Gabrielle Roth
ROTH'S RHYTHM METHOD Dance Guru Gabrielle Roth Makes People Move
Gabrielle Roth has been called an "urban shaman," and with her striking black hair, dark eyes, and black dress, she truly looks the part. Roth has combined the vigor of music and dance to create one of the most enduring personal growth systems in new age. She calls her practice the 5Rhythm™ Wave because it's based on the natural flow of rhythms through the universe -- flowing, staccato, chaotic, lyrical, and stillness -- and each rhythm has its own style of movement. Roth's tribal-sounding recordings evolved from her dance/theater troupe, the Mirrors; her 1985 Totem was one of the first percussion albums to go mainstream. Although some fans of Roth's seductive, trance-like music don't realize there's a systematic basis for her work, the principles are still there. The author of two books, Maps to Ecstasy and Sweat Your Prayers, Roth also made The Wave, a critically acclaimed 1993 dance video. In 2000, Roth is releasing four new titles -- two albums (Endless Wave II and Tribe) and two videos (The Power Wave and The Inner Wave). She talked about her work with Barnes & Noble.com's Carol Wright.
Barnes & Noble.com: Tell us about your new albums.
Gabrielle Roth: "Tsunami" from Tribe is an intense, upbeat journey through the five rhythms, with drums, percussion, bass, and vocals. The second half of the album showcases all our percussionists. It's hot -- great for either dancing or listening. Endless Wave II is the latest in my workout series. This album has two 30-minute sessions: the soundtracks from my two new videos, The Power Wave and The Inner Wave, which focuses on the rhythm of stillness. The music from Endless Wave II has my voice-over to guide the participants through the workout.
B&N.com: Why is your group called the Mirrors?
GR: I had a dance/theater/music group that performed all over the country in the late 1970s and early '80s. Our work was very experimental, very raw, and our intention was to reflect back to the audience something real about themselves, something alive and vital and exciting.
B&N.com: Since all of your music relates to these movement patterns, does one have to view your videos to see how to move?
GR: Not really, but the dancers model an imaginative variety of movements, and the videos are very stylish and fun to watch by themselves. In my work, there is nothing to imitate. Each person makes up the steps of their workout, staying true to the limitations of their age, stamina, size, and experience.
B&N.com: And in your instructions, you say that people should begin wherever they are at the moment.
GR: You definitely begin with where you're at. If you're feeling edgy or sad or excited or turned on -- whatever you're feeling -- you bring that to the practice, knowing that this, too, will change. It's an alive, feminine practice. We don't move just to up your heart rate, burn calories, and chisel your abs. Movement is life, and life is movement; it's closest to what's real. Movement gives us a window to our truth that is rooted in energy, not judgment. It's practical and process-oriented.
B&N.com: How did you come up with this system?
GR: When I was growing up, I took some ballet. My second lesson, I fell on the floor and got a big splinter in my butt. Not a good start for ballet. I quickly grew too tall, and my feet got too big for toe shoes; I couldn't seriously continue with ballet, so I moved to modern dance, then to the freeform African dance styles, and then to the spontaneous improvisatory styles where I am now.
I began working with dance therapeutically at age 16, when I had to seduce people who would not get up and move. They were mental patients, actually, and I had to be clever to devise ways to get them going. I've been seducing people to move ever since, luring folks into dance where they can meet and explore themselves without a bunch of rules and regulations. There is no dogma in dance.
B&N.com: What are the five movements or rhythms? And why this particular order?
GR: The five rhythms in all life are flowing or circular movements that focus on inhaling, staccato or angular ones that focus on exhaling, then chaotic or tumbling, lyrical or airy, and finally stillness, where the movement comes from inside. It's not something I made up, but what I've observed in all life. I realized that I was looking at universal patterns, both ancient and into infinity. All things are created in this rhythm flow, even the delivery of a baby.
In this interview, for instance, you get the idea and it flows in. Right now, you're in staccato mode, asking me linear questions and clicking on your keyboard. Then you'll go through the chaos of putting it together by tearing it apart and rearranging. Then there will be the lyrical part, where every word is polished. When you turn it in, that's the still point, a completion, but it's also where the process begins all over again -- the still point of this interview becomes the flowing point then for the reader.
B&N.com: The most obvious illustration of the rhythms, I think, must be in making love.
GR: Yeah -- who wants a one-rhythm lover? Knowing the five rhythms has been very valuable for couples. You can learn to follow each other's rhythm flow. You join together in a gentle flowing, then move to a more staccato movement as the energy builds and you become captivated by the beat of each other's heart. Then there's the wild, oceanic space of chaos, that orgasmic place where we let go. After orgasm, you move into a trance-like lyrical space: expansive, diving, mystical. Then the energy subsides into the stillness of inner bliss.
B&N.com: The system doesn't sound complicated -- it makes perfect sense on the surface -- but it seems deep and profound if you look beyond the 5Rhythm Wave as an exercise routine. Do other people teach this method, too?
GR: There are over 100 instructors now, and they train for two years. But the learning goes on and on. I'm always learning. The practice is the teacher. There are many variations of how to teach the five rhythms, and I've covered the intellectual framework of this work in my two books, Maps to Ecstasy and Sweat Your Prayers. In my next series of videos, I will begin to address the emotional aspects of the practice.
B&N.com: Tell me more about your music. It sounds very tribal.
GR: My husband, Robert Ansell, puts down the bottom beat on all my albums, then Sanga of the Valley layers in the next tracks with percussion. These are the two main drummers who play with me when we work live. In fact, most of Robert's bottom riffs come out of the workshop experience -- rhythms that have worked with live dancers. Then we add embellishments -- other percussion, some melody lines, sometimes vocalises -- over that. I guess the point is that we don't use percussion to drive the music; we use music to flesh out the percussion.
The music is always created for the dance. Some pieces -- like "Tsunami" on Endless Wave II -- are created to present the entire 5Rhythm ride. For a shorter trip, we recorded Trance. Sometimes I focus on one rhythm, like Luna for flowing, or Waves for chaos. We even put together a compilation album, Sundari, specially created for a Jivamukti yoga class.
B&N.com: Once I got used to the rhythms, I started hearing them in other music, seeing them in acting styles, and even noticing them in people's behavior.
GR: Cultures have definite rhythms too: New York is staccato, while Bali is lyrical, for instance. The rhythms are everywhere. The wave of the five rhythms naturally carries us, but we can become more aware of the wave and use the rhythms to create a direct relationship with ourselves and to explore each other on profound levels. We have to remember that movement is a language where we can communicate with ourselves as energy. It's language in motion, and it's where we can hold our aliveness.
August 22, 2000
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