Back by (our) popular demand! Holly Stoppit and Briony Greenhill combine our quite formidable forces for a deep week of singing, self-exploration, improvisation, creative expression, embodiment, nature connection, play, fun, joy, depth and support in the sweet sacred land of Embercombe, Devon UK.
Briony will lead Collaborative Vocal Improvisation - a wonderful art-form of making up vocal music on the spot with others. It’s an exciting, beautiful, thrilling, deep, challenging approach to singing for those who can sing in tune, keep a beat, and want an adventure.
Holly will share her treasure trove of embodied, sensory and nature-connected play. Through play and laughter, the group will become a vessel of trust and support, which will make space for our inner worlds to reveal themselves. Meditation, deep listening and permission will open the doors to body-based inquiry; we’ll move, dance and create characters inspired by the nature that abounds, uncovering profound insights and unfathomable ridiculousness along the way.
We’ll explore ways to bring voice and body together.
It will be a bold, liberating, connecting, fun, expansive midsummer week. Pray to the gods of British summertime to bestow good weather upon us and we will be able to enjoy Embercombe’s swimming lake, shady forest and lush meadows in abundance.
There will be optional morning and evening activities, creative time together around the fire, and downtime on the land. On the last night there will be a fully improvised cabaret (performed by all of us, if you want to!).
This is for mixed experience levels. Everyone needs to be able to sing in tune and keep a beat. Basic intro work will be available for the newcomer, as well as great creative opportunities for the more experienced practitioner.
We’ll sleep in very comfy yurts, be fed Embercombe’s delicious healthy fresh food; and enjoy together a space without alcohol or mobile signal, unplugging, detoxing, and recharging, finding that spark within and between us, and with a little luck, co-creating delight with it.
About the Teachers
Holly Stoppit is a facilitator, educator, IFS trained dramatherapist, clinical supervisor and creative consultant who offers playful, creative and reflective approaches to exploring the human condition.
Holly has been creating and delivering unique workshops and retreats since 2007, blending performance skills in clowning, fooling and improvisation with self-exploration and personal reflection. You can hear Holly talking about her work in her Bristol TEDx talk.
Holly is artistic director of Beyond The Ridiculous, a collective of solo improvisers who use their authentic impulses to create audaciously truthful performance.
At the heart of all of Holly’s work is a desire to promote creative discovery and connection through play.
HollyStoppit.com
Briony Greenhill is “one of the world’s leading proponents of collaborative vocal improvisation (CVI)” - The Guardian.
CVI is the art of co-creating vocal music in the moment. Here is a short film about Briony’s teaching, which has evolved from the lineage of Rhiannon, Bobby McFerrin, Joey Blake and others. Briony is a founding member of The Well Global Vocal Improvisation Network and the UK Vocal Improvisation Festival and has been teaching this artform internationally for over 14 years.
Briony has released 4 entirely improvised albums. Her debut studio album Crossing the Ocean reproduced improvisations in the studio adding instrumentation. It was featured in The Guardian, Mojo, Radio 3, and Woman’s Hour.
Briony teaches vocal musicianship from beginner to advanced levels, while also honouring the spiritual, ritual and therapeutic application of CVI. She is a qualified SomaSource Leader; a “psycho-spiritual educator, artist, activist and healer who has an integrated understanding of how to creatively work in developmentally attuned ways with diverse people throughout life’s cycles.”
Fees
Fees include luxury yurt accommodation, 1-3 to a yurt; full board at Embercombe, and all teaching.
We use the Green Bottle model for pricing. We encourage you in integrity to select the tier that reflects your personal financial experience.
Tier 1 £1145
Tier 2 £945
Tier 3 £795
Assistant 2 spaces - for folks very experienced in either Holly or Briony’s work. If you’d like to be considered an assistant, please get in touch with the facilitator whose work you are familiar with.
If numbers allow, we aim to provide Tier 1 folks with a private yurt, Tier 2 with a twin yurt, and Tier 3 and assistants would be 3 to a yurt. Due to limited yurts and unknown numbers, there may need to be adjustments to this. Yurts are not en suite. There is no en-suite accommodation at Embercombe (apart from the wild wee ensuite all around….)
Up to 20 participants.
Travel and Timing
We begin on Tuesday 29th July at 2pm; and leave on Sunday 3rd August after lunch. The nearest train station is Exeter (we may be able to arrange a shared taxi from Exeter St David’s station at 12.30pm…). Exeter is 2-3h from London by train. The nearest airports are Bristol and London. If coming by train, book well in advance to get reasonable ticket prices - thetrainline.com or the Trainpal app (consider a railcard!).
Deep Play 2024 Participants Said….
I wish I could take this understanding and way of being to everyone in the world. What a privilege to be surrounded by such blissful nature. Hugging lands, hugging our hearts! It was like all my guards had permission to dissolve, I felt so present with myself and also others around me too. It felt like fizzy playful popping popcorn, mixed in with deep smooth camomile calm sunsets. It felt like all edges were reached and you could stretch yourself as far as you felt comfortable. It was a wholesome, creative exploration in the most beautiful landscape too! <3
- El
Just thank you so much. I've been practicing the vocal warm ups and free movement since we left and it's making such a difference to my general wellbeing. It was terrifying but amazing to connect back with my voice and show up unprepared and a bit shit so thank you for that xxx - Jennie
Nurturing your inner child and the ancient human bits of your brain with a week living naturally, vulnerable, wildly and playfully in beautiful community space with a group of humans that very quickly begin to feel like the village and found family you've always wanted and never had.
Playing, expressing, embodying, sounding authentic emotions from how you are now to release, dissolve, accept and nourish those bits of ourselves that modern society tries to pretend aren't there but who are screaming for attention.
Being held in a group process by each other, and by two powerful, wise and courageous women who in different but equally lovely ways give off a vibe of your favourite teachers, your favourite fun Aunties and your favourite characters from a children's book, whilst seeming to find an impossible balance between humility & a general sense of utterly knowing their shit. - Andy
When I left I realised I felt SO much more alive and just wanted to do more and keep bringing these things into my life. Effortlessly finding myself more playful, more confident and alive. It was an amazing experience to combine these two ways of being, playing and singing, with so much permission and encouragement to be as I am and sing from my heart. An extraordinary combination of fun and heartfelt moments, so freeing and I felt space to bring parts of me I usually forget about or feel there is no space for. This is a taste of what community can be with all the support and extra aliveness we can bring to each other. - Mariane
Beautiful soulful silliness - deep connection with yourself and others - Charlie
I consider this retreat pivotal in helping to learn more about and love parts of me that I've abandoned a bit. And to witness others in their processes too. So beautiful. And I had so much fun in the process. So much love! - Heidi
If you want to explore your hidden diva and spend time in a safe fun loving excitement this is the course for you. Both Briony and Holly wrap you in a blanket of loving nurturing space that has you feeling capable of anything.
Thank you it breathed life back into me and made me feel so alive and appreciative of my life and the wondrful people I meet. Together you should rule the world love you - Rikki.