5Rhythms®

What are the 5Rhythms®?

The 5Rhythms® comprise of a simple movement practice designed to release the dancer that lives in everybody, no matter what shape, size, age limitation and experience. To find your dance is to find yourself, at your most fluid and creative level. While the practice itself is the essence of simplicity, it has the power to catalyze deep healing and creative expression. The primary teaching of this work is: If you put the psyche in motion, it will heal itself.

The five rhythms are Flowing, Staccato, Chaos, Lyrical and Stillness. They come together to create the Wave, a movement meditation practice. Rather than having steps to follow, each rhythm is a different energy field in which you find your own expression and choreography, thereby stretching your imagination as well as your body. Each rhythm is a teacher and you can expect to meet different and sometimes unknown aspect of yourself as your dance unfolds and your practice of the rhythms deepens over time.

The rhythms are the foundation of Gabrielle Roth’s body of work, a series of healing maps for the body, heart mind, soul and spirit that provide a lifetime of self-discovery and a path to awakening. The 5Rhythms® practice starts you on that journey and is the place to which you will always return. For more information about the 5Rhythms® click here.

Through Raven Recording, Gabrielle Roth and Robert Ansell produced percussion driven music in the early eighties to support the 5Rhythms as a dance practice. Each rooted in one or all of the 5Rhythms, capturing the spirit of the drumming that drives and inspires you to dance at home or tune into your dance while driving the freeways of necessity. For more information about Raven Recording click here

How Do I Begin?

  • Go at your own pace

  • Be responsible for your own body by staying aware of injuries and limitations

  • Keep your eyes open to stay aware of others

  • Dance barefoot or dance shoes only - no socks on the dance floor

  • Move how you feel and stay open to changing

  • Know that everything that is alive has a dance find and express yours

  • Enjoy yourself! Excessive seriousness may slow you down