Hero Journeys Workshops and Beyond

Not all of my residencies or workshops are in elementary or middle schools. I have also worked for universities, for summer dance and educational programs, as well as offering workshops for the general public. Here are a couple of examples of those types of workshops:

Vanderbilt University, Consecration of North House, The Commons, August 2008

Dr. Gregory Barz, enthnomusicologist and Faculty Head of House of North House, hired me to collaborate with him and help facilitate an experience which would introduce the seven principals of the Commons Creed to the 175 freshmen students living in North House, associate those principals with the architecture of the building, introduce and establish a rite of passage ritual and consecrate the space as sacred ground. We were joined by my respected colleague, Lynne Bachleda, and Greg’s brilliant wife Mona Barz. This was an interactive experience in which students created tangible representations of their dreams for adventures, participated in a ritual of accomplishment, discussed and created a permanent display of the symbolism of the architecture, and created the first ever “North House Music” using the most indigenous instrument known to humans – their bodies.

Hero Journeys Workshops, an ongoing, collaborative project

After working and creating together for nearly a decade, writer F. Lynne Bachleda; visual artist Rising Moon Bishop; director, composer, and performer Jill Massie; and choreographer and dancer Amanda Cantrell Roche formed Hero Journeys Workshops. With almost 60 years of combined teaching artistry experience, this happy tribe has inspired, guided, prodded, surprised, and enlivened learners of all ages through playful, meaningful, and transformative aesthetic experiences. To do the heavy lifting they confidently rely on the power of multiple arts disciplines, everyone’s instinctive creativity, and life’s great themes.

Hero Journeys Workshops are personal growth, arts workshops designed for adult learners. They are offered to the community at large, but also can be commissioned by corporations and organizations. We launched our first day-long workshop, “The Hero’s Journey,” at Art & Soul on January 16th, 2010 and received enthusiastic response and feedback.