AFRO-BRAZILIAN DANCE AND JEWISH NIGGUNIM in SYNERGY: Personal Development with Voice and Movement

Joint project of Rosaria Gracia & Polina Shepherd - Funded by the Arts Council of England.Observer: Dr. Rose Fuhrmann

“I feel more alive”

“ I needed some power today and I got it from Xango.”

“The ongoing music helped me get into the rhythm.”

“I felt true pride. There was a trance like quality.”

“I feel I have more fluidity and spontaneity ”.

The sessions are devised to help participants to open up to experiences and feelings through the use of movement and song. The project (varies from a short 3-hour workshop to a course of 10 sessions) also offers the genuine characteristic of Afro-Brazilian traditional dances, evoking the Candomble divinities; and Jewish wordless songs (niggunim) to explore hidden aspects within each person. No previous dance or singing experience required.

Participants mentioned that they enjoyed the experience very much and felt energised combining both the movement and the singing. On a physical level, some participants even mentioned an easing of joints and a release of tension.
Participants were also interested in learning a bit more about these both cultures which are presented in Synergy to explore rhythm and basic human feelings.
This project also presents the basis to track record and provide data of evidence to colloborate what it has already been done in similar projects before and what is achieved in this particular project, in terms of health, well-being, changes of behavioural patterns.

AFRO-BRAZILIAN TRADITION

Physical/cognitive/emotional/spiritual knowledge – embodied through dance behaviour – has been greatly belittled and often devalued (Daniel, 2005).
By examining specific dance/music tradition, this project is able to analyse and present performance including aspects which belong to the disciplines of physiology, psychology, history, religion, ethics… The exploration of rhythms, representing divinities with very tangible characteristics (Oxum: beauty, Yemanja: motherhood, Yansa: feminine strength, Xango: masculine strength, Ogum: warrior values), opens the door for the participants to feel the stored knowledge that their bodies have, to connect with it, to bond the physical action and the emotional activity and to understand that one is the resultant expression of the whole.

JEWISH TRADITION

Niggunim are the age old Jewish “songs without words”. They form a part of Jewish worship that enables the singer (either solo or in groups) to bring about a change in consciousness. This change in consciousness is known as “Dveykes”, or “union with (cleaving to) God”. This state of ecstasy is attained by singing the melody for anything up To one hour, when a state of trance and bliss is reached. Using niggunim, the participants are invited through Jewish healing melodies, to tap into deeply enlightening and powerful sources of
energy present within themselves. Using improvisational techniques within the niggunim, each individual finds a way to express themselves through their own musical language. The workshop also shows how a group (or community) is more than equal to the sum of its parts.
No previous experience of improvised singing required

TEACHERS:
Rosaria Gracia (Brighton, UK)

Carnival performer and choreographer, involved in performance/teaching carnival and Brazilian art forms over the last six years. An important aspect of her work is participation and agency: her work is influenced by the fusion of dance styles and cultural experiences and the audiences’ taste in music and movement.

POLINA SHEPHERD (Kazan, Russia/ now Brighton, UK) See homepage

STRUCTURE OF WORKSHOPS (3 hours)

Introduction (15 minutes) The tutors present the general idea of the workshop and give basic information about sources and history of the project. Participants are invited to introduce themselves, ask questions and to express their expectations.

Movement (1 hour) The session commence with the story of a certain god or goddess which helps to guide the exploration of a certain feeling (i.e. anger, beauty, motherhood, power, conquest, happiness) followed by the interpretation of that god/goddess steps at the rhythm of drums.Students are guided by the tutor to start with and encouraged to interpret the feeling with their own steps following the music.
After this sequence, a simple routine is taught to wrap up this part of the workshop. Conclude the session with the padding on people’s bodies (exercise in 3s).

Tea break (15 minutes)

Singing (1 hour) Starting with a brief explanation of the role of the nign within Jewish culture the students learn a tune by ear. Slowly developing harmonic and melodic variants each student individually and collectively accesses their own creativity and inner feelings through singing.

Wrap up session (15 minutes) In this session we put together the dancing and the singing. Start as a guided process by the tutors to finish with a spontaneous form.

Feedback (15 minutes) The group shares their thoughts about workshop experience.