People can learn to be fluid and adaptable, like water - an experienced state of groove. Or they can become rigid like iron, resisting flow. How we move through the world, and how we interact with people and environments, is a deliberate choice that shapes creativity, wellbeing, and human connection.

In this session, artist, author, and Henley Business School faculty member Barry van Zyl leads a presentation based on The Theory of Groove - an initiative he began in 2023 with Dr Ray Seol and Toki Wright at Berklee College of Music - Ray will join this event as a special guest. The presentation draws on insights from Barry’s recent Routledge book Finding Your Groove (co-authored with Dr. Chris Dalton), and ongoing doctoral research. Participants will feel individual and group groove - and how this shapes interaction and creativity.

Inspired by Hiroshi Ishii’s Teleabsence work, Barry will also share some emerging ideas on how the heartbeat/groove - our most primal rhythm - can carry presence across distance. Technology could preserve and share another person’s pulse, allowing us to breathe, move, or perform with it - a way of keeping memory alive across time and space.

Barry van Zyl is a world-renowned musician with over 30 years of experience across performance, production, and education. After touring globally for 21 years with South Africa’s iconic Johnny Clegg, and working with artists such as Annie Lennox, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Peter Gabriel, and Die Antwoord, Barry completed an MBA at Henley Business School and is now a Doctoral candidate. He teaches Personal Development on Henley’s MBA, publishes regularly, and focuses on bringing the embodied wisdom of groove from music into modern business leadership.

Dr Ray Seol is a full-time faculty member in the Professional Music Department at Berklee College of Music and a Fulbright Scholar. His work spans jazz, protest and labour music, K-pop, music technology, and leadership development for musicians. He is recognised for using K-pop as an experiential learning platform, launching student idol groups, and developing related educational frameworks. Dr Seol holds degrees in Jazz Performance, Music Technology, Arts Administration, and a Doctor of Education.

To attend, kindly rsvp to theoryofgroove@media.mit.edu