A couple enjoys an evening at the Shala Beach Lounge at Park Hyatt Abu Dhabi.

Mariecar Jara-Puyod, Senior Reporter

Music and dance play a major role in one’s health and wellness, according to three expatriates in the UAE who have come together to help others for the boost.

The three are Eva Voytko, Charl Chaka, and Jessica. Their joining forces come as a Research Dive Report in November 2020 projected that health and wellness would become a global industry by 2026 as people all over the world become more conscious of taking into their own hands the state of their over-all health and not fall prey of life-long diseases, which could be prevented in the first place.

They are featured at the recently re-stylised Shala at the Park Hyatt Abu Dhabi and Villas on the shores of Saadiyat Island.

Armenian descent Voytko described her music as a combination of “ethnic vocals and instruments which have mapped my personal experience from different parts of the world.” She had travelled extensively in Europe and Asia before deciding to settle down in the UAE in search of the ultimate happiness.

Interviewed, her message is that no matter how diverse everyone is, “we still are one” and that happiness that is a “free mind and a peaceful soul in a healthy body could be had by way of music.”

Musician Chaka was active in Dubai’s music scene for 26 years until he went for the shift to commit more of himself “serving Pachamama (Mother Earth) through the teachings of the ancient modalities of meditation, sound, morning rituals, breath work, movement, fire ceremony, ancient songs, and plant rituals.” He believes that man’s entirety must be attuned to better the community and the environment through sustainable initiatives. He defined music as “the medicine since the dawn of mankind, we have sitting around fires and offering songs to the elements. Music opens up to feel emotions. Dance is the conversation between body and soul. Music is the driving force.”

Jessica was brought up by a mother whose dictum is health and wellness is life. With this, though she experienced some trauma in her childhood that resulted in an eating disorder, she was able to cope and overcome.

She said: “Music and dance is everything in health and wellness. It does not discriminate age, gender or culture. Everyone fells the power of sound vibration. Music and dance is a powerful healer. Music and dance connects us all.”