Loom Ensemble has brought Dance Music and Theater workshops and performances to Earthdance since 2017. This year we are thrilled to welcome LoomSong! Loom Ensemble’s newest project has been slow cooking for a decade – LoomSong is a fresh constellation of longtime collaborators, and a new approach to songs which have been in development for years.
Sasha, Onome and Raffles are LoomSong–a vocal trio exploring the boundaries of the human voice and the intersections between composition and improvisation. Their current repertoire consists of compositions by its members, new improvisational structures, and original arrangements of folk, jazz, classical and world music.
Most recently at Earthdance, Raffles co-facilitated a Winter Jam, Onome co-facilitated last summer’s EarthSing, and Sasha was here with “Tell Me How You Breathe” (and offered music at the ABCD Jam in Montague).
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SCHEDULE & PRICING
Vocal Workshop: 3-5pm
This workshop will offer an opportunity to explore the creative process with LoomSong through voice, rhythm, and movement-based practices for vocal composition and improvisation, drawing from their backgrounds in folk, world music, music theater and contemporary music. Best suited for confident singers: no advanced expertise required, but please come expecting “mid-level nerdery”, as we engage with some of the musical complexity that enlivens their music.
Sliding Scale $20-$60
Community Potluck: 5-6pm
5-6pm Community potluck will bridge any perceived distance between “audience” and “performers” within the embrace of shared food.
Please bring a dish or contribute $10-$15
LoomSong’s Performance: 6-7:30pm
LoomSong’s Performance is a tour de force of vocal pyrotechnics and brain-bending complexity, infused with warm, invitational opportunities to join in and sing along. You are invited not just to sit and listen, but to move, roll, stretch and shake the music through your body as Loom fills the space with heartfelt song! It’s good medicine for these times.
Sliding Scale $20-$60
Open Jam: 7:30pm
Open Jam holds open space for collective “response,” metabolizing LoomSong’s offerings into the realm of embodied practice, shared among all present. This is Earthdance’s regular “Sunday Jam”, with open space for Movement Improvisation, and guided structures for vocal improvisation. You could treat it like a “music jam” and be in your dance practice, you could spend the whole night singing your heart out, or you could flow between the two!
Sliding Scale: $10-$60
Workshop, Performance & Jam combo
Sliding Scale: $45 – $85
About LoomSong
LoomSong is a vocal trio exploring the boundaries of the human voice and the intersections between composition and improvisation. Sasha Bogdanowitsch, Onome and Raffles collectively come from a wide variety of musical backgrounds consisting of contemporary music, world music, folk, jazz, choral music, and music theater; all which figure prominently in forming their unique sound and approach to singing. LoomSong’s current repertoire consists of compositions by its members, new improvisational structures, and original arrangements of folk, jazz, classical and world music. LoomSong concerts are a tour de force of vocal pyrotechnics and brain-bending complexity, infused with warm, invitational opportunities to join in and sing along.
About Loom Ensemble
Loom Ensemble. Weaving togetherness.
Loom (noun):
-ancient technology associated with the goddess
-used for weaving disparate linear elements into a singular, cohesive form–necessary both for meeting basic needs of shelter/protection, and for ceremonial, spiritual and/or magical purposes
Ensemble (noun):
-literally “together”
-a collective, a group of individuals acting as one
-centering shared values instead of individualism
Audience and critic reactions to members of LoomSong:
‘Winning authenticity…” New York Times
“ …has the power to transport the listener to another time and place.” I Care If You Listen E-Zine
“I was brought to an ancestral and inclusive land where every voice makes up part of the whole. I love that I got to experience the joy of creation!” Workshop participant
“My father is deeply introverted and shy, and had never in his 82 years experienced anything interactive like LoomSong before, where he was invited to bring his own voice into the experience. He was so moved!” – Founder of a recent LoomSong concert venue
Cancellation Policy
Refund available up to 10 days before the workshop less a $15 processing fee.
No refunds available less than 10 days from the start of the workshop.
Partial refunds might be given if a cancellation takes place under extenuating circumstances (e.g. a death of a 1st or 2nd degree family member, serious non-preventable illness or accident requiring hospitalization). Refunds in such cases remain at the discretion of the local organizers and will be decided on a case to case basis according to the timing of the cancellation and other factors. We do not offer refunds if you catch a cold, the flu or COVID after the cancellation date.
Health Precautions
No specific requirements on vaccination status are needed to attend this event. Please take adequate measures to limit your exposure in the days before arriving. If you are feeling sick, or have a known close exposure to someone with COVID in the past 5 days, please sit this one out to keep the community well.
Earthdance’s buildings are ADA accessible. More info here.
HOST BIOS
Sasha Bogdanowitsch
Sasha Bogdanowitsch is a composer, vocalist, multi-instrumentalist and educator, whose work includes music for theater, dance and film, interdisciplinary performance, concert music and original songs. His compositional output is heavily influenced by his studies of world, folk, early and contemporary music. Sasha has performed worldwide and throughout the New York area in venues such as: Carnegie Hall, Whitney Museum, Symphony Space, BAM and Roulette. www.timbretree.com
Onome
Onome is a vocalist, improviser, and interdisciplinary sound artist who leads experiences at the intersection of voice, creativity, and mindfulness – for a wide variety of audiences internationally at colleges, corporations, concerts, cultural centers, and retreats. She has partnered with numerous organizations as an artist-in-residence, teacher, and mentor, including the United Nations, Carnegie Hall, Música do Círculo, Grace Episcopal Church, and Bobby McFerrin’s CircleSongs retreat. www.onome.org
Raffles
Raffles is a singer, dancer and theater maker, born and raised in NYC. Co-Director of Loom Ensemble (2010) and Co-Founder of WildHeart (2022) Internationally, they’ve performed with the English National Opera in London; Loom Ensemble’s annual performance season in Dubai, three summers with Theater Slava in Stockholm, and with the Art Monastery Project at dozens of venues in Italy, Belgium, Sweden and Berlin. NYC highlights include Lincoln Center with Urban Research Theatre, New York Philharmonic with Constellation Chor, BAM with Meredith Monk, and La MaMa with Loom. https://www.raphaelsacks.com