Lisa Chell has a vision; it’s one she inherited from her mentor, Judy Atkinson, the founder and president of Circles of Rhythm.
“I went to get training with Judy, a very compelling and captivating woman, and her vision is that every community in Alberta will have a community drum circle for the healing and good will of the community.
“I caught that vision and thought ‘this sounds like something I could really throw myself into,’” said Chell, who trained under Atkinson in Calgary and is now a drum circle facilitator.
“So I came home and on a leap of faith bought a whole basement full of drums.”
Chell is a long-time resident of Brule and last month started her first drum circle in Hinton, attracting hoards of people to play with rhythm and sound, and now she is extending her reach, bringing her drums and talent to Jasper.
On Feb. 24, she will be at the Jasper-Yellowhead Museum and Archives with 20 drums for Jasper’s first community drum circle. If it’s successful, Chell said she is interested in making it a monthly event.
The circle is open to the entire community: people who have drummed in the past and those who have never touched a drum in their lives.
“You need no skills to join in a drum circle. It’s about participating, not about performing. There’s no skill level required, just your willingness to be open and have fun, get into it and participate and laugh with each other.”
Although it’s something she’s passionate about now, Chell didn’t set out to facilitate community drum circles. Rather, she undertook her training with Atkinson so she could use drums during the women’s retreat she organizes.
But quickly she was caught up in the beauty of Atkinson’s vision and found herself captivated.
“People have rhythm in their bodies—our heartbeats—we connect with rhythm no matter where that is: the seasons come and go, we sleep at night, we wake in the morning; we live a rhythmic life, we just often don’t see how important rhythm is to us.
“So, when people come to a drum circle, they usually walk in all up in their head, stressed out, with monkey mind and mental chatter.
“Then by the time they leave two hours later, all of that is kind of dissipated and they’ve released a lot of stress and they’re down in the hearts, they’re grounded.
“Everyone who came to the Hinton one was brand new to drumming and many of them I could tell were quite stressed out and by the end of the evening they were hugging me.”
Chell hopes to have the same effect on the Jasper folks who attend her circle next Tuesday.
There are only 20 drums available, but people are welcome to bring their own. Anyone interested in participating is encouraged to register at Nutter's.
Nicole Veerman
[email protected]
