Inner Springs Vocal Laboratory Retreat on Andros Island, Greece. September 4-9

"Inner Springs" Vocal Laboratory Retreat led by Julianna Bloodgood hosted by AILA on the Ilianthos Farm on Andros Island, Greece. This retreat style workshop will be a deep research and embodied laboratory of the human voice and it’s capabilities of expression in connection with the nature and mythology of Andros island, Greece. 

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AILA Cooperativa

An embodied approach to vocal training which utilizes somatic practices and vocal technique to bring about the awareness, awakening and activation of our authentic voices. Exploration of voice as experienced through the body and the space around us. The body is our gateway to all creative sources, and from the body we begin our investigation of voice, sounding, song and words through a dynamic exploration of the origins of sound. Through a flow of movement and breath we can awaken sound vibrations within the body -resonating the bones and tissues- creating a visceral understanding of the voice and enlivening new possibilities for vocal expression.

We will focus on the act of giving voice to one’s emotions. It is a transformative process and something that we collectively lack in our contemporary structures. Part of our unique human experience is that we are able to give shape and substance to our feelings through art; transmuting our inner experiences and emotions into something that can be shared, witnessed, supported and released. To express our emotions through our voice is a natural process and through shared and held space, witness and support of community and the powerful act of vocalizing, our feelings can become a thing of beauty that we can transform and release. We will cycle through different creative and somatic processing as well as vocal release techniques, concluding the process with creative and physical integration, and bringing everything back to the land which surrounds us.  

The mythology of Andros island is historically linked with “spirits of water” and marine life. Poets described Andros as having a water soul. The ancient name for the island is Hydrousa, meaning the one with a lot of waters. A net of old watermills dot the land. Springs and rivers connect meeting points between creatures of the land and creatures of the sea and other lands. The harbors serve as gathering places of trade and bridges to other cultures. 

We will call upon this inspiration as creative fuel for our work. 

Julianna Bloodgood

is a vocalist, movement artist, performer and teacher whose work includes anthropological performance research and she has traveled the globe in search of different cultural perspectives on the body, voice and the ritual of performance. Many of the performances she creates are made as rituals, meant to be shared experiences of transformation and healing. Julianna was a leading actress and singer in the award winning and critically acclaimed Polish theatre company Song of the Goat Theatre from 2009-2019. She is an associate artist with Bru Theatre of Ireland, Theatre MITU of New York City, and Honey and Dust of Slovakia. 

The core of her work is a detailed practice in the relationship between body and voice and how this can be brought to expression, composition and performance. Her research with the body and voice has led to an in-depth and ongoing development of this connection which she calls Embodied Voice Practices. This practice utilizes integrative somatic trauma therapy techniques and focuses the output in vocal expression, which is a deeply healing and transformative process.

Julianna specializes in the research and practice of vocal lamentation, giving shape and voice to our pain and loss, which has become a through-line in all of her teaching, performance and composition. She continues to research the technical, historical and contemporary aspects of lamentation in different European countries. Julianna holds a master’s degree with high honors from Manchester Metropolitan University; is a graduate of University of Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music; The Pacific Conservatory of the Performing arts and has a certification in Integrative Somatic Trauma Therapy. She is a former yoga and Pilates teacher and a dancer with over 20 years experience. 

Photo: Maan Methven

**This retreat will be on Andros Island, hosted on a farm right next to the beach and surrounded by trees and nature.

**Every day we will make contact with water. We will make contact with the sea, with rivers, lakes, waterfalls and springs that flow from the earth. This inspiration from nature will help us dive deeper into our own inner springs of creativity, healing and wisdom.

**It will be a small group, and you will have lots of individual attention from me.

** I will introduce you to powerful tools of finding and releasing your voice.

** We will create daily, and integrate our work through creative and tender means.

** This is a time to clear, to cleanse, to discover and to heal.