R&R Traditions - Jimi’s Warm-up

The first time I was part of a “Jimi Warm-up” (if it’s not patented thus, then it should be) it was in Baltrum, in 2019, during the FLYE19 residency. I can sum it up in one sentence: I had been in motivational and awakening warm-ups, but never like this before.
Jimi Renfro, a coach and associate of ROOTS&ROUTES Cologne, a dance coach and vocals instructor, is a pure, condensed shot of caffeine, mixed with sunshine and a bit of serotonin. He is warm and full of spirit, in a way a teacher can only be.
Jimi’s warm-ups were there to stir our bodies and awaken us. They were there to get us ready for the tasks of the day, to make sure that all the participants got their one-hour of stretching, moving and blood-pumping motions, just in case we had to spend the day editing in front of a screen or scrunching in front of a camera.
But Jimi was also there to challenge us. ‘Realise how fortunate you are, and what opportunities you are presented with, being here.’ I am paraphrasing, but this is what stuck with me. He had a smooth, rolling voice, one that invited you to leave everything behind for his warm-up and focus on his words. His words would lead you to your spirit, and there you would experience an awakening moment.
For many of us, these warm-ups during the residency was the teambuilding activity we needed. During this hour, every participant of the residency would come closer, share something in body and in spirit. So, it was only natural that every morning left us energised but at the same time wanting more.
Until November 2019, only people that had been to R&R residencies were familiar with this experience, only people that had been exposed to a patented ‘Jimi warm-up’.
Then, the lockdown came, residencies were cancelled and we somehow all felt disconnected and disjoined. So, ROOTS&ROUTES Cologne stepped up and organised online Jimi warm-ups every morning for nearly a month, available to all the members of the network. Every morning, at 10 am CET, we would all tune in to something that we felt it had come out straight from personal training via Zoom mixed with an 80s aerobics workout tapes, only it was so much more.
It was all of coming together and catching up with each other. We were no longer alone, we were no longer isolated. We were a part of a network and that was our morning together again. Jimi’s warm-ups were brining us together, not out of nostalgia of what we had shared before, but rather because we wanted to have these new experiences with each other.
During those March and April warm-ups we met new people of the network, shared more spiritual experiences and coloured our day with a hue of Jimi, every morning. With those morning meetings all over Europe, Jimmi’s warm-ups became a tradition for the R&R network. So, later in 2020, during the Mixed Reality residency in July, it would have been unthinkable to have it without Jimi and his warm-ups. We tuned in, we stomped our feet and heaved our breaths all together, from three countries, showing that distance didn’t really matter.
(Well, some of the stomping was off beat due to technical difficulties, but we really tried our best.)
Finally, the latest moment of this tradition was right before Christmas, when another round of digital warm-ups was organised. Without a second thought or doubt, the R&R family honoured its tradition.
It’s not easy to establish a tradition. The tradition itself needs to be meaningful, impactful. It needs to be able to bring people together and connect them, even when this seems to be improbable, due to the conditions. It needs to reach out deeper than the body, deeper than the heart, and go right for the spirit.
That’s why Jimi’s warm-up are one tradition we all gladly recognise and enjoy.
I’ve said many times before that if it takes a village to raise a child, it takes a tribe to raise an artist. Jimi’s warm-ups have the vibe of the ROOTS&ROUTES tribe. They are a part of this tribe, raising us as artists, persons and spiritual beings.

So, a great thank you to everyone who made this possible.