Living Art: The Chakras

 

LIVING ART: CHAKRAS

sound and motion meditations for body and voice

with Sacred Dance Guild facilitator Claire Elizabeth Barratt

WHO: Claire Elizabeth Barratt

(international Sacred Dance Guild accredited facilitator)

WHAT: Living Art: Chakras

(workshop series for movement and voice)

WHERE: Online via Zoom and video

WHEN: Tuesdays in July and August 12-1pm EDT

(receive video recording to use ay any time)

HOW MUCH: Sliding-scale $70-$140

(for all seven sessions)

TO REGISTER: Email Claire at cillaveelifearts@gmail.com 

Living Art: Chakras is a seven-part online workshop series of sound-and-motion meditations for body and voice, guided by Sacred Dance Guild facilitator Claire Elizabeth Barratt and sponsored by the Sacred Dance Guild and Cilla Vee Life Arts. Through a spirited blend of movement, breath, vocal intonement, and improvisation to music, you’ll explore the chakra system as a living map of the Self—energy centers in the core body that awaken distinctive qualities of voice, gesture, and presence.

Across seven sessions—one chakra each week—you’ll journey from Root (survival) to Crown (divinity), touching Sacral (sensuality), Solar Plexus (courage), Heart (compassion), Throat (expression), and Third Eye (wisdom) along the way. Each gathering includes an introduction to the week’s chakra, physical gestures, vocal explorations, time for questions and reflection, and a concluding discussion—offering you an embodied “toolkit” you can continue to draw from in your own practice. All are welcome, and the work is suitable for all experience levels and abilities; whether you’re new to chakra meditation or a seasoned performing artist, this series invites you to deepen the personal and spiritual dimensions of your movement and voice.

Claire Elizabeth Barratt is an internationally recognized interdisciplinary artist and educator whose decades of experience span performance, choreography, and transformative pedagogy. Her unique approach blends dance, voice, and spiritual inquiry into a deeply expressive and accessible practice.

The series runs on Tuesdays in July and August, beginning on Tuesday, 7/7, from 12:00–1:00 pm EDT. The Zoom sessions are hosted by the Center for Connection + Collaboration: attend live or receive a recording link afterward. Tuition is a sliding scale of $70–$140 for all seven sessions. To register or request more information, contact Claire at cillaveelifearts@gmail.com.

Claire Elizabeth Barratt - workshop facilitator

LIVING ART: CHAKRAS

Come Dance and Sing the Chakras with me!

I would like to share with you the body and voice, movement and sound meditation work I have been exploring and developing around the ‘chakras’.

This is a system of energy centers located in specific areas of the core body and serve as ‘bases’ for certain archetypal aspects of the Self - and from which distinctive qualities of movement and voice emerge.

There are seven chakra centers - we will study one chakra in each session:

+ Root - survival

+ Sacral - sensuality

+ Solar Plexus - courage

+ Heart - compassion

+ Throat - expression

+ Third Eye - wisdom

+ Crown - divinity

Session Structure:

+ Introduction to that week’s chakra

+ Physical Gestures

+ Vocal Intonements

+ Comments/Questions

+ Improvisation to Music

+ Concluding Discussion

All are welcome - this work is suitable for all experience levels and abilities.

Even if you already have a regular chakra meditation practice, these sessions will serve to expand your practice with dance, song and theatrical archetypal gesture work. And even if you are an experienced performing artist, this work can serve to guide and deepen the personal and spiritual aspects of your voice and movement practice.

The purpose of this series is to offer a ‘toolkit’ or ‘artist palette’ from which you can continue in your own personal practice.

‘Living Art’ is the name of my performance pedagogy. It is a method of inquiry, exploration and discovery based on the concept of the Self as Living Art.

My work with the chakras originated through a collaboration with my artistic mentor Linda Mary Montano - a pioneering performance artist with broad spiritual and religious knowledge, herself a devout Catholic.

I have incorporated these chakra meditations into my Living Art method as a mode of targeting very specific aspects of Self - body, psyche and spirit - as they relate to each chakra. For myself, I consider this work as ‘Sacred’ - sacred dance, sacred song, sacred meditation - However I don’t feel it is absolutely necessary for the practitioner to focus on recognizing the sacred aspect of the work if it doesn’t feel relevant to them, it is sufficient as a physical body/mind practice to hone movement and vocal skills.

Nor do I consider this work to be centered around a particular religion. Chakra meditation has its origins in ancient Eastern philosophies - I have found teachings from Indian Vedic and tantric principles, as well as a Korean chakra practice system. There is some discourse from practitioners and scholars stating that the original chakra system was not so focused on isolating the seven energy centers, they were more unified.

Psychologist Carl Jung interpreted the chakras as archetypal symbolism - which I have absorbed into my approach as well. For Christians the method can certainly be Christ-centered, inviting the Divine into each chakra area for healing and guidance in that aspect of themselves.

+ Each week you will receive the Zoom link and some preparation notes in advance of the session, so that you can feel ready to dive in. 

+ Afterward you will receive the Video recording of the session and some follow-up notes to ponder, based on our discussion and experiences.

+ If you can’t make the Zoom session in ‘real time’ you will still receive the Video and all relevant notifications.

I’m truly excited to be sharing this practice with you and look forward to our seven chakra sessions together!

Blessings,

Claire

*

Claire Elizabeth Barratt - Biography:

Claire Elizabeth Barratt (artist moniker CillaVee) is a British interdisciplinary performing artist based in the USA. She is the director of international arts organization Cilla Vee Life Arts, established Bronx NY 2002, and has run The Center for Connection + Collaboration from her home in Asheville, NC since 2020. She has received a number of awards, including project sponsorship from JP Morgan Chase, NYSCA and the NEA. She served an apprenticeship with the Isadora Duncan Dance Foundation and holds an MFA in Creative Practice from the Transart Institute for Creative Research with Plymouth University where she developed the Living Art performance pedagogy. She was a Co-Founder and Director for Circle Modern Dance and a Choreographer for the Knoxville Opera Company in Tennessee and performed as a dancer for Unto These Hills outdoor drama on the Cherokee Indian reservation in North Carolina. Claire has presented work through organizations such as Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, Bronx Council on the Arts, ChaShaMa NY, Black Mountain College Museum + Art Center, Goldsmiths - University of London and Art Basel Miami, as well as continuing as a member and facilitator with the international Sacred Dance Guild since 1997 – becoming a Legacy Project approved facilitator in 2024.

She has performed and taught throughout the USA and in Canada, Europe, Japan and the Middle East.

Quotes from workshop participants:

“Claire Elizabeth Barratt, a.k.a. CillaVee, is a wonderfully empathic performer and innovative teaching-artist.”

“Claire’s workshop was truly a life changing and perspective broadening experience. I’m extremely grateful to have been a part.”

“This was a wonderful workshop. I found the process to be restorative and inspiring and I am excited to continue exploring this work on my own.”

“This method seems like a great resource both for getting started and getting un-stuck in a creative practice. It will also be a nice reflective tool.” 

“I like the approach because it defines and codifies practices that can be very nebulous.”

“I found the workshop to be very empowering thus enabling of a great amount of freedom within each participant. It felt as if each participant was able to dig deep into the their natural, instinctual and creative habitat and explore it with great innocence.”

For more information about ‘Living Art’ visit: cillavee.com/living-art/

cillavee.com

 

sacreddanceguild.org