New World Rhythmatism

Performance LV-Bellydance Intensive 2007, Part I and II

New World Rhythmatism is a collaborative approach to community percussion, dance, and chant that utilizes a shared set of calls, gestures, and generalized frameworks to create refined group improvisations. Each individual in the ensemble acts as both leader and follower, applying NWR methods to co-produce complex musical ideas and group choreography that spontaneously unfold over the course of each session.

A session is a convergence of Rhythmatists who contribute the gifts of their practice to inspire, provoke, and nurture each other in a shared exploration of artful relationship.

NWR can be applied to different styles of drum, dance, and chant. Joshua and Deborah guide ensembles that are based in Middle-Eastern forms.

If you are new to the world of drum, dance, and chant, New World Rhythmatism provides a map of the wide territory before you. It also offers the tools to pursue further studies within traditional cultural styles.

New World Rhythmatism is a distinctly modern method for integrating the ancient vehicles of community based rhythmic life. It is designed to account for the wide ranging diversity and lack of coherent cultural history that characterizes community music and dance in the West. The goal of NWR mirrors the challenge posed by our globalizing world: "how can we share vision and control, attend to each other's needs and desires, and learn to live and play well together?" Rhythmatists treat this question as the guiding principle behind the beauty they create with one another.