A Guide to a Somatic Movement Practice

The Anatomy of Center

Nancy Topf, Hetty King

• Publisher: University Press of Florida
• Year: 2022
• Print ISBN: 9780813068671
• eBook ISBN: 9780813072333
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Medien & darstellende Kunst
• Subtopic: Tanz

An introduction to embodied movement through the work of a dance education pioneer

 

In this introduction to the work of somatic dance education pioneer Nancy Topf (1942–1998), readers are ushered on a journey to explore the movement of the body through a close awareness of anatomical form and function. Making available the full text of Topf’s The Anatomy of Center for the first time in print, this guide helps professionals, teachers, and students of all levels integrate embodied, somatic practices within contexts of dance, physical education and therapy, health, and mental well-being.

Hetty King, a movement educator certified in the Topf Technique®, explains how the ideas in this work grew out of Topf’s involvement in developing Anatomical Release Technique—an important concept in contemporary dance—and the influence of earlier innovators Barbara Clark and Mabel Elsworth Todd, founder of the approach to movement known as “ideokinesis.” Featuring lessons written as a dialogue between teacher, student, and elements of the body, Topf’s material is accompanied by twenty-one activities that allow readers to use the book as a self-guided manual. A Guide to a Somatic Movement Practice is a widely applicable entry point into the tradition of experiential anatomy and its mindful centering of the living, breathing body.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• How to Use This Book
• A Biographical Note on Nancy Topf
• How I Met Nancy Topf
• An Introduction to Practice
• The Anatomy of Center
• Appendix A: Activities
• Appendix B: Additional Images from Nancy Topf’s Sketchbook
• Publications and Sources for More Information
• References
• Index
• About the Author