UK VOCAL IMPROV FESTIVAL RETREAT 2023
October 18 - 22
The UK Vocal Improv Festival Retreat returned to its home Penny Brohn in the rolling hills outside of Bristol, for its second iteration.
Following on from 2022's incredibly enriching gathering, 2023's event flowed with a profound ease and trust, true evidence of the growing maturity of our community and the know-how of the team behind the scenes.
Exciting new additions included the Improv Bazaar, a self-organized space for participants to offer workshops and gather singers. We also trialed a new way for participants to sign up to facilitators' workshops, offering a greater degree of flexibility and spontaneity. Our attempt to hold a nighttime sing around the fire was somewhat foiled by a hearty downpour, but we soldiered on and ended up co-creating a deeply resonant and moving collective song ritual by candlelight in the Garden Room.
There were many special moments, many memories made. We are so grateful to all the humans that made this second endeavour possible. The practice of vocal improv invites us to steep ourselves in the minutiae of collaboration - deep listening, feeling, vulnerability, trust, and presence. For four days we practiced, we sang, we moved, we cried, we laughed, we lived into reality a beautiful community. Thank you.
Photography by Olumedia
Programme
MORNING WARM-UPS
A range of optional body and voice warm-ups in different spaces, either self-led or with different leaders. Space for yoga, dance, meditation, choral warm-ups, and more.