4
TO MAY 26
Level 1-3 Events, Level 3-5 Events, Re-Wilding The Voice, Yearlongs
Wild Voice, Solid Roots
Mon, Oct 4, 20219:00 AM Thu, May 26, 20225:30 PM
An 8 month online study of voice, improvisation and vocal musicianship, at beginner-advanced levels.
Improvise freely, and rigorously. Wild Voice sessions work with improvisation, the Resonant Body method for voice cultivation, collaboration, healing, growth, the spiritual aspects of improvisation, community and mutual support.
The Solid Roots sessions work with rhythm, melody and harmony for 6h each (in 6 class modules), to cultivate the solid vocal musicianship roots underpinning the musical quality of your improvisation - aka your “chops”.
My first improvisation teacher was the Indian Classical Violinist Atulkumar Upadhye,
“When we improvise”, he said, “the God train comes through. If we’re lucky, we host the God train, and surrender to it."
“When you’re a practicing musician, you’re a humble carpenter making train tracks. Repeating, measuring, planing, sanding. It’s an act of devotion. The more train tracks you lay, the further the God train can go.”
The Solid Roots sessions are humble carpentry. Through them, we cultivate our neuromuscular capacities - we literally grow neural networks and muscular subtlety - and we become better, and better, and better, musicians. Watch out. It can get addictive and take over your life……
In the Wild Voice sessions we work towards surrendering to “the God train” with our voices through the delicious art form of improvisation.
Briony Greenhill has been a music teacher for 10 years, and teaches vocal musicianship levels 1-4 to singers ranging from complete beginners to Guildhall music teachers, successful choir leaders and international touring artists.
Taught on Zoom.
Dates
Solid Roots - Mondays
Rhythm: Oct 4, 11, 18; Nov 8, 15, 22.
TAMM (Tone, Agility, Melody, Mode): Jan 10, 17, 24, 31, Feb 7, 21
Harmony: Mar 14, 21, 28, Apr 11, 18, 25.
Times
Beginner: 5-6pm UK, 9-10am Pacific, 6-7pm France
Intermediate: 6.15-7.15pm UK, 10.15-11.15am Pacific, 7.15-8.15pm France
Advanced: 7.30-8.30pm UK, 11.30am-12.30pm Pacific. 8.30-9.30pm France
U.S. times will change on March 14 and 21 due to clock change differences.
What Level am I?
Beginner is Levels 1-2, Intermediate is levels 2-3, Advanced is levels 3-4. More info.
Wild Voice - Thursdays
New students: Oct 7, 21, Nov 4, 18, Dec 2, Jan 13, 20; Feb 3, 17, Mar 17, 31, Apr 21, May 5, 19.
Experienced Students: Sep 30, Oct 28, Nov 25, Jan 27, Feb 24, Mar 24, Apr 7, 28; May 26.
Times: 7-9pm UK, 11-1pm Pacific, 8-10pm France.
U.S. times will change on Nov 4 and Mar 24 due to clock change differences.
Midwinter singing rituals: Dec 21st and Dec 31st 2021, times to follow.
Experienced students are students who have done an extended program with me in person or online.
New students have not studied with me previously, or have done just one or two weekends. If you’ve done one week, you’re borderline between the two groups; it’s up to you if you want to re-do basics and meet more frequently (new students), or jump in the deep end, self organise, and meet with me more rarely (experienced students).
Options
There are a few options.
Packages
The 8 month program is £40 / month for experienced students and £60/month for new students, comprising:
3 Solid Roots courses, 18 sessions total
New students, 2 Wild Voice classes a month, 14 total
Experienced students, 1 Wild Voice session a month, 8 total
Optional: 2 midwinter singing rituals on Solstice and New Years, Dec 21 and 31, timing tbc.
Optional extra; Annual pass to new event series, Call Off The Thought and Sing! (work in progress web page), tickets £8/ event, get an annual pass for an extra £5 / month (50% discount). So £65 / month new students, and £45 / month experienced students.
