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The Rite of Voice


 

A Weekend Voice Retreat Lead By:

Ditte Berkeley

(Teatr ZAR and Grotowski Institute)


 

7th-9th January 2022

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Alaya Retreat Center

Torrelles de Foix, 40 minutes from Barcelona

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Each of us have a voice to be heard. You do too. Let it resound in the space through the beauty of singing and using our voice and enjoy a gentle approach to unveiling the layers of our voice we rarely explore. A unique vocal retreat weekend at Alaya Retreat Center.  

 

 

 

The Rite of Voice Workshop


 

We live in times when our voices need to be heard. They should resound in their richness to express our deepest needs and be received and understood by others with the intentions they are charged with. And yet, with so much to say, when we reach for our voice, it often feels as a stranger we don’t really know much about, and its expression falls short of what we would wish from it. It might feel blocked, or forced, or simply awkward. Trained to express ourselves ‘adequately’ to match the daily needs of ‘emotionless conversation’, we often lose touch with the vital tool of survival that our voice is a tool that we remember experiencing as children, which only animals retain. Our voice has the potential to express our primal needs and make them clear and strong, at a time when voices are rarely heard. We can awaken this dormant tool of expression we are gifted with through regular encounters with our voice, aimed to relieve some of the stress and tensions that block our expression through it. Just as with physical disciplines, the more we work with the voice, the more flexibility and strength it can gain and the more articulate it will become.

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The workshop will touch upon several basic elements:


 

Physical release: using simple exercises to release tension in the body that could obstruct the vocal work.

Breath: awareness of the presence of breath and the way it exists autonomously in our body. Recognising how accumulated physical and emotional tension can affect the way we breathe. Using breathing patterns to activate the use of the diaphragm.

Resonators: human sounding vibration. Discovering new sound qualities when awakening different resonators in our body. Our vocal expression can become richer if we uncover different facets of our own voice.

Creation through voice: coloring, shaping, directing the sound towards a particular aim.

Co-sounding: existing in relation to other voices, in an unstructured soundscape and within a particular polyphonic musical relation/structure.

This workshop, with its very simple form and slow pace, reaches out to people who are not from the performance environment. It calls out to dancers, policemen, office employees, social workers, housewives, parents, teachers and nurses to come together and explore in a friendly environment the phenomenon and pleasure enclosed within the unique tool we possess – our own voice. It offers a place to experience, release and share the beauty and strength of our sounds.


 

PROGRAM: 7th- 9th January 2022:


 

7th January:

17:00 arrival to Alaya Retreat Center

18:00- 19:30 The Rite of Voice session

20:00 dinner

21.00 Music by the fireplace in the main building


 

8th January:

09:00 breakfast

10:00-13:00 morning session of The Rite of Voice

13:30 Lunch

14:00-16:00 Free time to rest

16:00-19:00 afternoon session of The Rite of Voice

20:00 Dinner

21.00 Music by the fire in the garden


 

9th January:

09:00 breakfast

10:00-13:00 morning session of The Rite of Voice

13:30 Lunch

15:00 departure


 

Comfortable clothing should be worn so as to allow for free movement on the floor/ground.


 

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DITTE BERKELEY (Denmark, UK) was brought up in Spain. In 2001, she graduated from Rose Bruford College of Speech and Drama in London. She has since been a leading actress and co-creator with Teatr ZAR in WrocÅ‚aw, Poland, performing in Teatr ZAR’s works and taking part in their numerous expeditions. Performances include a triptych comprising Gospels of Childhood, Ceasarean Section and Anhelli: The Calling, Armine, Sister and Anhelli. The Howl.

Since 2006 Ditte has collaborated with the Grotowski Institute in Wrocław as a researcher in the field of voice. As well as being a theatre practitioner, she was the initiator and artistic director of the cyclical VoicEncounters project in Wrocław. In 2009, in collaboration with CPR (Wales), she co-organised the Giving Voice international festival.

Ditte has collaborated with Studio Matejka during the research period of 2010–2013 as voice supervisor and trainer. She leads various workshops with Teatr ZAR, such as Into the Sound, and has engaged in the vocal research line of the BodyConstitution programme at the Grotowski Institute. She is the leader of her workshop Voice Tale (Speaking Song) and The Rite of Voice,  both in Poland and internationally.

Ditte collaborates with the American based theatre company Source Material under the direction of Samantha Shay, with who she performed Monument (or, King Lear) in the Los Angeles and New York in 2019.

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Some videos of Ditte´s work

 

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ALAYA RETREAT CENTER:

The Alaya Retreat Centre is located in a 150 year old, recently renovated wine farm (“Cal Pau Cruset”) at 45 minutes from Barcelona. We are surrounded by vineyards and a large garden with fruits, olive and almond trees. Our beautiful ‘Masia’ (winefarm) consists of 4 private villas, 1 large villa, and the 120 m² yoga shala. The beautiful 4×12 m² swimming pool is located at the far end of the garden between the fruit and palm trees. There is a wellness centre with a jacuzzi and a sauna near the swimming pool area as well. It is an inspiring, idyllic and peaceful place that can accommodate yoga retreats, meditation groups, and workshops of all kind.

For more information: http://www.alayaretreatcentre.com/


 

PRICE:

Pack 1: All retreat : € 290

This price includes all sessions of the workshop from friday to sunday with full board accommodation in the Alaya dormitory and 3 buffet meals a day with delicious vegetarian food incl. Filtered water, coffee, tea and fruit and snacks during the breaks.

Pack 2: All retreat but without sleeping here overnight for people that live nearby: € 220

This price includes all sessions of the workshop and 3 buffet meals a day with delicious vegetarian food incl. Filtered water, coffee, tea and fruit and snacks during the breaks.

Pack 3: 1 retreat day € 89  (either saturday or sunday) 89

This price includes the workshop for a full day and 3 buffet meals a day with delicious vegetarian food incl. Filtered water, coffee, tea and fruit and snacks during the breaks. ( for people who can only make it only one of the days)


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In addition to this program you are welcome to massages, reiki, energy healings, breathing meditation, yoga, sound baths, sound healings, meditation, meditative hikes and many more activities and services at very reasonable prices. We have drinks (organic and vegan cava and wine, beer and soft drinks) available which can be paid for at the end of each retreat.


 

INSCRIPTION FORM:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfcwxkAzr7ol5ccXDCrOR6p_k9tdQ1cnjCmngXYZE7Q-RWzJg/viewform?usp=sf_link

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Applications should be sent to: berkeleyditte@gmail.com

Payment information will be send to you by mail after signing up.


 

IMPORTANT INFORMATION CONCERNING COVID-19

Due to the current COVID-19 pandemic every participant will be required to bring a certificate of negative COVID-19 result taken one day before the work. This work requires singing together without wearing masks and close physical contact between the participants.

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