The Primal Voice: Soul, Lineage, and Land~

A workshop to connect to your voice, your rage, your expression and song.

Before humans spoke, we sang. This powerful, primal connection to our soul, our lineages and lands has been muted by modern culture, but not erased. Come remember your wildness and power through one of the most ancient of human technologies: your voice.

You will discover just how versatile an instrument you have as you learn techniques and practices to express what is often deeper than words. We will move, sing, grieve, rage, play, and connect through our voices.

We will start with a short somatic embodiment practice with Yoga Teacher, Earth G Koreen.

We’ll then tune into our voices and breath, connecting to the pleasure of making sound and practicing some foundational vocal techniques. Natalie Nowytski—a vocal alchemist and sound healer steeped in more than 50 singing traditions from around the world—will empower us to connect our voices with our environment and ancestral traditions, find “home” in our unique instruments, and release difficult emotions through the voice.

Laurel Armstrong will complete the workshop with group practices in Primal Singing where we will use our voice to support and be supported by the larger community. Topics covered include Primal Erotic Expression as well as uncovering how the voice is stifled and throat chakra can be blocked. Know the power of release through voice.

There will be a break with provided tea, and discussion. Feel free to bring a snack or something to share. Join us and discover the power of your voice, re-wild its expression, and experience your primal and communal belonging.

Price
$49
Early Bird 40% OFF until 10/27 $29.40

register here

Sliding scale for those who need financial assistance. Venmo @Koreen-Valdo (7672)
*Please include your email in the notes (set to private so I am the only who sees it & can then send you additional notes and confirmation)

You will experience:

-How finding pleasure in the body allows for more free vocal expression
-Giving primal vocal expression to taboo emotions like rage and grief
-Overview of several traditional singing styles ranging from Scandinavia, Ireland, and the Balkan states
-Nerdy self-study on where certain vocal expressions are held in the body. (Find where your body is holding vocal expression)
Diving into some ways our ancestors used ritual and voice to hold, share & move collective emotions & shared states. (think of a wake/ funeral procession in ancient times, song circles to celebrate or grieve).
-How singing can be an eco-erotic experience as we connect our voices back to our bodies and the land.

Flow of the workshop:

Arrive by 615 to settle in.
We start promptly at 630pm.

Part 1:
-a short Earth Goddess Somatic Movement Session
-Playful vocal yoga warmups. Getting to know your tool box (so many tools here!)
-How voice relates to the land and our animalistic connection to energy and bodyody
-Vocalizations embodying animals and connecting vocal resonance to chakras
-Learning older vocal techniques and where they come from as a guide for your experimental vocal palette
-Grief release techniques and experience with Natalie

Tea Break & discussion

Part 2:
-Freestyle primal singing tune into each other in group, hum with drone, deep listening, ----Choosing something to sing about, to (example: a land or experience or hope/prayer) Feeing the prompt and vocalizing our response to it.
-Call and response (w drums)
-Feeling the collective experience of the voice and song. A chance to say or sing or scream your desires, experience or prayer.
-Finding a trance like experience and a reminder that humans are connected. Feeling your individual connection to the web of life, through space and time.

Bios:
Laurel Armstrong has been a professional performer and theater-maker for almost 25 years working as an actor, dancer, singer, voice-over artist, writer, composer, and producer. After some life-changing experiences with the Great Mother, she shifted her focus to projects and practices that connect the body to spirit, the individual to community (living and dead), and humans to the land.

Primal Singing is the practice she created from combining techniques of Western vocal training, essential elements of traditional folk-singing, animist-somatic practices, and her never-ending curiosity about all the ways humans can human.

She currently leads monthly Primal Singing workshops at the Acorn and is a member of Wonderlust Theater Company in Saint Paul which works at the intersections of art, story, and community. She also recently opened her own practice, SAP (Sacred and Primal) to help individuals and groups connect more deeply to their innate and sensual life-force through somatic, spiritual, and creative practices.

Natalie Nowytski:
Natalie Nowytski is an award-winning performer, composer, vocal alchemist, and sound healer who opens portals into ancestry and language. She works at the intersection of music and somatic voice coaching to create space for people to grow. With more than 50 cultures’ music in her repertoire and a sonic palette deeply rooted in her Ukrainian heritage, she helps people reclaim confidence in their voice and discover what “home” sounds like in their body. She’s also a regular collaborator on Marc Anderson’s sound baths (coming up next: December 21 at Cedar Cultural Center).

When not coaching, you can find this musical polyglot performing traditional Eastern European music, composing for modern theater and dance, and collaborating with cutting-edge musicians across genres. Natalie has received composition and performance awards from the McKnight Foundation, Jerome Foundation, American Composers Forum, SAGE Awards, and Minnesota State Arts Board. Find her music on Bandcamp. Website: natalienmusic.com

Koreen Valdovinos, aka Earth G Koreen is the creatitor of Earth Goddess Yoga. As am embodiment teacher and Conscious dance DJ, she is an expert at synchronizing the rhythms of music with the flow of intuitive & primal movement, breathwork, and conscious dance. Owner of Open Minds Fusion Studio and creator of Earth Goddess Yoga, you can find her teaching yoga, guiding and DJing at Dance, Church, AcenDance, Shake Your bones, & Sound Temple Ecstatic Dance & Giant Gong baths. Koreen serves as a Pleasure Activist, Women's Circle Guide, and Embodied Movement Coach, promoting healing and self-discovery through the celebration of the the body, our senses & sensuality.