Why "Sound in Movement"

Sound in Movement is a project that I was inspired by my friend harpist Lidia, the beautiful lady in this picture.

As passionate about music and dance I struggle when I feel the need to become sound in the body of a dancer and movement embodied into the music.. Then I realized that there is no way for me to distinguish between the two of them, I can’t choose to play music or make a sound on my drum without feeling the movement.. even if there is not an evident dance step I feel the vibrations, the fluctuation at a deepest level..

Lately I understood why.

But first let’s have a step back..

Historic view

Since ancient times music and movement where deeply connected.

In Mesopotamia, lyres, drums and harp were the main instruments played not just for performance but as a way to connect the realm to the divinities. During these ceremonies a group of dancers used to accompany the music through “processional dances” (parades to honor the deities) and “fertility dances” linked to agriculture cycles.

In ancient Egypt the Goddess Hathor was associated to both music and dance (together with fertility and childbirth). At that time music founded its way into many contexts: temples, palaces, workshops, farms, battlefields and the tomb and it was an integral part of religious worship as well.

In ancient Greece the word for dance was “choros” that gives the roots to the word “choir” referring to a musical ensemble of singers. In the classical period ( 5th - 4th centuries) dancing was a component of religious festivals frequently accompanied to choral singing and playing of musical instruments. In specific, dance, music and ecstatic trance were performed to honor the god Dionysos.

And is exactly in ancient Greece that “music therapy” was originated:

- Apollo was the associated to music and medicine (the god was often represented with a lyre)

- Plato wrote and taught music as an education and therapeutic tool

- Aristotle discussed how music could be used for leisure and relaxation and to purify the soul

- Pythagoras who also focused on the physics of music studying the harmonics, wrote about how the soul can reach catharsis through the music…

(reference: https://blogs.ifas.ufl.edu)

According to some philosophies (and religions) the universe was created in a sound. In Hinduism they believe that god Shiva created the Universe playing the drum, which sound was considered the only sound of creation while he was performing a cosmic dance…

And much more..

Biological view

As we zoom in within our body and we observe how cells react when they are impacted from an acoustic sound we will notice a sort of movement of the energy field around them. In 1981 Fabien Mamam a musician, healer, researcher that first introduced the tuning forks instead of needles on acupuncture command points, discovered that the color and shape of each cell and its subtle energy field (Aura) changed according to the pitch and timbre of each musical note.

In addition he discovered that when the cell felt a ‘vibratory affinity’ with a certain note, the cell’s aura would transform into a mandala shape with vibrant colors such as pink and blue. Fabien concluded this was the cell’s ‘fundamental note’, and if the person ‘tuned’ with it, harmony could be achieved within the cells, the energy field of the person and the outside world. ( book: “The role of Music in the 21st century”).

So “Sound & Movement” together…

The therapeutic effect of both sound and movement begins when we start walking across the doors of the unconscious mind, exploring the immense world we carry within that is exactly the mirror of what we project outside in the shape of reality... touching our deepest unveiled emotions...