AUTHENTIC MOVEMENT: Teaching and Arts-led Research
by EILA GOLDHAHN
Dr Eila Goldhahn is a specialist in human movement, psychology and dance, as well as an artist and researcher. In interpersonal work she provides warm and welcoming individual sessions, workshops and retreats. She is also the author of many peer-reviewed essays, conference contributions and the monograph Reflections on Authentic Movement: Theory, Practice and Arts-led Research published by Routledge 2022
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TEACHING & MENTORING
In her work Eila applies the teachings of the late Dr Janet Adler, who she personally studied with for many years, the socalled Discipline of Authentic Movement. This is a practice of creative, self-directed movement expression. Participants learn to tune into and become conscious of their embodied experiences in movement, art and words.
Movement is self-directed and unprompted by music or other external stimuli. Instead the mover learns to listen inwardly and is seen and heard in this without any judgement.
When taught in groups, participants also experience being part of a ‘shared habitat’, where each one is equal and valued and learn how to speak non-judgementally about their experiences.
Authentic Movement is deeply moving and can be personally transformative.
Participants’ comments:
“ What a difference you have made to my life in just a few sessions. I have been able to make some real changes. Thank you.”
“ You and your work have finally addressed an issue that, although already present, I was not at all conscious of.”
“Somehow my own work gains potency through the work with you.”
“Many thanks for your undivided attention. I always learn so much from you.”
“After our session I was able to sleep for a whole night for the first time in many years!”
“I appreciate your sensitivity and respectfulness”.
“I feel you have witnessed me very beautifully, sensitively and respectfully. I thank you very much for that. And I very much hope to see and work with you again.”
“Whether it was through moving or talking I felt safe to express myself and I am blown away by how this practice can mean so different things to each of us and depending on our experiences of life. It encourages me to continue exploring what it means for me both in a spiritual and artistic way without constantly repeating to myself that I am ‘weird’ in a negative way. I could see an instant change in me just after I left, as I walked through town with less fear and keeping my head up amongst the crowd felt far more natural, like a beautiful right to be.“
“Your seminar has impressed and touched me. Since I attended I am so much more aware of the connection between body, movement and mind.”
Eila is a compassionate, experienced and knowledgable guide. Rooted in her prior study of contemporary dance at Dartington with Mary Fulkerson (Release) and Steve Paxton (Contact Improvisation), she has an artistic eye paired with a solid, somatic understanding of the body in movement. Eila is therapeutically trained in Client centred counselling, Jungian psychology and Groups analysis.
WRITING AND RESEARCH
Eila’s research received, internationally, the first PhD in Authentic Movement, awarded by the University of Plymouth and supervised by Prof Edward Cowie at Dartington College of Arts. She coined the term MoverWitness providing an alternative for the sometimes contentious term ‘authentic’.
She explores new applications of her non-binary method in art and dance making, in science and eco-systems thinking. Her monograph Reflections on Authentic Movement: Theory, Practice and Arts-led Research (Routledge 2022) has been widely praised by experts in the field. Here is an Academic Book Review published in January 2025 in the peer-reviewed journal Body Movement and Dance in Psychotherapy by Bonnie Meekums
DOI: 10.1080/17432979.2024.2447431
Other endorsements of Eila’s book:
“I have just finished your book! What a beautiful offering... It was clear throughout how thorough and wide your depth of thinking expanded, your reach into science and art and philosophy.”
Dr Janet Adler (June 2023)
Founder of the Discipline of Authentic Movement
“I love the book. What a great resource Eila has provided for all of us studying this practice. I will give it as a resource to my students, it will be top of the list.”
Wendy Elliott, Somatic Depth Psychotherapist, Oija, California
“With vivid descriptions, penetrating and clear language, Dr. Goldhahn's outstanding body of work is at last readily accessible to the global audience of Authentic Movement scholars and practitioners. It is a profoundly original undertaking, one that not only maps the history of the practice and the discipline, but also expands it through art as well as performative research. Dr. Goldhahn's writing rhythm, sometimes syncopated, at other times fluidly poetic, makes reading her book a pleasure. She paints artistry as witnessing and object-making as dancing movement. Her installations bridge life, death, and ritual, reminding us how private and public spaces in Authentic Movement come to be —through shared experiences. Dance, imagination, interpretation, and inner witnessing take on deeper meaning and scope via her "camera-witnessing" technique.
