Soul Windows is the name that came to me when I was working with collage-making inspired by dancing and teaching the 5Rhythms. Knowing the catalytic effect dancing has had, I recognised that everyone could be uniquely creative when given the space, time and permission to be so.
Whilst teaching the dance I have seen so many fabulous costumes and fabrics - the inspired Zen altars and multicoloured theatre - I wanted to explore the process of freeing The Artist. I knew that continued investigation of the 5Rhythms had freed The Dancer in me, and had observed it a thousand times in my students. The freedom of movement and expression of emotions has been truly inspiring. Having worked with poetry and ritual theatre, I felt drawn to add the visual arts to this process - revealing the Self, both to oneself and shared with others. Using a combination of painting and dancing, we will work alone and in pairs, write and move in response to the images that emerge from the dance. These are ways to look inside, to feel and acknowledge what we find there and to view something of our true Selves - like looking through Soul Windows.
This work is not meant to teach you to paint, but to build and exercise your artistic creativity. The dance will encourage you to be more grounded in your body, to breathe and move, and then listen to what is going on inside. We will exercise our physical, emotional and spiritual muscles – using the bones of the 5Rhythms as a framework. I want to encourage the eyes of the witness, not the critic; the spirit of the child, not the judge. I want us to dare to reveal ourselves, to receive ourselves, and to dance with whatever we find alive and moving within us. The paintings will be moments captured in time, reflecting mirrors of how and who we are.
This series of one-day workshops, each combining both painting and dancing, is available to anyone who has danced the 5Rhythms before with a trained teacher. Each day stands alone, and can be booked singly. If all five days are booked in advance I will offer a substantial discount. The group will be limited to 12 people, so early booking is recommended.
