Music and 5Rhythms

It can be a rich and rewarding experience to dance a 5Rhythms wave without any music, just the sound of you breath and your feet!

At most classes though you will find teachers using music to inspire the dance. Sometimes they’ll choose music on the fly, sometimes they would have spent hours beforehand deciding which tracks to play for each rhythm.

Teachers also invariably spend huge amounts of time finding and listening to music, much money buying the music and then testing it out on the dance floor. Often dancers say, “Wow, the music was fantastic, what track was that in Staccato?”

Gabrielle Roth has created music especially for the 5Rhythms. Here are a few recommended suggestions (available through amazon.com):

Creating Your Own Playlist

There is such an incredible array of music, so anything that gets you moving is great to include in your playlist.  For dancing inspiration and a great way of discovering new artists, 5Rhythms teacher Jo Cobbett lists many of her of playlists here movinground.

Bear in mind, you can dance to anything, and the whole wave can be of any length of time. Creating a 45 minute wave though can give you the music for an ongoing personal practice.

To start with, the music for flowing is slowish, grounded, internal – allowing you to let the dance in and connect with yourself. For staccato, find something with a beat that will let your hips groove and the breath out. For chaos, often something faster, something to shake out to and let it all go. In lyrical the music could be light, joyous, trancey, playful. And arriving in stillness…its a moving stillness so choose music that has the spirit of stillness within it – sometimes classical music can be beautiful to dance too.

Have fun creating your own 5Rhythms wave. Invite your friends round – have a 5Rhythms party!

Playlist Suggestion: 5Rhythms Around The World

1. 1 Giant Leap – The Way You Dream
2. Deva Premal – Gayatri Mantra
3. Jai Uttal – Ganesha Windmix
4. Faithless – No Roots
5. Gotan Project – Differente
6. Drala – Maula
7. 1 Giant Leap – Passion
8. Baka Beyond – Bounaka
9. Radio Tarife – Oye China
10. Malouma – Nour
11. James Asher – Earthsong