facilitation

Facilitation

I have worked in higher education for over twenty years, delivering contemporary-dance-related subjects on BA/MA programmes in universities and conservatoires in the UK.  My approach to delivering studio practice is based in movement research, encouraging a holistic approach to practice accompanied by contextual study and critical reflection.  More recently, my facilitation practice has become focused around the delivery of experiential anatomy, the mover-witness framework (or ‘Authentic Movement’) and contemporary dance improvisation within professional development settings. 

Current teaching engagements include workshop delivery on the MA/MFA in Creative Practice at Independent Dance/Trinity Laban (London) and on Janet Kaylo’s Laban/Barteneiff Somatic Studies International.  I have delivered classes/workshops for London Contemporary Dance School, The Northern School of Contemporary Dance (Leeds), Mobius Dance (Leeds), Cheshire Dance, 24 Hope St (Liverpool), Barrowland Ballet (Glascow), Dance North (Findhorn), Exitmap (London), Groundwork (Cardiff) and the Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts.  

I also work with artists as a creative mentor and postgraduate supervisor.  To support these advisory practices, I participated in the Creative Articulations Process (CAP) catalyst training under the supervision of Jane Bacon and Vida Midgelow.

Below is information about workshops and programmes taking place in 2025.

Mon 6 Jan – Sat 11 Jan 2025 (10.00am-11.15am/12.00pm – no session on Wed) ONLINE

Experiential Anatomy into Movement – Supporting Solo Movement Practice

In these sessions I am experimenting with an online version of what I will facilitate in-person at Independent Dance the following week.  

More information and booking here 

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Mon 13 Jan – Fri 17 Jan 2025 (10.00am-12.00pm) IN-PERSON at Independent Dance (London)

Morning Class

More information and booking here

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Jan – July 2025 ONLINE

Reflect, Re-align and Reframe (a workshop series with Natalie Garrett Brown)

The third cycle of Reflect, Re-align, Reframe will be offered from January 2025, with a free taster/optional introduction session on Saturday 2nd November 2024 12-4pm BST.  Dates for the entire series are listed below.  

The aim is to create space for artists, therapists and educators who are at a crossroads of their professional practice to reflect upon, re-align and reframe their work and career pathway from an embodied and creative perspective.  Participants will be invited to move and reflect on their current work, drawing on somatic stimuli to do with orientation, alignment and transitions to generate reflections and insights.  The workshops will involve some guided activities, as well as time for individual processing and sharing in small groups.  

The programme consists of six online sessions, preceded by a free ‘taster’ session on Saturday 2 November 2024.

Recordings of the content delivery of each session will be available for any sessions missed.  

Please note that no prior experience of coaching practices is required to join this series, but some experience with your own in-depth processes as a mover is advantageous.

The cost of the programme is £150 (waged) or £100 (unwaged).  There are two places offered at no cost for those experiencing financial hardship.  

For ENQUIRIES or BOOKINGS, contact Amy: info@amyvoris.com

One-to-one online coaching with Natalie and/or somatic movement sessions with Amy or Natalie are available at a reduced cost for those who take part in the workshop series (£20 per session or a block of six sessions for £100).

Natalie Garrett Brown is a dance practitioner, teacher, researcher and leader in Higher Education. She undertook her dance training and education at Trinity Laban and London Contemporary Dance School completing her doctoral studies at Roehampton University.  She is also a Somatic Movement Educator in Body-Mind Centering (BMC)®, a qualified coach and mentor (CMI) and is currently the Dean for the Faculty of Arts, Science and Technology at Northampton University.

Amy Voris is a dance-maker, facilitator and somatic-movement therapist based in Manchester.  Her practice is process-oriented and collaborative, driven by the desire to develop enduring relationships with people, with places and with movement material.  She has completed training in Integrative Bodywork and Movement Therapy with Linda Hartley and a foundation course in Gestalt Counselling and Psychotherapy.

