Beats & Boxing Workshop (with Jenny Moore)

This workshop is part of a series of workshops drawing from Wild Mix, a new choral musical by Jenny Moore about queer rituals for survival.

What is it? We will be using our whole bodies to explore collective sound and beat-making – including voices, pads, bags, and Jenny’s unique instrument: a transparent, water-filled boxing bag with a hydrophone. Weighing 50 kilograms and towering like a human torso, the bag fosters a deeply personal, corporeal sonic relationship, shaping our interactions to elicit sound—it's the soundscape's heartbeat.

We lock in with each other to make beats – not playing with the drums, but becoming the drum kit. We fall in time to regulate, build tolerance inside our bodies to stay present and feel feelings, to pop off and find joy. To make change. Rooted in communal singing, kickboxing, and drumming, Wild Mix embodies the daily practices of queer healing.

What to expect? Practically speaking, this will be a physical and vocal workshop in a boxing gym, led by Jenny Moore with coaching support from kickboxer and Wild Mix cast member Sib Trigg. You’ll be led in a warm up, learn how to hit things with boxing gloves and pads, and explore timing, technique, group work . We'll get sweaty swinging and singing.

You can expect playful, curious, co-created environment with queer folks at the centre.

Who’s it for? For anyone who has been told to shut up or to distrust their body.

Open to all abilities, bodies and genders, you do not have to ‘be good’ at sport, just a willingness to give it a go. We work from a trauma-informed, community oriented place and offer a space for exploration of your own strength and rhythm, however you define that. No experience necessary.

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About Wild Mix

Wild Mix is a new acclaimed musical by Jenny Moore, featuring a queer ensemble of 5 singers, drummers, a kickboxer, and ultimately, a choir. They are lovers, colleagues, housemates, friends. Through this soaring 6-part song-cycle, multi-layered vocals, intense beats, and poignant storytelling, it asks: What does healing feel like? At its core lies Jenny’s unique instrument: a transparent, water-filled boxing bag with a hydrophone. Weighing 50 kilograms and towering like a human torso, the bag fosters a deeply personal, corporeal sonic relationship, shaping our interactions to elicit sound—it's the soundscape's heartbeat. Rooted in communal singing, kickboxing, and drumming, Wild Mix embodies the daily practices of queer healing.

Collaborators and performers include Nandi Bhebhe, Luisa Gerstein, Bianca Stephens, Zahra Haji Fath Ali Tehrani, and Sib Trigg with development support from London's queer feminist ensemble F*Choir.

About Jenny Moore

Jenny is a composer, singer, drummer and live artist originally from Canada. Voice and rhythm propels her compositional work, deep-rooted somatic storytelling is at the heart of her writing and directing. This practice works from the body, rhythm, oral / aural traditions, with the theories of muscular bonding and Deep Listening, and choreographic tools for tuning, sensing and expanding music. She believes music is a social creature, ripe for political movement. Jenny arranges and writes for F*Choir, offering complex, percussive ear-worms that challenge singers to be full-body vocalists, incorporating percussive elements and expanded vocal technique. 15 years of teaching and facilitation experience support her playful and heart-felt conducting style.

Other projects include: London-based choral-punk ensemble Jenny Moore’s Mystic Business known for their tuned percussion, huge vocals and chanted soulful mantras, a mix of the 90's R&B and post-punk Jenny grew up with. Their debut EP, "He Earns Enough," was released on Lost Map Records in 2021, with The Piano Tapes Vol. 1, recorded live in St Barnabas, Dalston following in 2022.

She's a regular on the London DIY scene in bands like the dance-punk trio Charismatic Megafauna and Bas Jan, hosts a radio show on Soho Radio called 'Hitting Things,' and recently made her theatre debut as Composer for Robin Hood: The Legend Re-Written at Regents’ Park Open Air Theatre.

Her experimental choral musical, Wild Mix, is currently in development.

Access:

The boxing gym is flat access with accesible changing rooms and loos.

The space will be loud and busy with the sound of bags and pads and, in addition, a PA system with music and additional beats. There's natural and flourescent lighting, and a door that opens straight into the yard for fresh air and space.

We have exclusive use of the changing rooms and foyer, which can be used as breakout space. These will be gender neutral for our event.

This workshop series is made possible by the Make it Happen grant programme from Waltham Forest Council, and support from Metal & Water production company.

Host or Publisher Jenny Moore