MoverWitness
MoverWitness is a practice of embodied observation in which moving and witnessing provide different perspectives upon a shared event, and is originally rooted in Janet Adler's Discipline of Authentic Movement. Shared Habitats: the MoverWitness Paradigm (Goldhahn 2007) emphasised the relational structure of the practice and the distinct perspectives of mover and witness.
The Practice
MoverWitness is practised over time. Movement, witnessing, speaking and reflection develop attention to one's own embodied experience while making perceptible the differences between how an event is experienced, observed and subsequently described.
It forms the ground of Eila Goldhahn's visual arts practice, research and teaching. The practice attends both to the mover's embodied experience and to the witness's observation of movement from a different position.
The dyadic practice can expand into group forms in which participants move and witness within the same unfolding event. In these group forms, Goldhahn uses the term Shared Habitat to describe a common field constituted through multiple viewpoints rather than a single shared perspective.
Learning MoverWitness
Eila teaches MoverWitness through workshops and small ongoing groups. The practice develops over time through moving, witnessing, reflection, reading and discussion.
Enquiries about workshops, ongoing groups, individual study and training can be made via the contact form.
The next intensive two-day workshop will take place in Bristol in early 2027.
