The Sixth Foundation Training: The Voice Unchained is offered this year, for the first time, in Africa, by Anne Brownell and Hennie Pienaar, commencing in April 2010 in Oudtshoorn on the Western Cape. Detailed information can be found HERE.
About Voice Movement Therapy
The human voice reflects both physical and psychic states. It is the only instrument wherein player and played upon are the same and therefore can only achieve full expression when firmly grounded in the body. Voice Movement Therapy is an expressive arts therapy, the main province of which is not the spoken word, its cognitive content or articulation, but the affective aspects of vocal sound. It is in essence an exploration of the self through vocal expression and combines knowledge of acoustics and the anatomy and physiology of the voice with movement, enactment and imagery that it integrates with psychotherapeutic principles and practices to create a specific vocal modality for therapeutic work.
It requires of practitioners:
the development and maintenance of a malleable and flexible voice and body through the application of the core principles of Voice Movement Therapy;
the ability to improvise and create original work;
the knowledge and skill to use massage techniques specifically designed to aid in the free expression of vocal sound;
the knowledge and understanding to combine artistic and body-orientated skills with therapeutic principles; and,
the ability to work with the singing and speaking voice from both a physical and a psychological point of view.
It is useful for those for whom vocal expression is blocked, limited or otherwise difficult, whether they suffer from neurological or physical impediments and/or emotional distress or because they seek further personal or professional empowerment through the voice.