There are several reasons that led me to search about the combination of voice and movement as a therapeutic tool and a way to face issues that restrict my practice such as:
•a form of feedback for free, functional movement and breathing
1. Fitzmaurice voicework exercises to release tension
2. Voice Movement Therapy - Breathing Techniques by Gina Holloway Mulder
3. Exercise to clarify core engagement-stability vs "drawing belly in" by Nicola Krämer
4. Active Breathing by Patricia Bardi
5. Voice & Movement practice by Stopgap Company
6. Vox Yoga by Rosie Secker
7. Somatic Vocal Toning Chakra Exercises by Ruth Ratliff
For the past few years, I have been intrigued by the idea of combining voice and movement in my practice and creative projects. I was finding quite challenging to find enough resources, especially videos from such works. I started discovering practitioners that involve both elements in their process and reading about them but still it is hard to find works that I can watch using both. One of the most interesting practitioners I encountered was Orly Portal who is also a Voice and Movement therapist, but I haven't found any accesible video material using this combination out of her works. Another one is Aoife McAtamney, who is working with vocal movement and giving workshops based on this idea but again I am facing a lack of resources or published works where the combination of these two elements is represented. Then the two well known practitioners Meredith Monk and Roy Hart have also been a source of inspiration for my future aspirations. Another two practitioners that I encountered during my research were Liz Kinoshita and Paolo Cingolani who is member of Julyen Hamilton's company ALLEN'S LINE working with voice and movement as well. As I kept trying to deepen my knowledge, I also found the combination of voice and movement it several traditions' rituals such as African Tribes, and Samoan/Maori using slap dance. I started realizing that body percussion, which also has therapeutic benefits, is often the connecting point between voice and movement along with breath that I am currently exploring. From this point, I got to know Sandy Silva who is working with body percussion, voice and movement, and has created the amazing Migration Dance Film Project, Keith Terry who also has formed his own educational method for teaching body music, Stomps that are using body music and movement, Bobby McFerrin who is working with vocal improvisation using sounds/words that don't necessarily make logical sense but are free expression of the moment which made me link this with Fitzmaurice approach to vocalization, and finally Kate Hilder who is working with Feldenkrais and Action Theatre, another very interesting way to combine those elements.
While admiring all these artists and their works, the challenging process of finding accessible material and the often use of voice and movement in a way that one takes most of the weight in a project or the seperation between performers that produce sound and performers that produce movement, inspire me to experiment with equal propostions of the two elements in a way that the same performers will produce both sound and movement at the same time. This is my main future aspiration, and discovering methods that use the combination of voice and movement as a therapeutic tool makes it seem more possible to happen, in the sense of being a result of an organic and non forced process.
