Join us for the first presentation of our newest work, Convalescence. This piece is set to Clinically Designed Improvisatory Music (CDIM) which is proven to create feelings of calm and relaxation. Composers Clara Takarabe and H. Anton Riehl create an atmosphere where we can release and reflect through the power of the dissonant notes of CDIM music. In Convalescence we explore the healing properties of the arts through our choreographic interpretations of their highly unique composition. Tickets are donation based and we ask that you contribute at the level that you are able.

Clinically Designed Improvisational Music

At Northwestern Music and Medicine Program, we created a type of clinical music called Clinically Designed Improvisatory Music (CDIM). CDIM changes the alpha/beta and delta waves in the brain and also lowers blood pressure, heart rate, and respiratory rate. Individual responses to CDIM are quite diverse—the reactions are feelings of calm, relief, physical feelings of relaxation, waking dreams, losing the sense of a numb body amongst a few of the common responses to CDIM.

Our research is funded by the National Endowment for the Arts and the Osher Foundation of Integrative Health, where we are investigating the whether CDIM induces calm and we are investigating that through functional MRI. Since 2021, the practice of social-clinical CDIM is becoming popular on the south and west sides, especially for social workers who deal with families affected by gun violence, who experience secondary traumatization.

- Clara Takarabe

Meet Our Composers

Nireus

Nireus is violist / researcher T. Clara Takarabe and composer / synthesist / multi-instrumentalist H. Anton Riehl. Their musical style is influenced by their history in classical music, with ties to electronic and experimental music. You can hear influences from Palestrina to Shostakovich, Penderecki to Tan Dun, or the music of the medieval Andalusia running through their cinematic expressions.

Choreographers & Concepts

Tyler Thompson

Tyler approaches this piece with the attempt to personify thoughts. As we move through various healing practices, our thoughts and thinking patterns go through transformations. What does it look like for these thoughts to develop, compound, intertwine, leave, return, and settle?

Pauline Mosley

Pauline's approach to this piece was focused on breaking rules. The practice of CDIM inspired her to explore what our bodies navigate towards in silence and to explore the opposite of our first instinct.