A La Carte
If you want to do just one aspect of the course, you could do:
Just one of the Solid Roots 6 week courses, at £75 per course: Rhythm, Melody, Harmony
Just the Experienced Students Reconnection sessions; £15 drop in or £100 for the 8 month series.
Just the Wild Voice sessions for newer students: £100 autumn term, £80 winter term, £100 spring term.
For questions contact info@brionygreenhill.com. (I don’t have an admin person at present so thank you for your patience with my correspondence.)
26
TO JUN 1
Upper Mouth, Lower Mouth
Wed, Jan 26, 20226:00 PM Wed, Jun 1, 20227:30 PM
With Briony Greenhill, Reine Kabban and Leela Stephanie
A 5-month weekly online series
Wednesdays 6 - 7.30pm UK, 10-11.30am Pacific, 7-8.30pm France
(All quotes are from the anonymous feedback forms from the first Upper Mouth, Lower Mouth)
“My sexual energy is at an all time high”
“I can actually feel her now, which is amazing”
“AYYYYYYYYYY YAHHHHHH BABBBBBBAYYYY! I love it, I love it, I love it!”
“I love how creative, alive and connected I feel after getting into my body”
Use singing and dancing to clear blockages from the voice and pelvis
Cultivate more freedom of expression
Increase pleasure and aliveness
“Release of pelvic tension, a sense of freedom and a wonderful shared experience with other women!”
“I felt the entire program was held with a lot of integrity and care, thank you.”
“My yoni felt like it could open and I could connect deeper with myself”
“I enjoyed the fun and play of it all.”
Resonant Body Voice work
Belly Dancing
Twerking
Sensual dancing
And Improvised Singing
Chimney sweeping the core of you, clearing out shame, limitation, inhibition and blockages
invigorating your life, relighting your fire!
“I am less abashed in inhabiting the larger and lower, the more primal sounds of my voice. AND I LOVE IT”
“I allow myself more and more to speak my truth”
“Each time we got into our bodies through the pelvis and twerking I felt SO MUCH more expansive, alive and creative. Halle-fucking-lujah!”
“I feel I have been speaking more of my truth. I have given myself permission to sound whenever it is needed and not be embarrassed. I have a deeper sense of the intense healing that can come from my voice and the voice of others.”
The upper and lower mouths, two gateways to the core of us, are frequently veiled in shame and blocked by trauma.
The unveiling of that shame, at either end, brings great joy and pleasure. Both mouths are connected, in their shaming and limitation, and in their reclaiming.
BOOK NOW - EARLY BIRD / ALL IN ONE
The Lower Mouth and Female Sexuality
The pelvis frequently houses trauma from our sexual and reproductive experience. Stored trauma from the past dampens today’s aliveness and pleasure. Resonant Body voice work is a method to heal pelvic trauma. We can invite the voice into the pelvis and use the voice as a way to discover what the pelvis is holding, to channel and express emotion, and be a conduit for dialogue between the body and mind.
Pelvic dance arts of Belly Dancing and Twerking are available to everyone - particularly in the privacy of Zoom! They build up the fitness of the pelvic muscles, practice movements that stimulate pleasure within the body, and spread that pleasure around the body.
Our capacity for pleasure can grow and dim at different points in life. There are times it is naturally abundant, and other times when we are wise to actively tend and nurture the body’s capacity for pleasure; women throughout the ages have used dance arts for this, alone and together.
In intimacy, pleasure energy is shared between partners. The more pleasure arises in your own body, the more you will turn your partner on, back and forth it goes, and you will both enjoy more pleasure together. Your capacity to generate and feel pleasure is a variable in life, and pelvic dance arts really help.
In short, you as a woman can lead sexual enhancement in your relationship/s - including with yourself! - through your capacity to generate and experience pleasure within your own body; which will turn your partner on, they will turn you on, and together you will have more turn on, and hotter sex. This is equally true for self pleasure.
Meanwhile, energetically, pleasure travels through the central column of our body between the upper and lower mouths. This channel can easily become blocked.
