The 5Rhythms® is an established movement practice, often known as “the Wave”, created by Gabrielle Roth .
The five “rhythms” are: Flow, Staccato, Chaos, Lyrical, Stillness – universal energies she discovered during years of watching and teaching other people. “I kept seeing certain patterns of movement repeating themselves, and eventually I could name each one,” she says. “Then I saw that these five rhythms formed a wave of energy that was a map to all creative efforts, a map to ecstasy and spiritual release.”
The 5Rhythms help us move beyond self-consciousness to a restorative connection with our body and our life force. They are grounded in moving with breath. Breath catalyses fludity; when we let it in, feelings, thoughts and muscles all move.
There are weekly classes, regular workshops and advanced intensive study, so that the level, the pace and the regularity of practice can be chosen by each student. The best way to understand these rhythms is to come to a class or workshop and directly experience them. Whilst prose cannot adequately convey body sensation, keywords for each rhythm are shown on the 5Rs map.
Each of the 5 individual rhythms focuses on a particular simple movement quality rather than specific steps. This gives sufficient structure in a class to make dance highly accessible to all regardless of age or experience and sufficient freedom to reduce the pressure of “getting it right”.
In this practise you become able to move what you experience, you are never dancing the ‘wrong’ thing, but are supported through the discipline of each rhythm to embody, express, release and follow through your own energy and momentum.
Advanced students describe the 5Rhythms as a moving meditation which allows them to shift inertia, transform stuck emotions, and gain perspective. The result is experienced in daily life – feeling both calmer and more fully alive; mentally, physically, emotionally and spiritually.
Sometimes small, sometimes big , this dance form teaches the art of expressing and so renewing everday innate vitality. Such practices are a rich source of everyday well being, fundamental for full health; emotional, mental and physical.