Authentic Movement

Authentic Movement is a completely self-directed form in which individuals may discover a movement pathway that offers a bridge between the conscious and the unconscious.

Authentic Movement explores the relationship between a mover and a witness, being seen and seeing. With eyes closed, the mover listens inwardly and finds a movement arising from a hidden prompting, a cellular impulse. Gradually the invisible becomes visible, the inaudible becomes audible, and explicit form is given to the content of direct experience.

The witness brings a receptive quality of clear attention to the mover. The witness is mindful of the inner world of sensation and meaning, judgment and criticism. Though personal shadow issues may emerge, the witness accepts the mover without analysis or direction and speaks only when the mover asks for a response. The mover and witness together can achieve a level of perception of self and other that evokes deep respect and empathy. (The Authentic Movement Institute ami).

„In the beginning there was not the word, rather there was the symbolic action – a union of body and psyche. In the beginning dance was the sacred language through which we communed and communicated with the vast unknown. In the earliest times the dancer was both healer and priest.“

(Text by Joan Chodorow/Mary Starks Whitehouse)