we were lining up in the anger exercise, Tanya, who happened to be next to me, turned to me and shook her head, blinking her eyes and looking unhappy. “Does this feel like too much?” I asked. She nodded. “Do you want me to get you a chair?” She nodded again. I carried a chair over, placed it off to the side, and she sat down. The week before, I’d shared a dance with a broken-ankled friend who needed to stay seated, and, deep in a vigorous chaos, she had traveled laterally at least ten feet without harming the floor surface at all. Recalling this, I asked...READ MORE
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VIDEO
SPRING AWAKENING by Heeraa Sazevich, Utah & California
As new sprouts make their way towards the spring sun, their journey reflects the creative process that is the 5Rhythms. Tuning into the season, we energize our own flowering and growth. Joyous spring to you!
#danceanywhere
#danceeverywhere
FLOW: A seed that has been dormant through the winter begins to feel into the dark, receptive mother earth, sending down roots to anchor and nourish itself. It undulates and luxuriates in its unfolding. The earth cradles and yields in support of this awakening life force. “Who am I? What is this energy pulsing through me? I am hungry to feel into this inquiry. I love to move!”
STACCATO: As the sun’s heat energizes the seedling, it gathers strength to push up and out of the earth, breaking free from confinement. Leaves shoot out to maximize growth. It zooms like an arrow towards the light. The plant says “Hello sunshine, hello world! I am showing up! I’m feeling alive!”....READ MORE
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CONSENT IN A CURRENT CULTURE by Bella Dreizler, California
What’s alive in current culture always shows up on the dance floor. The issue of consent, especially of consent to touch, is no exception. Not that this topic hasn’t been lurking since time began. Over the years holding space for dance, I’ve been called to counsel boundary issues more than once. Mind you, in all my personal years as a student on dance floors around the world never, not once, have I had an issue with someone overstepping my bounds. So what does that tell you? You’d be on track if you guessed I have super-clear boundaries. Sometimes too clear.
Please understand I am talking about what happens on a dance floor...READ MORE
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DANCE PARADE NYC! This year marks the 5Rhythms 10th anniversary in the Annual Dance Parade and we welcome you to join the NYC 5Rhythms Tribe dancing down Broadway and across Saint Marks! This year the parade's theme is MOVEMENT OF THE PEOPLE which recognizes the vital role dance serves for health and culture. With over 80 unique styles it includes all peoples and cultures, all rhythms, styles and ages...READ MORE
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Talking Sticks is a 10-minute moving meditation through the body parts, guided by Jonathan Horan, to the percussion of Talking Sticks from the album Tribe. You can stream it free on the 5Rhythms App (Apple & Android) or purchase at Raven Recording.
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Community is the next Buddha
- Thich Nhat Hahn
The 5Rhythms community is a 21st century collective unbound by history, culture, race, religion, gender or politics. We are bound by the beat, following our feet on a dancing path to freedom. We are beat-driven, service-oriented, heart-based individuals who come together to embrace our tribal longings.
The measure of a community is its respect for the wisdom of its elders, the innocence of its children, the passion of its artists, and the hope of its healers.
We are committed to inspiring and serving these roots and wings of community.
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is co-curated by
Morgan Nichols and Morgan Rae
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