A vocal music therapy workshop focused on the creation of contemporary vocal rituals, based on the ancient tradition of laments, as a way of addressing every-day loss related to the different crises that we traverse (sanitary, ecological, political). 

We’ll consider our different relationships to our voices, their relation to our contexts and their gendered aspects, as departure points to share questions and experiences. The core of the workshop is a weekend dedicated to explore experiences of loss to create our own lamentations, supported by the music therapist and the group. We will do voice exercises, collective readings and discussion, drawing, writing and a closing farewell ritual. 

The workshop will be guided by Xanthoula Dakovanou and Eliana Otta in English.

Xanthoula Dakovanou is a singer, composer, music therapist, medical doctor and doctor in psychoanalysis and psychopathology (Paris Sorbonne). She has edited until today 3 personal albums in Paris and has participated as an invited artist in 13 more albums throughout Europe. She is also the author of numerous scientific articles concerning music and therapy and is a scientific collaborator of Paris Sorbonne 5 University and of the NKUA.

Eliana Otta is an artist with a master’s degree in Cultural Studies and graduated from the PhD in Practice Program at the Academy of Fine Arts of Vienna with the project Lost and Shared: Approaches to collective mourning towards affective and transformative politics. She belongs to the artists collective Bisagra in Lima, Mouries in Athens, and coordinated the curatorial team at Lugar de la Memoria, Lima, Peru.