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The art of well-being
[Publicity photo]
The MASS (Movement and Sonic Sculpture) Ensemble, including musicians, dancers and visual artists, will perform at 8 p.m. Friday at TBPAC’s Ferguson Hall. |
By AMY ABBOTT
© St. Petersburg Times, published April 26, 2001
A three-day festival will use visual arts, music and meditative exercises to demonstrate that they can be a healing force for the mind, body and spirit.
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TAMPA -- You won't find heart rate monitors or buffed-up personal trainers at an innovative festival devoted to well-being this weekend.
What you will find, starting Friday at the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center, are Tibetan monks, musical "sculptures" and experts from around the world devoted to enhancing physical, emotional and spiritual well-being through the arts.
Soul Arabesque: An Interactive Art & Spirituality Festival features 16 artists and practitioners of various disciplines that approach health holistically.
"The underlying philosophy of the festival is that participation in the arts can be a healing experience," said Fred Johnson, TBPAC's vice president of education and humanities and host of the event.
"The goal of the festival is to introduce people to the concept that art can be a healing force and to give them specific tools to utilize the arts for ongoing, positive change in their lives."
One tool is sound waves, manipulated to center on parts of the body in order to attain balanced health. Sound meditation, if you will. Johnson, an accomplished jazz musician who has toured with such musical artists as Dizzy Gillespie and Miles Davis, will guide the class.
"I get people relaxed first by starting with breathing exercises and move on to speaking sounds that are elongated. Then I just let them find the tone they are comfortable with," Johnson said.
The participants are then asked to mentally focus their vocal vibrations on parts of their body to bring themselves in tune.
"It's all based on thought, breath and tone. That's why people love music," Johnson said.
The visual arts also are emphasized -- for instance, in the assembly of the Sacred Mandala of Tibet. Thousands of grains of ground marble dyed with natural pigments are assembled into a beautiful and intricate circular design. The finished mandala isn't glued together to be hung on a wall. Instead, the monks will dump it into the Hillsborough River on Sunday. This ritual symbolizes man's interpretation of the universe, totality and wholeness being returned to the earth.
Never tried yoga? Tai chi? Led a drum circle? Here's your chance.
"We want people to be exposed to as much art therapy as possible," Johnson said.
If you don't want to pay the whole $168 for the three-day festival, you can enter the grounds for $8 or a pint of blood. People who donate to the Bloodmobile will get a free pass to peruse vendors' wares on the riverside grounds and see 20-minute demonstrations about what is going on inside. If they choose to return, they'll have to pay only $15 for each class. One-day and headline event passes range from $14.50 to $78.
The headline events will be Friday and Saturday nights and Sunday afternoon and evening. The keynote speaker, SARK (full name Susan Ariel Rainbow Kennedy), will speak Sunday evening as part of the closing ceremonies.
Author of several books but mostly known for jumping on chairs and dancing to get her message across, SARK will end the weekend by telling people to take control of their own lives and health. She urges people to stop blaming others for their situations, delve into painful places in their minds and start accepting themselves as positive, creative people.
After an intensive weekend of mental and physical stretching and bending, by Sunday she may be preaching to the choir.
[Drepung Loseling Monastery (1998]
After making an intricate mandala from ground marble, Tibetan monks will dump it into the Hillsborough River.
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PREVIEW: Soul Arabesque: An Interactive Festival & Conference, Friday through Sunday, Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center, Tampa. Festival activities, including yoga, tai chi, meditation and the opportunity to play MASS Ensemble's earth harps, in the common areas such as the Riverwalk, Morsani Walk and under the Grand Canopy. There will also be vendors, artists' booths and musicians. Some events are free with blood donation; main stage event prices listed below. Full weekend: $168. Call (813) 229-7827.
Friday
- 8 p.m.: MASS (Movement and Sonic Sculpture) Ensemble, Ferguson Hall. Musicians, dancers and visual artists create a sonic and visual performance on a variety of invented instruments. Single tickets: $19.50-$29.50.
Saturday
- 9 a.m.: Workshops begin.
- 8 p.m.: Jonathan Butler, Ferguson Hall. The South African-born singer blends organic African melodies and rhythms, funky R&B, rousing gospel and slick jazz. He has earned a Grammy nomination for the album Going Home. Single ticket prices: $19.50-$29.50.
Sunday
- 9:30 a.m.: Workshops continue.
- 3 p.m.: Whispers From the East, Morsani Hall: Eastern-inspired art and music featuring Fred Johnson, Dr. Shams Prinzivalli, Steve Gorn and Glen Velez; keynote speaker SARK. Single ticket prices: $14.50-$29.
- 7:30 p.m.: Heritage Ensemble, Ferguson Hall: Percussion group blends ancient musical styles from around the world into tight-knit arrangements, sensual rhythms and drum improvisations. Single ticket prices: $14.50, $19.50, $24.
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WANT MORE? www.tbpac.org/artspirit
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