Like so many aspects of life, the voice is highly policed by the gender binary. Yet using our voices in community is a precious tool for collective healing and joy. TRANS CHORUS is a space for trans people to come together and revel in the sounds that come naturally to us, embracing that our voices may sit outside of gendered expectations.
For this workshop, we will be collectively learning and sharing chants which affirm our existence as trans people. Chants for protest, chants for solitude, chants for resonating. We will use embodied exercises and games to engage with our unique voices and improvising instincts, guiding us to create chants together, as well as give us the courage to share chants that we have previously written or learnt. The will be the opportunity to put our creations in motion and sing our chants during the London Trans Pride march on 27th July.
No previous experience of singing or vocal improvising is needed, just a willingness to listen and respond with openness and kindness. We recommend attendees wear clothes you can move in. Bring a bottle of water and some snacks if you need a nibble! All movements will be accessible to people of all abilities. If you have a chant you’d like to share in the session, email the lyrics to the facilitator, margo, mgmt.margomool@gmail.com. Also get in touch with margo if you have any access requirements that will make the space more comfortable for you.
We welcome everyone who falls under the spectrum of transgender, whether that means your gender differs from the gender you were/are assigned, your gender can't be contained within binary prescriptions of gender, or you are at a stage of questioning your gender.
The workshop is ran by vocalist and music well-being facilitator margomool. Coming from a self-taught background, margo has cultivated their practice through improvisational spaces and performing. They have shared lineups with the likes of Sarathy Korwar and Laura Misch, and have appeared on stages such as Love Supreme Jazz festival. Driven by a belief that everyone should have space to musically express themselves, margo facilitates accessible sonic spaces, specialising in supporting people who are neurodiverse and or transgender. They resonate with creative embodiment practices that nourish individual and collective relationships with the vocal body and artistic curiosity.