Body and Earth: Seven Web-Based Somatic Excursions

This project was created by Andrea Olsen and Caryn McHose with dance & digital media artist Scotty Hardwig and collaborating performers and videographers. The films are for individual and educational use, providing web-based resources to accompany the authors’ quartet of books:

The Place of Dance: A Somatic Guide to Dancing and Dance Making. Wesleyan University Press (Olsen and McHose, 2014)

How Life Moves: Explorations in Meaning and Body Awareness. North Atlantic Press (McHose and Frank, 2006)

Body and Earth: An Experiential Guide. UPNE (Olsen, 2002)

Bodystories: A Guide to Experiential Anatomy. Station Hill Press/UPNE (Olsen, 1991/2004).

Funding was provided by the Digital Liberal Arts Initiative at Middlebury College, with filming on location in Middlebury, Vermont; Bramble Hill Farm in Massachusetts; Pen Pynfarch Retreat Center in Wales, and London, England.

Movement explorations occur at your own risk. The authors are not responsible for any injuries. 

About the Authors

Andrea Olsen is Professor of Dance and has held the John Elder Professorship in Environmental Studies at Middlebury College in Vermont. Author of The Place of Dance: A Somatic Guide to Dancing and Dance Making, Body and Earth: An Experiential Guide; and Bodystories: A Guide to Experiential Anatomy with Caryn McHose, she performs and teaches internationally. She currently offers courses for Middlebury programs in both Vermont and Monterey, California and is a certified Embodyoga® instructor.  www.andrea-olsen.com

Caryn McHose has taught perception-based movement for over forty-five years. She is the co-author, with Kevin Frank, of How Life Moves, Explorations in Meaning and Body Awareness and collaborator for the books, Bodystories and The Place of Dance with Andrea Olsen. She has a private practice in somatic movement therapy and teaches somatic work and structural integration in the US and internationally. She is a Rolf Movement®Practitioner, Certified Rolfer™, Somatic Experiencing® Practitioner, Registered Biodynamic Cranial Therapist, and Registered Somatic Movement Therapist.  www.resourcesinmovement.com

Scotty Hardwig is an experimental movement artist, performer, and teacher originally from southwest Virginia. His research practice stems from the confluence of sensory media and the moving body, creating movement-based artwork through live performance, installation/site-specific, and cinematic frames. He received his MFA in Dance from the University of Utah, and has served on the faculty at the University of Utah and Middlebury College, and is currently an Assistant Professor in Movement, Performance and Integrated Media at Virginia Tech, where he is experimenting and creating choreographic and cinematic works at the intersection of technology and the body. www.anatomyzero.com