During many years of Authentic Movement practice, I had never questioned the use of the word "authentic," even after having read her 2009 article in the AJDT. Certainly I could not have researched, dissected, stripped it of its current usage and meaning in the way Dr. Goldhahn has. Whether broadening the concept of authenticity, rejecting some of its preconceptions, or magisterially weaving it in and out of famed continental philosophers' contemplations, Dr. Goldhahn describes the essence of this practice and, perhaps, what Janet Adler in her later writings calls "direct" experience. In her search for an ontologically adequate and methodologically correct term, Dr. Goldhahn merged the constant experience of opposites in Authentic Movement into one fluid expanse of possible relationships and connections she named MoverWitness.
The learning process of collaborative choreography, coupled with the use of digital devices, offers a novel, intense method of exploration for dancers, practitioners, supervising therapists, and artists, using curiosity, limits and boundaries, intertwining bodies, movements, actions, reactions, and non-judgmental language. Furthermore, Dr. Goldhahn's relentless questioning and probing of intellectual boundaries gives us opportunities to peek, not only into our ever-present digital experience with an ethical eye, but also to confront our illusion of embodied presence and blurring of our digitally-transmitted experiences.
Her holistic merging of science, aesthetics, kinesthesia and proprioception uproots Catesian dualism. This allows us becoming one with, and at the same time, micro-focusing on elements of the urban environments or natural habitats. At the end, Dr. Goldhahn invites us to explore MoverWitness for its ecological clarion call to stop the destruction of our world. She is devoted to communicating "the realization of the interconnectedness and dependencies of all ecologies" in her strong belief that "creative embodiment, empathy, and non-judgmental way to use language" in collaborative relationships will foster and shape a new world for all living creatures.”
Review by Patrizia Pallaro, Editor of Authentic Movement Vol. I & II Moving the Self Psychotherapy Center, Annapolis, MD, USA.
“This book is recommended reading for artists and dancers interested in engaging with Authentic Movement for their own creative outputs and others from education, recreational and health fields who would like to understand more about the adaptive nature of Goldhahn's MoverWitness, an interdisciplinary tool....Further the book provides the reader with a comprehensive pathway to the theory and practice of the Discipline of Authentic Movement.”
Professor Helen Payne, University of Hertfordshire, United Kingdom.
“Eila Goldhahn offers a rich and sensitive framework for rethinking the contemporary discipline Authentic Movement. The reader is guided through the various components of the method with maintained respect for the legacy of ideas. Goldhahn creates a lucid web of knowledge rather than analysing components one-by-one, beautifully conveying a sense of what the discipline of Authentic Movement is all about. Knowledge emerges with a linguistic simplicity that does not simplify complex matters. This book will certainly serve students on their learning path within the field of Dance Movement Therapy. The guidelines in chapter three also offer university teachers in DMT an embodied frame of thought that is far more helpful than what a concrete step-by-step manual-based instruction would be. Goldhahn’s approach highlights the value of human communication within university learning. For students, teachers as well as readers outside of the academy who are interested in Authentic Movement – this book is a gift!”
Eva Tillberg, Psychoanalyst and Supervisor, Lecturer at Karlstad University, Sweden.
“Eila Goldhahn contributes to the Authentic Movement literature though a carefully considered re-framing of the practice, naming it the MoverWitness, while highlighting a unique creative perspective of the practice with her essays on arts-led research. This book gives the field a fresh application of AM, centered firmly in its rich and fertile history.”
Marcia Plevin, Arts Therapy Italiana, Bologna, Italy.
