The Practice
A movement practice created by Gabrielle Roth. No steps. No choreography. Five energetic states that together map the full range of what it means to be alive and moving.
The Short Version
5Rhythms is not a dance style. There are no steps to learn, no choreography, no mirror to perform in front of. The instruction is simpler and stranger than that: tune into your body and move from what you find there.
Gabrielle Roth developed the practice over 40 years, drawing on the observation that all energy in nature moves in waves, and that the body, when given permission, already knows these waves. The five rhythms (Flowing, Staccato, Chaos, Lyrical, Stillness) aren't external structures imposed on the body. They're states the body recognizes.
A class with Tom moves through all five in sequence. The music shifts. The energy in the room changes. Something shakes loose. People tend to describe what happens as hard to put into words, which is one of the reasons the practice has been running for 40 years in hundreds of cities around the world.
You don't need to believe in any of that to come on Monday night. You just need to show up.
The basics
No dance experience required
No steps, no choreography, no right or wrong way
The space is talk-free during the practice
Eyes open enough for your own physical safety
Barefoot or clean, flexible dance shoes (no socks)
Take care of your own body, needs, and limitations
Phones off during the practice
"This practice is not aiming for any aesthetic or result. It requires no special physical fitness or previous experience. Only an intention to step out into the moment and give shape and movement to life flowing through you."
Tom Truman
The Map
Each rhythm is an energetic state, a way energy moves in the body, in relationships, and in life. The practice moves through all five in sequence, called a Wave.
As on the floor, so in life
One of the most striking things about the 5Rhythms practice, the thing that keeps people coming back for years, is how directly it reflects the rest of your life.
The way you move on the dance floor is the way you do most things. If you turn away from a difficult encounter on the floor, you probably do the same in life. If you perform a little when someone's watching, that pattern is almost certainly active elsewhere too.
Tom teaches what he calls "dual awareness": noticing what you're doing while you're doing it, and noticing what's happening inside you while you're noticing. On the dance floor, this becomes visible in a way ordinary life tends to blur.
The gift of this is choice. When you can see a pattern clearly, in the moment between stimulus and response, you can sometimes make a different move. Over time, those moments accumulate. That's what the long-term practice offers.
"The way we do things in our life is the way we do our dance. If something shows up and it's difficult for us, we turn away. But if we notice that moment and ask ourselves: why am I turning away right now? We might get curious. And that curiosity opens a whole possibility that would've been closed."
Tom Truman, Dancing the Field Podcast
"The continued practice is always evolving. I've discovered new aspects and uncovered more layers and depth and textures of my own being. And I'm still chipping away."
Tom Truman
If it's your first time
Arrive 10 minutes early. Sign in and pay at the door. Find a spot on the floor. The music will already be playing.
For the first few minutes, you may feel an awkwardness: the urge to find your "moves," to see who's watching, to do the right thing. This is completely normal. It's how most of us have been trained since childhood: perform, get feedback, adjust accordingly.
Tom will sometimes speak briefly to guide the transitions between rhythms. Mostly the music and the room do the work.
At some point something tends to shift. The performing energy settles. The body starts moving from a different place: from sensation rather than idea. Some people find this in the first 20 minutes. Some people need a few Mondays. Both are fine.
"There's a lot of empathy and compassion in the room, because we've all done it. We've all gone in doing our moves a little bit, trying to get a response. That falls away eventually. And that's where the practice begins."
Tom Truman
The space is talk-free during the practice. If you dance with a partner, stay true to yourself. Your dance is yours first. When you connect with another person, you're meeting them in the dance, not leaving yourself.
Emotions are welcome. Everything that's alive has a dance. Your only task is to find yours.
5R
Gabrielle Roth
1941 to 2012
The Origin
5Rhythms is a dynamic dance movement practice created and developed over 40 years by Gabrielle Roth (1941 to 2012) and now practiced all over the world. Roth believed that if you put the body in motion, the psyche would heal itself. The practice she developed has been validated by tens of thousands of people who kept showing up to find out if that was true.
Ready?
Monday nights, Santa Cruz. Drop-in. No experience necessary.
Join Monday Night Dance