Artist description The RHYTHMS OF LIFE PERCUSSION and DANCE ENSEMBLE is an improvisational performance group specializing in percussive-melodic, ambient and interactive music, painting and dance. We range from full-out, high-energy, feature shows to avant-garde, multimedia performance art, dance and theater productions. In multimedia performance art productions, the auditory rhythms of improvised, percussive music provide the stimulus for painting and dance, creating a composition of visual rhythms that are created live, before an audience, into a work of visual art on canvas and in choreography. The interaction of color and form and of tempo and texture becomes a stimulating and inspiring dialogue between each of the performers. This performance experience demonstrates how composition takes form. It illustrates the value of cooperation and collaboration, and it provides an opportunity for the audience to see artists-at-work in a public space, rather than in the seclusion of a studio.

Music Style Improvisational World Fusion

Musical Influences World Music: African, South American, Middle Eastern and Jazz.

Artist History Since 1994, we've performed with our large collection of instruments--those we've invented as well as those we've gathered from around the world. We've even performed on national television using Indy500 race car engine, chassis and body parts!

Group Members Artistic Director, Carol Tharp-Perrin; Audio-Video Production, Larry Gindhart. RHYTHMS OF LIFE ARTISTS: Although born in Indianapolis, CAROL THARP-PERRIN has lived in Chicago, Cape Hatteras, Maine, New Orleans, Muncie and Richmond, Indiana, Mexico and Brazil. As a high school valedictorian and a Danforth Award recipient, she studied at Earlham College on full scholarship from Storer, State Merit and Goddard Scholarships. She majored in Interdisciplinary Arts and Spanish, with off-campus studies in Washington, DC, New York and Mexico. She also studied at the Center for Intercultural Documentation in Cuernavaca, Mexico, and later specifically studied murals in Mexico City, Cuernavaca and the Yucatan Peninsula. After a brief time teaching migrants in Indiana and doing graduate studies at Ball State University, she moved to Brazil, where she taught at the Arapongas College of Humanities (Faculdade de Filosofia, Ciencias e Letras de Arapongas). In 1975, she came back to the US. Based in Indianapolis, she began teaching and painting murals while also studying dance and figure skating with Marie Millikan, former Olympic medalist. Over the past 25 years, she has continued to study dance, yoga and to perform with the Jubilate and Susurrus dance companies in Indianapolis. She has produced hundreds of individual and public participatory paintings, murals and multimedia productions with combinations of private and public funds provided through universities, corporations, museums, city, state and federal governments, school corporations, neighborhood and merchant associations, a variety of arts organizations and other groups, including the National Endowment for the Arts, the US Department of Education and the US Information Service Arts America International Visiting Artist Program. In Brazil, Tharp-Perrin was commissioned to paint murals for the Museum of Art in Alegrete and for the inauguration of the Presidential Earth Summit in Canela. She co-created murals for the 1996 and 2000 US Olympic Swim Teams. She has painted murals in Mexico and Jamaica and traveled to Central America as a visiting artist with the US Information Service Arts America Program. Tharp-Perrin was responsible for coordinating the Circle Center Rooftop Mural, while teaching courses on public art at the Herron School of Art in Indianapolis. She was responsible for designing and coordinating the International Welcome Walls outside of the Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. Through these experiences Carol has become keenly aware of the importance of public art. As a result, she has pioneered public, participatory mural programs, multimedia performance paintings and interdisciplinary arts productions. MUSIC: MICHAEL BECK has an extensive collection of multiethnic percussion instruments. A percussionist and principal songwriter for the world beat band Dog Talk, Michael has performed nationally for television and radio, and on concert tours with the band Happy the Man (Arista Records). He has collaborated on projects with Peter Gabriel, on productions with theater and dance