We often store our undigested feelings in the body, and it creates areas of numbness. The Resonant Body method takes breath, awareness, voice and sensitisation throughout the body from the pelvis to the head, and gradually enters and clears blocked and numbed areas of the body. This can involve a release of trauma and grief. It sounds difficult, but there can be a bitter sweetness to these feelings, which actually feels a lot better than the dull numb suffering of stuffing them down and carrying them around everywhere. And it moves: given the right acknowledgement, care, compassion and expression; it moves on, leaving fresh renewal in its place.
The result of this clearing is that you are an open channel through your core.
This enables you to improvise freely in your singing, express yourself authentically, and have coherence and integrity in your person. It also makes you an open channel for sexual energy, connection, and pleasure.
Watch out! It’s powerful!
Teachers Briony Greenhill (Voice, Improvisation, Resonant Body), Reine Kabban (Belly Dance) and Leela Stephanie (Twerking and sensual dance) draw from personal experience and the artforms to which each is devoted. We have all been through our own yoni healing, pelvic trauma and sexual liberation journeys. All three women are artists, teachers, healers, with good trauma literacy, and priestess aspects, i.e. we lead spirituality in community.
This will be a confidential group of adult women of all ages. You can always mute and turn off your video if you feel shy.
These mouths, and the centre line that runs between them, are at the core of us. It’s precious.
What about the face? Well, that can be our research topic. One friend says:
“The most profound for me was the tension that went out of my jaw, in particular the connection of my lower jaw to the skull - the tmj. There was a lot of tension for me, and that is connected to the hips and the yoni. I noticed that the more I was moving into pleasure, yoni healing and lots of de-armouring, the more my jaw would relax. That would take a lot of tension out of my whole face, and that led to a softening of my expression and my facial tissue. Not that it got saggy! Not at all. Just a softening. I feel the feminine and the softness comes through so much more when the face is relaxed and there’s a natural sense of peace and bliss in the face and expression. That is also what I see happening in others when they are opening into their sexuality and pleasure.” - Isabel
I (Briony) work with several voice students with chronic jaw tension and it increasingly strikes me that, by just working with the upper mouth, we are missing half the picture.
Women, welcome to our whole selves, healthy, lush, de-shamed, sharable, the sources of nourishment and delight that they are designed to be. Welcome to Eden.
We may not start there, but we sure hope to get there :)
Our sessions together will involve singing, dancing, talking and listening. The sessions do not involve nudity, self pleasure or orgasms during the workshop. You will be given a reading list and encouraged to explore things in your own privacy, if you want to.
About The Teachers
Reine Kabban
💖 Reine is a performing and teaching, fully trained dancer in Classical Belly Dance, Tribal Fusion and ATS (American Tribal System). She's been training and performing for 6 years and teaching for over 3 years. She has a background in yoga, meditation, and breath work for more than 15 years, including 2 years living and training in an ashram.
She currently holds regular retreats in womb work, s✨xual healing, woman empowerment, emotional release through voice and movement, and so much more.
She holds space very naturally, with depth and ease, creating a powerful journey with softness and poise. She is simply herself and gives permission to those in her space to claim themselves too. To be wild, be daring, be raw, be sensual, just be 💖
“I LOVED my intro to belly dancing and Reine’s gorgeous hot witch straight-talking no shit teaching, all stirred in the juicy pot of ancestral and grandmotherly wisdom”
“Very deep and sensual energy and vibe”
“I really admire Reine and the way she embodies her pleasure. It is so helpful in terms of permission giving to practice. It was so delicious to be in her presence and learning with her.”
Leela Stephanie
Also called the « Twerking Yogini », Leela Stephanie is a Conscious Sensual Arts teacher, performer, healer and coach. With over 8 years of teaching pole dance and other sensual and sports arts, she uniquely combines this experience with her academic and yogic background.
In 2016, she brilliantly finished her Masters Degree at the University of Geneva with her thesis on Becoming Oneself through Sexualized and Racialized Dances with the cases of pole dance and twerk, research that catalysed the transformational and empowering benefits of these practices.
