Introduction
For those of you who don't already know me, I’m an Australian singer, best known for the work I’ve done getting the pointy-end of classical music on stage. This past year has been a transformative one for me. Full of twists and turns in love and loss. One of my closest friends died suddenly. I lost my partner. We lost our home. After a dangerous and painful pregnancy, our daughter died. From the ceaselessly bloody portal of my womb exploded a new version of myself too.
In my father’s house, while clearing out the detritus of a former life, I came across boxes of poems and artworks. I’d totally forgotten that as a child, before I learned that the sky would fall if someone didn’t like me or my poems, I was fearless and prolific. I was so looking forward to living that kind of fearlessness again with my daughter. So in her absence (though I do know it’s also in her presence), I’ve decided to live it anyway.
The “glottis” is the space between the vocal folds. One might also think of it as a limit, a wound, a threshold for negativity, or as the magic node where waste products from your lungs are scooped up by the vibrating, mucous-covered edge of an unruly sphincter whose first evolutionary function was to prevent us from choking to death on insects. Somewhere along the many unlikely experiments that lead to modern human life, this limit became a language. This “glottis” carried us from grunts, to speech, to the epic poem, to opera and Beyonce... The glottis is a lack, but it’s also transformative potential itself. This blog is a love letter to all that which is missing that is essential in our making.
Purpose of this Substack:
I created this Substack as a place to share often and imperfectly, and as an open invitation for more interaction. I’ll also let you know when I’m teaching, performing, or publishing elsewhere.
After years of researching and rehearsing deeply but rarely expressing myself plainly in my own words, it’s kind of a lot of shit jammed up back there. I decided Friday is the day. Every week. Breathe in, metabolize, breathe out, repeat. I let go, a little at a time.
I’m so grateful for you who would risk yourselves to care to come along with me, as I launch this leaky human vessel into uncharted seas ❤️
Upcoming Events:
I’ll also let you know if there are performances or openings for human interaction coming up.
This week that includes the workshop I will give on “Breath Play” at the IKSK in Berlin and “Thursday class” - where folks are invited gather at my home studio from 6-8 pm to practice being voices in bodies together. Write to me at info@jessaszodi.com if you’d like to come.