Hello everyone, we wanted to take a moment to say hi, wish you a happy holiday and new year! Listening Bodies did not offer any in-person workshops this year, but we were creating videos, online experiences, and planning for the future.Â
The first thing we wanted to share with you this holiday season is the “Meditation on Light” written by Monica Gentile (read by Michael in English and Italian by Monica). It’s a lovely guided meditation exploring the sensorial nature of light during this deep wintertime.
Also while we were in Philadelphia for several months this spring, due to the pandemic, we were happy to live near and spend time with the wonderful dance/media company known as Fidget. This year Fidget will be hosting a Virtual New Year’s Eve Party called Age of Aquarius co-hosted by Forbidden Fruit. Listening Bodies will premiere a new video dance piece we created called “A Song the Earthworm Sang”. This piece is dedicated to Deep Listening founded by Pauline Oliveros and is a reference to a poem she wrote called “The Earthworm Also Sings” found in her Anthology of Text Scores. Please consider purchasing a ticket to raise a toast and enjoy hours of art and entertainment for this virtual party in the comfort of your own space.
Listening Bodies was delighted to share a half-day workshop and a evening concert with the Sensing In Festival organized by Movement Artisans and the Axis Syllabus community in Berlin. In this workshop we synthesized some classic Deep Listening® exercises like Zina’s Rhythm Circle and the Tuning Meditation with some of our own inquiries like Monica’s Tuning the Ear as well as some new pieces involving the synesthesia of touch and hearing with live music by Michael. Check out more over at Listening Bodies.
Monica and I have spent two months living in Berlin focusing on our work and the Listening Bodies project. We taught a nice workshop here at Lake Studios Berlin. We’re doing a movement and sound duet this weekend at Tanzfabrik. Afterward, we will be touring and giving workshops in Croatia, Denmark, UK, Ireland, and Italy for the rest of the summer. Check out our new website for more info: Listening Bodies.
Also , I was honored to have a short remix in this latest project from Cities and Memory focused on outer space (to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the US moon landing). Hear my remix of John F. Kennedy’s famous speech about going to the Moon. Listen to Space
Hello, thank you for opening and reading this email. I know the amount of end-of-year-holiday emails can be overwhelming! TLDR
Click this link: https://igg.me/at/listeningbodies
watch and donate!
Today is Giving Tuesday. I wanted to tell you about an Indiegogo campaign I just started with my collaborator from Listening Bodies.
As I developed more and more as an artist and practitioner of
meditation, I found a natural calling for teaching and that people were
interested in my life experiences and what I was sharing.
After I completed my Deep Listening certification I found a
synthesis of my music and meditation practice where they were no longer
separate. However, one section of my practice and teaching that was
missing was body practices… until I met Monica Gentile.
Her teaching style and areas of expertise (somatic, movement, dance,
yoga (Hatha and Laughter)) fit perfectly with what I was teaching. Very
organically and effortlessly, we planted the seeds of what is a holistic
and integral practice called Listening Bodies.
We’ve taught in Philadelphia and Berlin this year and the response has
been overwhelmingly positive. We taught classes for dancers, a sound
walking class, an ASMR class and will lead a 2-day workshop in a few
weeks here in Berlin.
We have been invited to bring Listening Bodies to Mexico. We
will teach our workshop at residencies, schools and project spaces in
six locations in Mexico and two in Costa Rica. We will be paid small
fees and offered a place to stay. However, we need to pay our own travel
costs… thus the Indiegogo. A grant we were applying for did not work
out, so we’re asking for your help!
If you’ve read this far you are a dedicated and supportive person! We
need to raise $2500 for our flights from Europe and back and flights,
buses, and taxis around Mexico and Costa Rica.
If you are reading this email you may have supported my work in the
past. So now during this time of giving we are asking for more support
to help grow our family of Listening Bodies to include artists and communities in Mexico and Costa Rica.
At a minimum check out our Indiegogo page and video (the end is funny 🙂
https://igg.me/at/listeningbodies
Have a safe, peaceful and light holiday.
With love from Christmassy Berlin,
Michael and Monica
P.S. Please feel free to respond to this newsletter email. I read all
the responses and I love hearing from you. Also please feel free to add
me to your own mailing list to keep up to date with what you’re doing
and staying connected.
Good morning or evening friends. Happy
Thanksgiving to everyone in the US! I hope this day is filled with the
feelings of gratitude and abundance for the collective interdependence
of life. I am halfway through my three-month residency at GlogauAIR in Berlin and I just wanted to share some projects in my life for which I am grateful.
Spektrum Performance
When I arrived in Berlin, I performed at one of my favorite venues in Berlin: Spektrum. I gave a concert of my field recording landscapes sounds where I created a surrealists collage of environmental sounds from around the world during my travels. I also made a video of found footage from around the world wide web that I showed at the performance. I am very grateful to Aude Françoise from SCOPE, Ienke at Spektrum and DJ Solitue who presented a mix of former Liebig12 residents and for connecting me with Spektrum last year.
Scope Sessions
The second event I did was a talk on my work and process at Scope Sessions. I focused on my work synthesizing Deep Listening, meditation, Buddhist philosophies, field recording, and ambient music. I also played some samples of my work. It was very well received and help crystallize some things for me in my world. I am also very grateful to meet the host Tobias Raayoni Last.
Speaking at SCOPE Sessions
Red Bull Session
Last week was very busy for me here in Berlin! I welcomed two close friends to town at the same time. My collaborator from Mixes from the Field, Sharon Renee Stewart was in town. We met some Deep Listening friends, did some walking and field recording. At the same time, my old buddy and music legend King Britt was in town. We hung out for three days, recorded an episode for my podcast, and recorded at Red Bull Studios Berlin. I’m super grateful to King for inviting me to the recording session with Hainbach, Christina Wheeler and Clara Hill where
I got to play one of my favorite instruments, the Fender Rhodes piano!
The sessions were magical and the sound at Red Bull was extraordinary. I
can’t wait to hear the final mixes of this collaboration.
Sharon recording at Templehof
The crew at Red Bull Studios
Listening Bodies Project
This time in Berlin has allowed me to deepen my working relationship with choreographer/dancer/movement researcher Monica Genitle.
We organically came together to develop a teaching framework that
combines my music and Deep Listening practices and her somatic body
practices. We’ve done two classes here in Berlin. One at Lake Studios Berlin for dancers and one sound walk workshop at GlogauAIR and SomoS (we had a fairytale-like sound walk in the first snow of the season at night). We will do one more class exploring synesthesia and ASMR as listening body practice at Liebig12. And on Dec 10/11 we will offer a two-day workshop at Tatwerk in Berlin. We will have more exciting Listening Bodies news next week about our plans in 2019!
From the Listening Bodies Sound Walk along the Paul-Lincke-Ufer ListeningBodies.com for more information…
Once again, thank you all for your support.