“Eila Goldhahn takes readers on a captivating journey while they are sitting with the book in their hands: it includes Authentic Movement’s history, acknowledges its roots in dance and the cultural processes of its time, in visual arts, Freudian psychoanalysis, Jungian psychology and the shaping up of a quite specific discipline of its own. As readers traverse the book pages, doors open to enrich their knowledge and understanding even for those not solely focused on Authentic Movement training.”
Hilda Wengrower, Psy. D., Dance Movement Therapist & Clinical Supervisor, Israel.
“Vorrei suggerire la lettura del libro Reflections on Authentic Movement (Riflessioni sul Movimento Autentico) in cui l'autrice Eila Goldhahn offre diversi elementi riguardanti il campo del Movimento Autentico, attraverso il suo un modo personale e originale di guardare al Movimento Autentico, offrendo riflessioni e una parte storica. L'autrice si concentra sul concetto di relazione Mover-Witness, descrive una breve guida alla pratica e all'uso specifico del linguaggio , fornisce riflessioni sulle origini del termine stesso Authentic, rifacendosi a diversi autori. In una parte molto stimolante l’autrice la propria storia personale e il suo sviluppo nello studio e nella pratica del Movimento Autentico. Un altro aspetto che può essere di interesse per gli artisti è la descrizione dell'uso del Movimento Autentico nel campo delle arti e dei media, con particolari rappresentazioni e applicazioni. Penso che questo libro offra un interessante contributo alla conoscenza, alla pratica e all'utilizzo del Movimento Autentico in diversi campi per diversi operatori e professionisti .”
Maria Govoni, Psicoterapeuta, Psicologa, DMT Art Therapy Italiana.
Eila’s research received, internationally, the first PhD in Authentic Movement, awarded by the University of Plymouth and supervised by Prof Edward Cowie at Dartington College of Arts. She coined the term MoverWitness providing an alternative for the sometimes contentious term ‘authentic’.
She explores new applications of her non-binary method in art and dance making, in science and eco-systems thinking. Her monograph Reflections on Authentic Movement: Theory, Practice and Arts-led Research (Routledge 2022) has been widely praised by experts in the field. Here is an Academic Book Review published in January 2025 in the peer-reviewed journal Body Movement and Dance in Psychotherapy by Bonnie Meekums
DOI: 10.1080/17432979.2024.2447431
Other endorsements of Eila’s book:
“I have just finished your book! What a beautiful offering... It was clear throughout how thorough and wide your depth of thinking expanded, your reach into science and art and philosophy.”
Dr Janet Adler (June 2023)
Founder of the Discipline of Authentic Movement
“I love the book. What a great resource Eila has provided for all of us studying this practice. I will give it as a resource to my students, it will be top of the list.”
Wendy Elliott, Somatic Depth Psychotherapist, Oija, California
“With vivid descriptions, penetrating and clear language, Dr. Goldhahn's outstanding body of work is at last readily accessible to the global audience of Authentic Movement scholars and practitioners. It is a profoundly original undertaking, one that not only maps the history of the practice and the discipline, but also expands it through art as well as performative research. Dr. Goldhahn's writing rhythm, sometimes syncopated, at other times fluidly poetic, makes reading her book a pleasure. She paints artistry as witnessing and object-making as dancing movement. Her installations bridge life, death, and ritual, reminding us how private and public spaces in Authentic Movement come to be —through shared experiences. Dance, imagination, interpretation, and inner witnessing take on deeper meaning and scope via her "camera-witnessing" technique.
During many years of Authentic Movement practice, I had never questioned the use of the word "authentic," even after having read her 2009 article in the AJDT. Certainly I could not have researched, dissected, stripped it of its current usage and meaning in the way Dr. Goldhahn has. Whether broadening the concept of authenticity, rejecting some of its preconceptions, or magisterially weaving it in and out of famed continental philosophers' contemplations, Dr. Goldhahn describes the essence of this practice and, perhaps, what Janet Adler in her later writings calls "direct" experience. In her search for an ontologically adequate and methodologically correct term, Dr. Goldhahn merged the constant experience of opposites in Authentic Movement into one fluid expanse of possible relationships and connections she named MoverWitness.
