Join us as we talk with Nicole Perry about how her work as a intimacy director and choreographer has inspired the way she works with consent as a pedagogical practice. Learn to find an embodied YES, and an embodied NO in your own body. Learn how to translate this into activating the teaching and learning context.

Nicole has a new book coming out, published through Routledge. Care-full Creativity in Theatre and Dance Education: Consent-Forward, Trauma-Informed, Psychologically Safe Movement Pedagogy

Care-full Creativity in Theatre and Dance Education: Consent-Forward, Trauma-Informed, Psychologically Safe Movement Pedagogy is an interactive text that provides theory and tools for practice on creating a movement pedagogy of care.

This book brings together theories and tools of consent-forward, trauma-informed, and psychologically safe pedagogies and pedagogies of care, specifically for dance and movement teachers. It begins with power assessments for educators, then offers insights on the ripple effects of those powers in the classroom on students’ consent, agency, and psychological well-being. Each chapter includes reflective prompts for educators to examine their current classroom practices, as well as imagine new possibilities. Specifically in the second half of the book, chapters include multiple tools and/or templates for movement educators to use in incorporating new pedagogic practices into their classroom, including their syllabus, class design, and assessment. Reminders of the big ideas or highlight concepts conclude each chapter.

What is embodiment? How do we teach it and know what we know? This special episode is a discussion between Sarah and Colleen as they discuss embodiment and the practice of teaching embodiment.

We also discuss teaching L/BMA in different cultures and how the material translates and how it may not. This is the beginning of a conversation we should have more and more of.

Embodied People is co-hosted by Sarah Donohue and Colleen Wahl

and sponsored by Integrated Movement Studies.

In this insightful episode, we’re joined by Dr. Melanie French to explore the Kestenberg Movement Profile (KMP)—a groundbreaking system for understanding human development through movement. Developed by Dr. Judith Kestenberg, the KMP integrates psychodynamic theory with movement analysis, offering a lens into how early motor patterns reflect and shape emotional and psychological growth.

Dr. French unpacks the core elements of the KMP and its close relationship to Laban/Bartenieff Movement Analysis, illuminating how, especially how the frameworks of tension flow rhythms, tension flow attributes, and pre-efforts reveal the deep interplay between body and psyche.

Whether you're a clinician, movement professional, or simply curious about the inner workings of human development, this conversation offers rich insights into how movement patterns can inform therapeutic practice, self-understanding, and holistic wellbeing.

Learn more about Dr. Melanie French

Learn more about Kestenberg Movement Profile

Study KMP with Dr. French

Bio for Dr. Melanie French

Dr. French brings a wealth of knowledge to her work, including 10 years of working in both inpatient and outpatient settings as a clinician and dance/movement psychotherapist as well as a graduate-level educator in clinical training programs.

With a dedication to holistic healing, Dr. French holds expertise in mind-body approaches to wellness. Her lifelong interest in healing from trauma, anxiety, depression, and social phobias led her to professional training in multiple modalities, from Western academic approaches to Eastern medicine, as well as cross-cultural perspectives on health and wellness.

Dr. French has special expertise in developmental psychology and how we can understand what children need through observing their nonverbal behavior, and how what happens in our first 5 years of life is remembered by our bodies long after our conscious mind has forgotten! Her doctoral research explored the profound impact of rhythmic movements on emotional states and early childhood memories.

As a master trainer and educator in the Kestenberg Movement Profile (KMP) Body Movement Analysis System, Dr. French shares her expertise with a wide international audience, empowering others to understand how to support child development and healing of developmental traumas or difficulties at any stage of life.

She brings extensive training in an array of mind-body modalities, including hypnotherapy, dance/movement therapy, hatha yoga, energy psychology, EFT/tapping, kinesiology, mindfulness, meditation, Usui Reiki II, and creative arts therapies.

Embodied People is sponsored by Integrated Movement Studies and co-hosted by Sarah Donohue and Colleen Wahl