The use of voice and movement as a therapeutic and creative tool
(last edited: 2025)
author(s): ASPASIA MARMARITSAKI
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In this practice-based research, I am exploring the co-existence and interaction of voice, breath, and movement in my practice for both healing-therapeutic and artistic-creative purposes. I consider it important because, as humans as well as practitioners, we use both of these tools that are components of our body to perform as a whole, and they have lots of mutual needs but also lots of ways that they inform each other either consciously or subconsciously. This idea started as a way to work on personal concerns but then inspired me to think of it as a methodology that could expand outwards. A set of tools that, after seeing how they can help me connect deeper with my body and improve on challenges I encounter, could apply to other people too; not only with the same or similar concerns, but in general other people who are interested in the organic use of the body, the therapeutic tools that we can create by extracting elements from within our body, and the re-formation of a healthy and respectful approach towards the use of our body which extends, consequently, to the re-finding of awareness and enjoyment while we practice. So, summing up, I am interested in exploring the ways in which voice and movement inform each other, the therapeutic benefits out of this process, and the feedback they can provide for each other in terms of their functional use.
The choice of this topic is the result of realizations that my recent injury led me to as far as they way I am using my body is concerned. So, it seems to me like a way to reconnect with my body in a more sensitive and mindful way. I look at it as a natural medicine for my body, mind, soul, and practice. As a way to create a practice for recovery but also for prevention and at the same time a source of inspiration.
Starting from the creation of a deeper connection within ourselves and a healthier approach towards our practice, I feel that this process results in more concentration, presence, enjoyment, and relief; elements that can make a significant difference in performance, choreographic process, training, practice, and education.
Conscious breath, functional breath, breath that can facilitate the movement, movement that can facilitate the use of voice, and vice versa, are the parameters of the practice that are being explored through improvisational tasks.
I am aiming at the development of a set of tasks from and for the practitioner, either this is the researcher or someone else who applies this method on themselves and the essential purpose is to discover what feels right for each body with no attachment to aesthetic parameters nor perfection of any kind. Background knowledge can be a support, but occurring knowledge during the practice is what I am mostly interested in.