The learning process of collaborative choreography, coupled with the use of digital devices, offers a novel, intense method of exploration for dancers, practitioners, supervising therapists, and artists, using curiosity, limits and boundaries, intertwining bodies, movements, actions, reactions, and non-judgmental language. Furthermore, Dr. Goldhahn's relentless questioning and probing of intellectual boundaries gives us opportunities to peek, not only into our ever-present digital experience with an ethical eye, but also to confront our illusion of embodied presence and blurring of our digitally-transmitted experiences.
Her holistic merging of science, aesthetics, kinesthesia and proprioception uproots Catesian dualism. This allows us becoming one with, and at the same time, micro-focusing on elements of the urban environments or natural habitats. At the end, Dr. Goldhahn invites us to explore MoverWitness for its ecological clarion call to stop the destruction of our world. She is devoted to communicating "the realization of the interconnectedness and dependencies of all ecologies" in her strong belief that "creative embodiment, empathy, and non-judgmental way to use language" in collaborative relationships will foster and shape a new world for all living creatures.”
Review by Patrizia Pallaro, Editor of Authentic Movement Vol. I & II Moving the Self Psychotherapy Center, Annapolis, MD, USA.
“This book is recommended reading for artists and dancers interested in engaging with Authentic Movement for their own creative outputs and others from education, recreational and health fields who would like to understand more about the adaptive nature of Goldhahn's MoverWitness, an interdisciplinary tool....Further the book provides the reader with a comprehensive pathway to the theory and practice of the Discipline of Authentic Movement.”
Professor Helen Payne, University of Hertfordshire, United Kingdom.
“Eila Goldhahn offers a rich and sensitive framework for rethinking the contemporary discipline Authentic Movement. The reader is guided through the various components of the method with maintained respect for the legacy of ideas. Goldhahn creates a lucid web of knowledge rather than analysing components one-by-one, beautifully conveying a sense of what the discipline of Authentic Movement is all about. Knowledge emerges with a linguistic simplicity that does not simplify complex matters. This book will certainly serve students on their learning path within the field of Dance Movement Therapy. The guidelines in chapter three also offer university teachers in DMT an embodied frame of thought that is far more helpful than what a concrete step-by-step manual-based instruction would be. Goldhahn’s approach highlights the value of human communication within university learning. For students, teachers as well as readers outside of the academy who are interested in Authentic Movement – this book is a gift!”
Eva Tillberg, Psychoanalyst and Supervisor, Lecturer at Karlstad University, Sweden.
“Eila Goldhahn contributes to the Authentic Movement literature though a carefully considered re-framing of the practice, naming it the MoverWitness, while highlighting a unique creative perspective of the practice with her essays on arts-led research. This book gives the field a fresh application of AM, centered firmly in its rich and fertile history.”
Marcia Plevin, Arts Therapy Italiana, Bologna, Italy.
“Eila Goldhahn takes readers on a captivating journey while they are sitting with the book in their hands: it includes Authentic Movement’s history, acknowledges its roots in dance and the cultural processes of its time, in visual arts, Freudian psychoanalysis, Jungian psychology and the shaping up of a quite specific discipline of its own. As readers traverse the book pages, doors open to enrich their knowledge and understanding even for those not solely focused on Authentic Movement training.”
Hilda Wengrower, Psy. D., Dance Movement Therapist & Clinical Supervisor, Israel.
“Vorrei suggerire la lettura del libro Reflections on Authentic Movement (Riflessioni sul Movimento Autentico) in cui l'autrice Eila Goldhahn offre diversi elementi riguardanti il campo del Movimento Autentico, attraverso il suo un modo personale e originale di guardare al Movimento Autentico, offrendo riflessioni e una parte storica. L'autrice si concentra sul concetto di relazione Mover-Witness, descrive una breve guida alla pratica e all'uso specifico del linguaggio , fornisce riflessioni sulle origini del termine stesso Authentic, rifacendosi a diversi autori. In una parte molto stimolante l’autrice la propria storia personale e il suo sviluppo nello studio e nella pratica del Movimento Autentico. Un altro aspetto che può essere di interesse per gli artisti è la descrizione dell'uso del Movimento Autentico nel campo delle arti e dei media, con particolari rappresentazioni e applicazioni. Penso che questo libro offra un interessante contributo alla conoscenza, alla pratica e all'utilizzo del Movimento Autentico in diversi campi per diversi operatori e professionisti .”