With her experience and trainings in Yoga, Meditation, Tantra, Temple Arts, Reiki and Yoni healing, Leela develops her own approach towards healing and awaking one own’s sexual energy. With loving presence and playfulness, she facilitates individual and collective spiritual, sexual and shamanic journeys into discovering, healing and shining one’s unique free, authentic and sexy Self.
“Leela was uninhibited, encouraging and inviting in her teaching. Her excitement and voluptuous nature is infectious and makes “trying” more awkward movements and embodiments easier”
“There were some bomb drops of wisdom”
“I loved how Leela was teaching it with so much joy and fun. It released a lot of anxiety and brought a lot of joy.”
“I loved Leela’s vibrant and open energy.”
Briony Greenhill
Briony Greenhill is an artist and teacher who supports healing and transformation through voice and improvisation. She teaches internationally, is creator of the Resonant Body method, a recording and performing artist, and a SomaSource Leader.
“SomaSource Leaders are body-centered psycho-spiritual educators, artists, activists, and healers who have an integrated understanding of how to creatively work in developmentally attuned and culturally sensitive ways with diverse people throughout life's cycles.” - Golden Bridge.
Briony’s students have said:
“It was deeper than an Ayahuasca Ceremony; I grew more than in workshops with leading psychologists, and it’s the safest I’ve ever felt in a group.”
“I’m discovering a reservoir of power”
“I genuinely think now that I have released something monumental. I feel as if this black mass that I've carried all my life has lifted. Thank you for bringing me to a place where I can work to uncover bits of myself that I’m longing for; that’s what the work does.”
“Briony is empathetic, open and wise. I loved every exercise and getting out of the comfy zone.”
“It was amazing to have so many different exercises to play with the voice and the body. I loved Briony’s way of teaching and giving the space that was needed for each of us. I felt really safe.”
“The experience created a safe, playful space for me to explore and befriend my voice.”
“I love her amazing ability to create such an intimate, safe, inspiring space where I really felt the wish to explore my voice more - in a balanced fun and deep way at the same time. Loved her honesty about her own story and the need to accompany other women in this discovery.”
BOOK NOW - EARLY BIRD / ALL IN ONE
Course Structure
90 minutes weekly for 5 months, Jan 26 - June 1st 2022, with no class on March 9 and April 20.
6-7.30pm UK, 7-8.30pm France, 10-11.30am Pacific.
Sessions will be recorded but are much better when attended live.
The structure:
- 26 Jan, 1 June, opening and closing sessions. Then:
5 weeks Belly Dance with Reine (Feb 2- Mar 2)
5 weeks Voice and Improvisation with Briony (Mar 16 - Apr 13)
5 weeks Twerking and Sensual Dance with Leela (April 27 - May 25)
Always 15-20 mins of singing after the dancing sessions
Reading list with home exercises detailed in the literature
Buddy support pairs
An Upper Mouth, Lower Mouth sisterhood Facebook group, involving sharing, support, questions and video responses from the teachers.
Registration closes 25 January.
We intend to do a 5 day in-person retreat, probably in Malta, in autumn 2022. Registration not yet open.
“I am so deeply grateful”
“Massive gratitude for putting this course together, the combination is inspired!”
“Thank you Briony, Reine and Leela!!! You women Rock!”
16
TO FEB 20
Intermediate - Advanced CVI Retreat
Wed, Feb 16, 20226:30 PM Sun, Feb 20, 20222:30 PM
CVI students at Coed co-create an Equinox singing ritual
Eden Rise, Totnes, Devon - residential and non-residential options. Fully catered, very healthy, mostly organic.
Collaborative Vocal Improvisation is Brilliant.
This is a 4-day retreat for experienced singers. That might mean you are or have been a performer, keen chorister, choir leader, singer songwriter, that kind of thing. You might not have a lot of experience in improvisation - that’s partly what we’re up to. Folks who have already done a year-long with me, it’s not that you can’t come to this, but this isn’t tailored precisely for you. This is more for experienced singers who want to dive deeply into improvised singing, collaborative and solo, perhaps for the first time.