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Feb – Sept 2025 IN-PERSON at The River Room (nr. Lancaster UK)

Qualities of Presence: A Somatic Movement Series (a workshop series with Penny Collinson)

‘With an increasing capacity to concentrate, to listen to inner impulse,

the mover learns to recognise the channel within which the creative or

authentic energy flows’ (Janet Adler, 1987)*

Penny Collinson and Amy Voris are offering a series of three 2-day professional development workshops for movement/dance practitioners to support the exploration of spontaneously emerging movement and inner-witnessing skills.  We’re excited to make this a closed group to enable group connection and in-depth inquiry.  Therefore, participants must be able to attend all three weekends.

The weekend explorations will draw on somatically-informed methods from Experiential Anatomy and the mover-witness framework (Authentic Movement).  They will emphasise a ‘channel’ or realm of perception which will be explored with some definition and guidance while supporting participants to source emergent movement.  Themes will include:

Movement explorations will seek to illuminate the richness that attending to these channels/realms (both distinctly and in conjunction with each other) can bring to our subjective and collective realities.  Tracking our experiences, we will ‘harvest’ through drawing, writing and speaking.  In this sense, we understand ‘tracking’ to be a process of attending which evolves from the moment of moving into the process of shared-reflection.

Within each 2-day workshop, we will shift between ​solo movement and reflection, touch work in pairs, and moving and witnessing explorations in pairs and groups.  Overall, this series will offer movement and reflective frameworks for participants to listen into and work with their individual inquiries and needs, while acknowledging the companionship and interconnection with others.

We hope that the activities offered will create space for attuning to your movement, energy and imagination and for cultivating internal resources.  

Who is it for?

Movement practitioners who work within teaching, therapeutic as well as creative and performative contexts.  However, please note that this series is suitable for those with prior experience of in-depth somatic movement processes.

Total price £360 (paid in instalments)

Once it is confirmed you will be asked to pay a deposit of £100 to secure your place.  

For BOOKINGS, contact Penny: hello@pennycollinson.com

Penny Collinson has worked in dance and somatic movement practices for 32 years and is an ISMETA registered educator and therapist.  She lives in Morecambe, Lancashire, and is part of Shoreline Health in Movement CIC.  Penny runs a private body-focused somatic therapy practice, and various community classes.  She is also a professional supervisor supporting practitioners whose therapy/educative practices are somatically-informed.

Amy Voris is a contemporary dance-maker, facilitator and somatic-movement therapist based in Manchester.  Her practice is process-oriented and collaborative, driven by the desire to develop enduring relationships with people, places and movement material.  Alongside her artistic practice, she has worked in higher education for over twenty years and completed training in Integrative Bodywork and Movement Therapy with Linda Hartley.

*Adler, J. (1987/1999) ‘Who is the Witness? A Description of Authentic Movement’. In Authentic Movement: Essays by Mary Starks Whitehouse, Janet Adler and Joan Chodorow. Edited by Pallaro, P. London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 141-159

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Sat 1 Mar – Sun 2 Mar (12.00pm-6.00pm each day) IN-PERSON at Independent Dance (London)

Delving Deeper workshop

More information and booking here  

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July 2025 – July 2027 IN-PERSON at Wainsgate Dances Hebden Bridge, UK and ONLINE

Delivery of Experiential Anatomy and Authentic Movement 

on Janet Kaylo’s Laban/Bartenieff Somatic Studies International 

This 500-hour immersive certification programme is a postgraduate Somatic Practitioner and Laban/Bartenieff Movement Analyst training offering new career paths with in-depth knowledge of movement in multiple applications, as a movement analyst and somatic practitioner, as well as deepening movement knowledge and skills in careers such as dance movement psychotherapy, dance performance and training, yoga, Pilates, movement for actors, choreography, rehearsal direction, developmental movement, and coaching.

The programme deepens creative capacity and skills to expert level in movement analysis and other somatic approaches including hands-on training to establish work as a Somatic Movement Therapist/Educator. This programme meets the high standards of practice as an approved training programme of the International Somatic Movement Education and Therapy Association (ISMETA).

*Application deadline: 1 February 2025

For more information and to apply:

https://labaninternational.org/certification-program/

info@labaninternational.org