A Women's Circle | September Gathering

Over the last few years I have shared a monthly gathering for women in my home in Mount Juliet called "A Women's Circle | A Space To Be". A gathering for sacred sound, circle, connection, reflection, gratitude, healing and more. A time for women to gather and BE. To remember, reclaim and feel our natural power rise individually and collectively. A time for us to use our voices and power to bring union with our souls path and divinity. 

I have recently been guided to end this gathering, so that other ideas and activities can bloom in my life.    

BUT BEFORE THIS ENDS....I am thrilled to share that we have one more gathering focused on a topic that has been the cornerstone of why I am on the path of facilitating and teaching the power of voice and sound for healing and well-being.  And I am honored to have Leslie Dorst Garbis co-facilitating this final experience!  We hope you will join us. 

September Theme: FREEING YOUR TRUE VOICE

facilitated by Karen Renée and Leslie Dorst Garbis

Sunday, September 29th | 1:00pm-4:30pm

Cost: $35 ($36.05 with fee)

Space is Limited to 15 participants | Register by Friday, September 27th

The address and other details will be sent to those who register. 

Experience a vocal class with a very holistic vibe. Freeing your true voice is the aim.  

Leslie will help guide us in finding and releasing our unique individual sound. Activating our beautiful voices together as we open and clear our energetic vessels! While this will be a group experience, specific individual guidance will be shared as well.  Most all of us have "holding patterns" that are specific to us, based on everything from previous improper instruction or negative criticism that we have received; to habitual movements that do not serve us; emotional blocks held in the body; or unnecessary use of muscles that need to be released. 

Areas to be addressed in this class may include: posture and alignment, insufficient breath for singing, jaw tension, tongue tension, and more. All of these things can create blockages that can inhibit you from experiencing your truest, most easily produced sounds.  We may have challenges bringing forth our singing voice due to manipulating our sound instead of understanding the release that is needed to connect to our REAL voice.....the voice that is produced with much more ease, but has one true definitive area of power and action in the body. There is ideally a deep sense of grounding and freedom in this. Let's explore together!   

Bring a journal and pen to capture specific exercises that you can take home to continue your vocal freedom journey.  

Additional details will be sent to those who register on Friday, September 27th - including the address where we gather. 

We hope you will join us for this final powerful, transformative experience. 

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Leslie Dorst Garbis received her Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance from Belmont University. She has been featured in dozens of regional productions of theatre, opera, revues and cabaret in the Southeast and on cruise ships. Possessing an interest in many facets of the performing arts, she has  choreographed, directed and conducted musical theatre productions and choirs. She has also worked for many years as a featured soloist and section leader of church choirs.   

In the fall of 2000 Leslie was awarded a full scholarship and teaching assistantship at the University of Miami School of Music; there, she completed her Masters of Music in Vocal Performance. Leslie sang with the Florida Grand Opera Chorus and was a cantor at St. Ann’s Catholic Church in Naples, Florida. Additionally, she enjoyed performing local cabaret shows in the South Florida area. Ms. Garbis spent time in New York City teaching voice at AMDA, and as a featured performer in BMI workshops, presenting new works of NYC musical theater composers. Before that she was on the voice faculty at Barry University, the University of Miami and in the music theatre division at New World School of the Arts, all in Miami.  

Her interest in Pilates started while she sought a way to alleviate her own lower back pain. Leslie immediately fell in love with the method and found that it not only helped her own posture and back issues, but was also a perfect complement to her performing and her voice teaching. Bodywork had always been a passion for Leslie who had experimented with the Alexander Technique, Feldenkreis, Trager, Bio-energetics and Yoga. Pilates resonated with her the most. She received her Mat Certification from All-American Pilates in West Palm Beach and is the midst of her Reformer Certification with Polestar in NYC. She taught a masterclass to the Opera Department at the University of Miami using the principles of Pilates to help singers achieve better sound and more power. Recently, while living in New York, Leslie was a Pilates Instructor at Erika Bloom Pilates Plus, Premier Physical Therapy/Pilates and her own studio in Woodlawn.  

Leslie has recently returned to Nashville with her husband and young son. She taught Music Together classes for 3 years as a Certified Director and Instructor. She has enjoyed being a repeat guest lecturer with Girls Up Loud, an annual summer camp for teen girls in East Nashville. Presently in addition to teaching at Belmont University, she has her own private studio, teaches workshops, and homeschools her son part time.

Testimonial

 “I went to Leslie to gain some tools to improve my singing. I had no idea the depths of the gifts I would receive from her. She immediately took me in on many levels - what my body was doing - where I was holding my body funny or in ways that would not aid my desire for a full supported singing voice. She came up with creative imagery to help me understand how to recalibrate my body and vocal placement. She took me in energetically as well - with a deep sensitivity and a joyful enthusiasm for ME- who I was - what my voice has to offer that is unique to me. She made things that had seemed impossible to achieve vocally...suddenly possible and achievable. As I practiced what she had taught me and felt my voice beginning to fly free, I realized that Leslie was a teacher in the deepest spiritual sense of the word. Through her extensive knowledge of human physiology as well as her expertise as a singer and voice teacher, plus her wisdom and true investment in the well being and growth of her students - a freedom occurs - then a confidence grows. Things that were stuck get unstuck. And when it is your own voice that was stuck, the feeling of it becoming free is incredibly profound.”