We’ll dive deep into this artform that was pioneered by Rhiannon, Bobby McFerrin, Voicestra and WeBe3 - here is some history. And then developed by their students, among them me, Briony. You can see examples of CVI in albums like Remembering and Listen. It’s a different approach to singing from composition. Relaxing into the void, and learning to flow with what comes through, alone or with others.
Improvisation can be applied to ritual, performance, composition, community and professional singing, healing and group leadership. It’s relatively new in the UK but growing. Join the movement!
During these 4 days we’ll work with vocal development, the resonant body, improvising with lyrics, sound baskets, holding the emotional and healing aspects the artform tends to raise; wilding the voice; becoming more comfortable with the full power and vulnerability of the voice; relaxing into deep love with your own voice, moving beyond things that might be in the way of that. Supporting one another on the journey. And becoming really good improvisers!
Studying improvisation is typically a multi-year journey - it was for me. Doing it in chunks of 3-7 days at a time seems to be the way, alongside your own evolving relationship with it.
Here we go!
Dates and times
Wed 16th February
4.pm onwards - arrive and settle in
6.30pm - dinner
8-9pm - opening circle
Thursday - Saturday
10am - 5.30pm with 90 min lunch breaks
Saturday night - Wildlings Cabaret
Sunday 10.30 - 1.30
Then lunch and tidy up / pack down. Estimated leaving time about 3 / 3.30pm.
Often yoga / dance before breakfast
Alcohol free retreat
Public sugar dissuaded - minimalist approach to sugar
Price
£425 - including teaching, accommodation, 3 healthy organic meals per day + snacks, hot drinks and (hopefully… venue hasn’t completely confirmed it will be open) Sauna.
2 assistant places are available at £325
Non residential but including food - -£105.
Non residential with just lunch / some meals but not others - to be worked out.
Stay in Van - - £53
5
TO MAR 6
A Beginner-Intermediate Intro to Collaborative Vocal Improvisation
Sat, Mar 5, 202210:00 AM Sun, Mar 6, 20224:00 PM
An intro to CVI I led at Northern California Dance Camp, 2015. Photo by Rishio
Ashprington Village Hall, nr Totnes, Devon, UK
Saturday 10am-4.30pm
Sunday 10.30am - 4pm
(Please arrive 15 mins early to settle in as we’ll start promptly.)
Collaborative Vocal Improvisation (CVI) is a thrilling, inspiring, challenging, ancient, and contemporary approach to singing with others. When we sing together without a song, composer or conductor, those roles become shared in the moment with spontaneously created music and emergent shared leadership. It involves deep listening to self, other and the space between us, and an adjustment to improvisation: new for many people, often quite scary, and usually thrilling and hugely nourishing.
This beginner-intermediate introduction is for people with little to no experience of improvisation, who may feel a bit shy to share the voice, but are up for having a go. To access this art-form you need to be able to sing in tune and keep a beat. This work can help cultivate the natural magnificence of your voice, and reduce self-judgement and help you love your voice.
Led by Briony Greenhill who is one of the UK’s leading teachers of CVI. She has studied extensively with CVI pioneers Rhiannon, David Worm, Joey Blake, and Improvisation pioneer Bobby McFerrin, as well as improvisation teachers in France and India, and leading piano teachers in California. She continues to pioneer the therapeutic application of CVI through her collaboration with The Elements CVI ensemble, her integration of CVI teaching with her SomaSource therapeutic training with Dr Melissa Michaels, and what unfolds in her teaching.
She is creator of the Resonant Body method for cultivating the magnificence of each unique, natural voice, and vocal and personal healing.
She has released three entirely improvised albums - Listen, Sketches and Remembering; with a fourth on the way: Voice Unknown, a collection of live improvisations about paradigm shift. Her debut studio album, Crossing the Ocean, releases Feb 25 2022 and has been made by taking recorded improvisations and reproducing them adding instrumentation. In doing this Briony has discovered she’s also a producer, arranger and composer. Briony is a founding member of Confabulare, the new international CVI Guild, and is co-creating first ever UK CVI festival in October 2022.
