Gabrielle Roth

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: The 5 Rhythms. She also embraced ritual theatre in her work and founded “The Mirrors”, a dance theatre group and music band.

Today, Gabrielle lives in Manhattan again. To this day she has recorded more than 20 albums with “The Mirrors”, has published 4 books and produced several videos on the 5 Rhythms. She teaches in workshops across the USA, Canada and Europe and trains teachers that pass on and continue her work.