companies, and he has produced instrumental recordings that are in use by professional massage therapists. Michael performs in a number of ensembles ranging from Latin to Reggae to Jazz. He also represents performing artists through his booking company, The Beck Agency. LAWRENCE CLARK III, a percussionist and educational consultant, has performed in Europe, the Orient and throughout the United States. He has served on the advisory boards of Arts Midwest and the Indiana Avenue Jazz Festival. Clark has consulted to the Children's Museum of Indianapolis, the All-City Jazz Band, and Indianapolis Public School's student jazz program, where he also served as assistant director of the IPS Performing Arts School. Interdisciplinary work includes: "People, Paint and Percussion," musical direction of the Writer's Center's Jazz and Poetry Series, and his affiliation with Young Audiences of Indiana began more than twenty years ago. CAROL FORBES is a remarkable singer-songwriter and dancer! Carol has performed with ROL for nearly 5 years and her improv vocals are innovative wonders. More bio information coming soon. LARRY GINDHART, Ph.D., is a cross-disciplinary artist with an academic background in fine art, psychology and the philosophy of science. His work in percussion, writing, photography and videography has been presented in the United States, Europe, Canada, Mexico and Brazil. In addition to receiving numerous awards for his collaborative, multicultural work integrating visual art and music, he was a keynote presenter to the First International Congress on Interdisciplinary Education, by invitation of the Secretary of Education (RGS) Brazil. Gindhart has performed and completed residencies and exhibitions at museums and galleries, at city, county and state parks, at public and private schools, at hospitals and clinics, and with theater and dance companies. ROBERTO MONSALVE is a Chilean pianist and flautist who studied piano and cello at the University of Chile in Santiago, and composition at the Federal University of Bahia in Brazil. Roberto has composed, arranged and performed music for the past 24 years and has been on numerous performance tours of South America, Europe and the United States. Roberto was invited to the US to perform for the 1987 Pan American Games, held in Indianapolis. He has also performed with the Richmond and Anderson, Indiana symphony orchestras. CATHY MORRIS, Electronic violin. Cathy has five CDs to her credit and has performed in the US and Japan. For more info about Cathy and her music, check out www.cathymorris.com. BRIAN E. PAULSON is an award-winning composer with eleven Addie's, two Telly's and the 20th Annual Keyboard Competition to his credit. A multi-instrumentalist and recording artist, Brian's music has reached people throughout the world. His remarkable knowledge of studio technique and MIDI technology has allowed him to create unique sonic sculptures through digital samples, synthesizers and a huge collection of world instruments---didgeridoo, native American flutes and instruments of his own design. Brian's collaborations in multimedia arts performances are compelling demonstrations of his ingenuity, sensitivity and adeptness in improvisational composition. Brian performs with ROL in the western United States and Europe. CLIFF WHITE has more than twenty-five years experience as a vocalist and percussionist. He has worked with a number of national acts, including: eight-time Rhythm & Blues Grammy winner, Baby Face (La Faith Records); Downbeat Magazine's "Percussionist of the Year," Shiela E; and jazz sax performer Richie Cole. In addition to vocals for national radio and television, Cliff has performed with a variety of bands, ranging from the R & B band Midnight Star, to the worldbeat band, Dog Talk. DANCE: Michelle Arvin, Bodhi, Kionde Brooks, Jamie Corydon, Jessica Franklin, Ronnie Gilliam, Devi Haripal, Melli Hoppe, Bec Hutton, Kenyetta Johnson-Brasher, Heidi Keller Phillips, Hilary McDaniel-Douglass, Breanna Morris, Paula Oliveira, Anna Peterson, Dan Somers, Jennifer Sutton, Doug Thompson, Preeti Vasudevan, and Dante Ventresca.

Instruments Invented, found and multi-ethnic percussion, keyboards, flutes and synthesizers.

Albums Clarian Call, Compassion, Gandhi and The Dancer.

Additional Info ROL Multimedia Performance Art Music Videos and prints of performance paintings...E-mail us for details. Thank You!!

Location Indianapolis, Indiana - USA

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