Maria Govoni, Psicoterapeuta, Psicologa, DMT Art Therapy Italiana.
) ( --- MoverWitness --- ( )
...a shared habitat of a mover and a witness, endowing hope...
Some quotes from
Reflections on Authentic Movement: Theory, Practice and Arts-led Research (Routledge/Eila Goldhahn 2022) :
- “ Participants explore their inner worlds through gesture and movement, and experience being seen in this without judgement.”
- “A person moves with her eyes closed and is observed by another person, a witness.”
- “The mover is free to follow her inner impulses in a self-directed way, whilst the witness holds still and silently bears witness to this ‘authentic’ movement.”
SESSIONS:
Individual Sessions in Plymouth, UK and online.
For more information and booking use the Contact Form
Group sessions in Plymouth, UK from June until December.
For more information and booking follow the link:
https://buytickets.at/sharedhabitat/1664690
OUTDOOR ARTS PROJECT:
Saturday 19th July, weather permitting, we take a group of movers to a beautiful South Hams beach for an outdoor arts project using Authentic Movement. The event will be filmed by Stuart and myself and images of the movement event will be in future public exhibitions by us. Having developed "filming like a witness with a soft gaze”, we follow an ethical protocol where each collaborator/participant can vet the footage to approve images (before these are being made public). The workshop is free and you will receive £15 to cover your travel costs.
For more information use the Contact Form
RETREATS:
For more information on retreats use the Contact Form
Saturday 19th July, weather permitting, we take a group of movers to a beautiful South Hams beach for an outdoor arts project using Authentic Movement. The event will be filmed by Stuart and myself and images of the movement event will be in future public exhibitions by us. Having developed "filming like a witness with a soft gaze”, we follow an ethical protocol where each collaborator/participant can vet the footage to approve images (before these are being made public). The workshop is free and you will receive £15 to cover your travel costs.
For more information use the Contact Form
RETREATS:
For more information on retreats use the Contact Form
VISUAL ART:
Installation, performance and sculpture
by Eila Goldhahn
Hortus Conclusus at the German Embassy in Brussels
Kunsthalle Halle, Germany
Slapton Movers at TUFA Trier, Germany
(Un)marked Boxes
(Un)marked Boxes
Obliteration and the fear of death are important aspects of collective narratives and the survival of the human species is a deeply inscribed, instinctual concern, surfacing with great power at times of environmental peril, war and willful human destruction. Societies and their collective experiences contain an energy, whether mystical or scientific, to try to determine the course of the human and planetary history. Experiences of collective movement and dance and an imagined collective body inspired these installations with packing crates. In the face of the current climatic and geopolitical tensions this work seems all too real.
Material: wooden crates
Works shown at: Dartington Trust, UK
Delamore Arts, UK
Works shown at: Dartington Trust, UK
Delamore Arts, UK
Auslöschung und die Angst vor dem Tod waren stets wichtige Aspekte
kollektiven Erzählens, da das Überleben der Menschheit als Spezies
von tief eingeschriebener, instinktiver Besorgnis ist.
Gesellschaften und ihre kollektive Erfahrungen beinhalten unter anderem die Energie
den Verlauf der menschlichen und planetaren Geschichte zu versuchen zu determinieren. Erfahrungen mit kollektiver Bewegung und Tanz und einem imaginären kollektivem Körper inspirierten diese Installationen mit Verpackungskisten. Die gegenwärtige Pandemie und geopolitische Krise verleihen den Installationen eine allzu realistische Relevanz.