To hear about all this when it’s ready, subscribe to the mailing list.
Practicalities
Please take a covid test before leaving home on both mornings regardless of your vaccination status - make sure you have your home kit :)
Please bring a packed lunch not to share :(
Hot drinks will be available
It’s best if you don’t drink alcohol on the preceding evenings. CVI works our presence and if it’s a bit foggy from drinking… no es bueno.
Students have said:
“One of the most powerful experiences of my life! I feel changed on a cellular level!” (ok it was a 4 day retreat not a weekend…)
“Briony really made us all feel at home – starting off with exercises that didn’t force me outside of my comfort zone, and a no judgement pact, really allowed me to feel comfortable with the group, which then gave me the confidence to try out some solos.”
“It was seriously fun, crazy, inspiring, opening and meditative, all at the same time.”
“Some singing teachers teach you sing with your voice. Briony teaches you to sing with your heart and sing from your soul.”
“You made it feel like a womb. Protected, loved, nourished, warm and holding.”
Please direct questions to info@brionygreenhill.com.
Cost: £100. Comps £75.
Two assistant places are available at half price. If you'd like to be the assistant, please email info@brionygreenhill.com. The assistant arrives 30 mins before and leaves 30 mins after on each day and helps with set up, pack down, tea and kitchen overview and facilitating the group to clean up after lunch.
16
TO APR 17
An Intermediate-Advanced Intro to Collaborative Vocal Improvisation
Sat, Apr 16, 202210:00 AM Sun, Apr 17, 20224:00 PM
Nakachi Clark-Kasimu and friends improvising during a CVI workshop I led in Oakland, California
An Introduction to Collaborative Vocal Improvisation
Intermediate-Advanced weekend 16-17 April 2022
Ashprington Village Hall, nr Totnes, Devon
Please arrive 15 mins early each day to settle in as we’ll begin and end promptly.
Saturday 10am-4.30pm
Sunday 10.30am - 4pm
Collaborative Vocal Improvisation (CVI) is a thrilling, inspiring, challenging, ancient, and contemporary approach to singing with others. Singing together without a song, composer or conductor, those roles become shared in the moment with spontaneously created music and emergent shared leadership. It involves deep listening to self, other and the space between us, and an adjustment to improvisation: new for many people, often quite scary, and usually thrilling and hugely nourishing.
Intermediate-Advanced students tend to be singer-songwriters, choir leaders, performing / recording artists, music teachers and / or music graduates. You may or may not have much experience of improvisation: this weekend is designed to start at the beginning but also dive into the depths of this artform.
Led by Briony Greenhill who is one of the UK’s leading teachers of CVI. She has studied extensively with CVI pioneers Rhiannon, David Worm, Joey Blake, and Improvisation pioneer Bobby McFerrin, as well as improvisation teachers in France and India, and leading piano teachers in California. She continues to pioneer the therapeutic application of CVI through her collaboration with The Elements CVI ensemble, her integration of CVI teaching with her SomaSource therapeutic training with Dr Melissa Michaels, and what unfolds in her teaching.
She is creator of the Resonant Body method for cultivating the magnificence of each unique, natural voice, and vocal and personal healing.
She has released three entirely improvised albums - Listen, Sketches and Remembering; with a fourth on the way: Voice Unknown, a collection of live improvisations about paradigm shift. Her debut studio album, Crossing the Ocean, releases Feb 25 2022 and has been made by taking recorded improvisations and reproducing them adding instrumentation. In doing this Briony has discovered she’s also a producer, arranger and composer. Briony is a founding member of Confabulare, the new international CVI Guild, and is co-creating first ever UK CVI festival in October 2022.
To hear about all this when it’s ready, subscribe to the mailing list.
