Gabrielle Roth was born and grew up in Manhattan/ New York. Even as a child she took up dancing and discovered her healing powers: “I could slip into a trance, see through bodies, smell death, feel birth, know when someone was in pain and how to guide them through it.” (Gabrielle Roth, with John Loudon, Maps to Ecstasy: A Healing Journey for the Untamed Spirit, Revised edition 1998.)
In order to pay her college bills she gave dancing and acting classes to children, grown-ups, senior citizens and people with mental disorders. It was in this period that she discovered that energy flows in distinct rhythms. During a three year’s stay in Europe she developed a passion for painting. Art showed her the paths that lead to the soul.
After her return to the US, a knee injury led her to Esalen Institute, a retreat in California, where she met Fritz Perls, the originator of Gestalt Therapy. He invited Gabrielle to teach movement to his groups. In the years that followed, Gabrielle developed the maps that represent the choreography of our energy and lead us to wholeness: 5 Rhythms. In her work she also embraced ritual theatre and founded “The Mirrors”, a dance theatre group and music band with whom she has recorded more than 20 albums. In addition to her teaching activities in the USA, Canada and Europe she has published 3 books and produced several videos on the 5 Rhythms.
Gabrielle Roth died on October 22, 2012 in New York. Today her students teach the 5 Rhythms all over the world.
