Obituary: Gabrielle Roth
Gabrielle Roth: February 4, 1941 -October 22, 2012
“Our Mama Raven’s wings have lifted her spirit from this lifetime and she is in flight to her next journey, where she will dance in our hearts forever.”
-Jonathan
Gabrielle Roth died yesterday, October 22nd, 2012. She was the most influential teacher of meditative dance of her time.
“We are born into bodies that are fluid and free. Yet for most of us, this state of grace is sadly short lived. Judgement, emotional wounds, fear and loss become stored deep inside our muscles and bones, leaving us with shoulders that sag, hips that are locked, arms that can’t reach out, hearts that beat behind a stone wall. When we move our bodies we shake up firmly rooted systems of thought, old patterns of behavior and emotional responses that just don’t work anymore. Rhythm, breath, music and movement become tools for seeing, then freeing, the habits that hold us back. When we free the body, the heart begins to open. When the body and the heart taste freedom, the mind won’t be far behind. And when we put the psyche into motion, it will start to heal itself.“ ~Gabrielle Roth
Gabrielle Roth was a dancing meditation artisits and musician, with a special interest in shamanism and healing and awakening through dance. She created the 5Rhythms approach to dance movement in the 1960s, which has become a worldwide phenomenon. She deeply influenced many past and current University of West Georgia Psychology students.
Roth worked at Kripalu yoga center in Massachusetts and at the Omega Institute in upstate New York. She founded an experimental theatre company in New York. Her legacy includes having written three books, creating over twenty albums of trance dance music with her band The Mirrors, and she has produced or been the subject of about ten videos.
___
Just four days before she left her body this was posted on her Facebook Page:
Hello Dancing Loved Ones,
Over the last few weeks Gabrielle has been moving into stillness. Robert and I have been deeply moved by the love and support pouring in from around the world. We appreciate each and every message and have been watching her smile when we share.
We have now entered a time when we need to focus our energy on Gabrielle. We would like to ask that you all please understand that we can no longer respond to the outpouring of beautiful words via phone and the email individually. Gabrielle has asked to take refuge in stillness and solitude, and as her family, we need to honor that. Together we are dancing thru an amazing spiritual, meditative journey, that, unfortunately, no longer includes shopping.
Gabrielle is so grateful for the deep connection that she shares with all of you and has voiced that now would be the time for you all to go into the deeper dance and possibly let her inhabit your body and your stylish outfits. She has also voiced an openness to poetry on Facebook and any stillness music that gently rocks an old mama. We’d love for you to join us in lighting a candle for her everyday.
Her favorite mantra is Om Namah Shivaya. When you are feeling Gabrielle, please share this offering alone or in groups. We love you all.
Jonathan and Robert
Gabrielle Roth has created some beautiful albums which are used around the world for dance and so much more. These include:
Bones
Totem
Tribe
Luna
Initiation
Ritual
There are some great videos on her work including this one:
Death details:
Given that so many are in shock of Gabrielle’s passing and that so little news is available, we have investigated the details of her death. This is what has been unofficially shared with us:
Time: 7:30 EST Oct 22nd
Location: NYC
Cause: most likely the Stage IV lung cancer that she has been battling for three years.
Gabrielle’s talents coaxed my body to move and my spirit to remain free… bless her. I’ve been a fan for many years and she will be missed greatly. My thoughts are with her loved ones – best wishes.
Wisteria
Meeting Gabriele Roth in the Spirit World
By Raphael
“When describing miracles, it is best to be meticulous”
American Indian saying
About ten years ago Laualie Sing Kar died. She was a beautiful Enya type singer who was kind of a Deva Premal of the 80’s and it was her time. She and I recorded some beautiful songs together and were friends. Well, when she was dying, I didn’t think much about it. I knew she was OK. Come on, she’s a sixth level mature soul like me and death, been there done that.
However, after she died, for twelve nights in a row, she whisked me up when I was sleeping and showed me all around the spirit world. We went to a glass cathedral and flew through mandalas into different universes. And one night we were in the Elysium fields sitting under a tree composing songs. (One of those songs is still played at Unity church every Sunday at services.) So each night she took me to many wonderful places.