Practicalities
Please take a covid test before leaving home on both mornings regardless of your vaccination status - make sure you have your home kit :)
Please bring a packed lunch not to share :(
Hot drinks will be available
It’s best if you don’t drink alcohol on the preceding evenings. CVI works our presence and if it’s a bit foggy from drinking… no es bueno.
Students have said:
“One of the most powerful experiences of my life! I feel changed on a cellular level!” (ok it was a 4 day retreat not a weekend…)
“Briony really made us all feel at home – starting off with exercises that didn’t force me outside of my comfort zone, and a no judgement pact, really allowed me to feel comfortable with the group, which then gave me the confidence to try out some solos.”
“It was seriously fun, crazy, inspiring, opening and meditative, all at the same time.”
“Some singing teachers teach you sing with your voice. Briony teaches you to sing with your heart and sing from your soul.”
“You made it feel like a womb. Protected, loved, nourished, warm and holding.”
Please direct questions to info@brionygreenhill.com.
Cost: £100. Comps £75.
Two assistant places are available at half price. If you'd like to be the assistant, please email info@brionygreenhill.com. The assistant arrives 30 mins before and leaves 30 mins after on each day and helps with set up, pack down, tea and kitchen overview and facilitating the group to clean up after lunch.
15
TO MAY 20
Scene and Herd
Sun, May 15, 20228:00 PM Fri, May 20, 20223:30 PM
Jo Emily Sophia Marcia Namvula Jaka Neire and Briony cracking each other up at Coed Hills
A gathering for very experienced Collaborative Vocal Improvisers / folks who have done year long courses or sim.
Coed Hills, nr Cardiff, 15-20 May 2022
“I’m being seen and I’m being heard… and I’m part of a Scene and part of a Herd”
- Lulu Guiness, during a supported solo, Malmesbury UK October 2021.
“Blessings on it and blessings on you, and may the Scene become more and more beautiful and the Herd gather in strength in its’ ability to inspire and bring light into people’s lives” - was Lulu’s reply, when I asked her if I could use her lyrics to name these particular gatherings.
People. We are a rather particular Scene; we who love CVI, who have already studied extensively; who share a collaborative practice and a common set of values around compassion safety and mutual support for healing and growth - often alongside values around sustainability, community, embodiment and health.
This 5 day residential gathering at Coed is an extension of the reunion weekend we had in October. It’s a chance to dive deeper into our interconnections, our practice of this art-form, and our movement. We can sing together, understand and support each other’s journeys; some are now teaching, some are performing and recording this artform; some are just figuring out how to keep a practice alive outside of courses.
I will lead 6h per day, 3h morning 3h afternoon, and usually a 1h embodiment practice in the mornings before breakfast. Mary will cook healthy and delicious food for us. The evenings will mostly be free for you to do what you want together and alone; we’ll have a Wildlings Cabaret one night, and there’s always the wonderful Coed Sauna.
We’ll explore CVI in all its forms, performative, therapeutic, spiritual, Resonant Body, support each others’ ongoing artistic development and magnificence-ization as singers and vocal improvisers; lots of going off in smaller groups, probably not so much chops this week.
£650. I’m sorry it can’t be cheaper in the UK. It breaks down at £185 for Coed, £185 for food + Mary, £185 for Briony, and £95 for office (admin/expenses/tax/ contingency).
2 assistant places at £450.
Limited to 16 places.
Scene and Herd is for people who have done year-long courses with Briony. If you have done a shorter course, or mainly studied improvisation with another teacher, and would love to come, please get in touch before booking: info@brionygreenhill.com.
If you’d like to be an assistant please contact info@brionygreenhill.com
I hope Scene and Herd will become an annual gathering!
Covid protocol
Please bring a home test kit, test before coming and test each day regardless of vaccination status. We’ll keep the space ventilated and if you’d like to maintain social distancing we will do our best to support you in that. Organic Moringa tablets are good immune system support!
Childcare
Many improvisers have young children. If a few parents come with children it might be possible for you to collaborate with one another around childcare. If that’s you, email info@brionygreenhill.com and let’s see what’s possible.