Authentic Movement

Book excerpt: Patrizia Pallaro's second volume of essays on Authentic Movement, eight years after her first, is a tour de force. It is indeed "an extraordinary array of papers", as Pallaro puts it, and an immensely rich, moving and highly readable sweep through the landscapes of Authentic Movement, "this form of creative expression, meditative discipline and/or psychotherapeutic endeavour". You don't need to practice Authentic Movement to get a lot out of this book, but it certainly helps! I defy anyone to read the first two sections and not be curious to have their own experience.' - Sesame Institute 'Authentic Movement can be seen as a means by which analysts can become more sensitive to unconscious, especially pre-verbal aspects of themselves and their patients.' - Body Psychotherapy Journal Newsletter 'This book is a collection of articles, some of which are interviews, brought together for the first time. It is very valuable to have them all together in one place...It is a wonderful collection of articles on topics you have always wanted to read, such as the role of transference in dance therapy or Jung and dance therapy. The book also includes scripts for exercises.' - Somatics Authentic Movement, an exploration of the unconscious through movement, was largely defined by the work of Mary Starks Whitehouse, Janet Adler and Joan Chodorow. The basic concepts of Authentic Movement are expressed for the first time in one volume through interviews and conversations with these important figures, and their key papers. They emphasize the importance of movement as a means of communication, particularly unconscious or 'authentic' movement, emerging when the individual has a deep, self-sensing awareness - an attitude of 'inner listening'. Such movement can trigger powerful images, feelings and kinesthetic sensations arising from the depths of our stored childhood memories or connecting our inner selves to the transcendent. In exploring Authentic Movement these questions are asked: - How does authentic movement differ from other forms of dance and movement therapy? - How may 'authentic' movement be experienced?