Grilikhes’ The Presence of Rhythm

The Presence of Rhythm in the Flow of Time by Phyllis Grilikhes
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Phyllis Grilikhes’ The Presence of Rhythm in the Flow of Time from Regent Press is an eclectic resource of illustrations, photographs, mini-biographies and references by a dancer, pianist, tapestry maker, teacher and psychologist.

She chooses examples of people and movements influencing Western and American culture, basing them/us in the rhythms of our bodies, child development, family patterns, psychological and cultural theories; winding up with “Culture and Rhythm,” “Creating One’s Own Rhythm,” “Synesthesia” and “Improvisation.” Gathering in Oliver Sacks, Edna St. Vincent Millais, Louis Armstrong, Bob Dylan, The Beats, Karen Horney, Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs and much more.

Poetry, Music, Women’s Voices, Bonding and Storytelling all get their chapters and reflections; but when she gets to “Dance – Rhythm in Movement,” she displays her true forte.

Once I let go to her modest expertise and slim synopses in the other arts and artists as a “wide-screen” production, I saw Presence as a really fascinating, erudite and personal review of human creative experimentation and select genius over the past century and a half. 

Subject listed under “Cultural Anthropology,” (not the Arts) it does not profess to be encyclopedic in any sense, frankly exploring her own penchants for “Possible Pathways” “Vibrant Styles and Non-Conformity” that open out to the world.

Beautiful.

(Published as “Six Creative! Human! Dynamic! Solutions!” in Knox Book Beat, The Berkeley Times, 21 September, 2023.)


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