Authentic Movement, created by Mary Starks Whitehouse and subsequently developed by Janet Adler and Joan Chodorow, approaches dance and movement therapy from a Jungian perspective. The basic concepts of Authentic Movement are expressed here through interviews and conversations with these figures and their key papers. They emphasize the importance of movement as a means of communication, particularly movement which is unconscious or ''authentic'', emerging when the individual has a deep, self-sensing awareness - an attitude of ''inner listening''. Such movement can trigger powerful images, feelings and memories arising from as early as infancy or childhood.
Part 1 Mary Starks Whitehouse: An approach to the centre - an interview with Mary Whitehouse, Gilda Frantz; Conversation with Mary Whitehouse, Frieda Sherman; Creative expression in physical movement is language without words, Mary Starks Whitehouse; The Tao of the body, Mary Starks Whitehouse; Physical movement and personality, Mary Starks whitehouse; refections on a metamorphosis, Mary Starks Whitehouse; The transference and dance therapy, Mary Starks Whitehouse; C.G. Jung and Dance therapy - two major principles, Mary Starks Whitehouse. Part 2 Janet Adler: An interview with Janet Adler, Neala Haze and Tina Stromsted; Integrity of body and psyche - some notes on work in progress, Janet Adler; Authentic movement and sexuality in the therapeutic experience, Janet Adler; Who is the witness? a description of authentic movement, Janet Adler; Body and soul, Janet Adler; The collective body. Part 3 Joan Chodorow: An interview with Joan Chodorow, Nancy Zenoff; Philosophy and methods of individual work, Joan Chodorow; Dance therapy and the transcendent function, Joan Chodorow; dance/movement and body experience in analysis, Joan Chodorow; To move and be moved, Joan Chodorow; The body as symbol - dance/movement in analysis, Joan Chodorow; Active imagination, Joan Chodorow.
I am certain that anyone who has written extensively on the practice of Authentic Movement will share in my deep expression of appreciation toward Patrizia Pallaro for this exemplary compilation of papers. To date, this is the most complete compliation of the three most influential pioneers of what today has become known throughout the world as Authentic Movement. Each author's unique style of writing continually reminds the reader of the value, meaning, and purpose of this profound and often misunderstood practice that asks its participants to delve into the realms of the unconscious rarely explored within a western cultural context.
