Authentic Movement is a rich and complex process which evolves from a collection of simple structures where one person moves with eyes closed and another takes the role of a witness. The task of the mover is to listen to the inner impulses of the body to move, and follow them into movement – “being moved and moving”. The task of the witness is twofold: to “listen” with their eyes and their whole body to the mover and to “listen” to their own internal experience of witnessing.
In moving, you may find the process maps out familiar “inner spaces”. It may then unfold to explore less familiar “inner spaces”. In witnessing, a parallel process occurs as you recognise and explore the “inner spaces” that you witness from. Both mover and witness can write, draw and talk as a way of reflecting on the experience afterwards. By alternating roles we begin to understand the possibilities and pitfalls inherent in each.
The practice of authentic movement builds our ability to be present to ourselves as we act and to others as we observe. Over time we can come to internalise the role of the witness and witness our own moving. By attempting to separate and examine what it is to move and what it is to witness movement, the work lends clarity to these processes in any situation that’s moving – in movement work, in watching and making performance work, and in life.
