AIR: Realm of Muse-ic
🎶 Elemental Playlists 🎶 - for your inspiration
AIR
Domain of Spirit
Realm of Magic, Music & Muse
Music is my life’s breath. Not only am I a lifelong musician (singing, piano, flute, percussion), but I am a dancer — by profession and especially by passion.
In dance, my primary creative inspiration comes from the music. Even when the spark of an idea hits me from the desire to wear a costume, or to create a specific character or tell a tale, it is the music that transforms me into a marionette. My limbs move because the sounds tell me to. I inhale and exhale with the swells of the song — sometimes with the precise moments when the musicians themselves take a breath or push it out.
The music tells me to twist, turn, leap, pause, launch, lie down, spring up, and sway.
So I do.
But this is not only true for dance. Music can help me ground when I’m off balance. It can make sense of things to my head when my heart has made a mess of my skull-contents. It can motivate me and help me push through pain; it can calm me down and help me to breathe more easily. It can keep me focused when my mind starts to wander, and it can take me on meandering wanders through Wonderland.
As such, I have playlists dedicated to all of these modes. Honestly, if you’ve ever seen my Spotify playlists, it’s rigoddamdiculous over there.
Let’s explore my Elements System first. You can get the general flavor of each Element by sampling these previews — sort of see what each one is all about. Or follow the link to the whole playlist on Spotify. (If you don’t have a paid account, you’ll still be able to listen. There will simply be commercials, and the playlist will play randomly. No biggie, I’ve ordered them pretty randomly as it is.)
Dance is not remotely the only thing I use these Elemental playlists for. I use them for meditation, motivation, inspiration, self-expression, and of course, just for the pure enjoyment while I’m cooking or driving or cleaning or whatever.
Sometimes I choose an Element because it’s the mood I’m in.
Sometimes I choose an Element because it’s the mood I want to be in.
THE ELEMENTS PLAYLISTS
AIR PLAYLIST…➡️
THE ELEMENTAL SEQUENCE
In this System, each Element builds upon the one that came before it, whether we’re using it for dance or not.
For example, we learn to ground before we learn to fly, just as we strengthen our base in order to launch up from it and defy gravity. We free up the breath so that we can more deeply feel our emotions. We learn what we feel before we make the mental choice of what to express. We learn to calm and focus the mind before we send our intentions out into the world.
In my dance teaching System, each of these Elements has its own style of movement dependent upon:
The qualities of the movements.
Where the movement initiates from.
The kind of pathway it takes to its destination.
Any specialties like props.
I’ve already covered the movement qualities of each Element’s dance style here:
Again, I don’t only use this Elemental sequence only for dance, but it sure gives me a lovely full-body, full-expression, start-to-finish workout. In this final playlist, I chose two songs per Element, starting with Earth and ending with Alchemy.
Enjoy!
Up Next: Some of the other playlists I use, organized by Element.
© 2024 Hartebeast
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