One night she whisked me up and, here we go, I’ll do my best to put it to words. First of all we were surrounded with white light. Not a searing white light but a sort of soft creamy white light. And I was part of a circle of souls. Each soul basically looked like a golden candle flame. I’m guessing about three hundred souls. And there was Sing Kar who still had a sort of human figure and she was doing her usual “Do I deserve this much love?” drama. We all laughed at that.
0ur circle would shimmer and we would go into ecstasy and unity as if ”there is only one person here”. Then we’d come back and we were somewhat individuals again. Like a dance we would go up and down. Looking back at this, it kind of reminds me of Sweat Your Prayers where we rise in ecstasy and I can feel everyone’s heart beating at the same time, and fall into the love of Earth.
So it turns out that one of the souls in the circle was Gabriel Roth. So what does she do? She jumps in the middle of the circle and does a whirlwind dance with rainbow colors coming out of her where I could see sound, smell emotions, hear light. It was as if all the senses came together. I mean WOW! I mean WOW!!! Typical Gabriel.
So what happened to me was I went into doubt. “Is that really Gabriel, well she’s still alive, well, so am I.” And my mind was going a thousand miles an hour. And even the soul next to me, who ever that was, yelled at me “Hey, it’s OK that’s really Gabriel, get over it.” And my doubt caused a disturbance in the circle. I hear you, typical Raphael.
So what does Gabriel do? She jumps in front of me. What I see is a gold light flame and out of that jumps the physical form of her face that lands about five inches in front of my face. She’s smiling but there is a kind of seriousness in her smile.
Now let’s digress here. It is interesting to note that when I first met her in 1972 (on Earth), she turned around and looked at me and it was as if her face jumped right in front of my face. Well, I didn’t think much about it, that was one of the many miracles going around in those days. However, it is interesting to note that in the twelve years that I was her musician, I met a number of people who had the same experience. That seems to be a signature of hers.
So here I am in spirit world and I surrender. That’s really Gabriel. And then she says to me. Now let’s digress here again. Have you ever noticed that in dreamtime or spirit world you hear very little talking? That’s because when you use sound in spirit world your really moving energy in a big way. So when she spoke, that was a big thing. Here is what she said.
“ Oh Raphael, I still love you, but your clothes are so old fashioned”.
I was stunned. Then I got it. I cling to the past too much. In order to justify my self, I blamed it on my astrology. The ancient Greeks described Aries as a ram charging out of the ocean but its head is always looking back at the ocean. We Aries tend to cling to the primitive.
Well, I weakened and said, “Look, I love you all but this is too much for me, I’m going back to my body.” And as I was sinking back down to Earth, Gabriel put a spell on me. I guess you can put spells on people on Earth but in spirit world, Wow! What she did to me was she hit me in the third eye three times and shouted:
REMEMBER!
REMEMBER!
REMEMBER!
And that……… is why I am remembering.
AMEN
What a beautiful account of meeting Gabrielle. Thank You.
Beautiful, Raphael. Are you a Michael student?
Wow Raphael, thanks for sharing this. Very beautiful.
It is magnificent when someone touches our lives so much that we embody them. And we do that in ecstatic dance. I love you Gabrielle for the gift that you are. Dancing with you eternally.
jenni
Danke für alles.
Möge der Himmel tanzen und erleuchten.
From the Integral Yoga Center in Highland Park NJ, we send our heartfelt condolences for the loss of Gabrielle from this realm. Her soul is dancing on the wings of light. Maybe you all feel peace, comfort and total love from our hearts to yours. Om Shanti, Om Namah Shivaya
Your gift awakened my spirit to dance, to move, to engage in stillness. While we never met physically, you touched my heart and soul in many ways. I send you divine blessings as your journey continues and one day look forward to our dances in light.
very moving — emotionally and inspiring to move physically from the soul. She clearly contributed largely to life.
I am very upset and unhappy to hear that my idol that I admire and worked in dance workshops, courses now is not with us at the earth. God bless her!
I have all her books, music etc and she has been with me in all dance courses with people in Sweden.
Please send information if Johathan is coming to Sweden.
Best wishes to the family.