Upcoming Date: Friday Jan 16, 2026, 6-7:30pm
Location: Align Barre and Fitness at 2256 Mount Carmel Ave, Glenside PA 19038
Please note that the space is located up two flights of stairs and is not elevator-accessible.

Description
A nurturing self-initiated movement group. This group is open to everyone and is especially disability friendly. You do not need to consider yourself a “mover” and you don’t need “rhythm”.

Authentic Movement Group is a simple, formulaic process that you will be taught during each group. Essentially, you have a chance to move naturally and improvisatorially, following your internal impulses and compass while being witnessed by another. You do not need to consider yourself a “mover” and you don’t need “rhythm”. Depending on how you’re feeling in the moment, your movement, emotions and sounds may vary from tiny and subtle to expansive and loud. A verbal exchange is then shared by mover and witness about the experience. Next, you shift roles and witness becomes mover. Authentic Movement continues to evolve as a practice of deep inner listening, reverent witnessing, and embodied remembrance—a bridge between inner truth and collective healing.

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Authentic Movement Roots and Lineage: Authentic Movement, as it is known today, arises from a deep, timeless impulse: the body moving from within, witnessed in silence and presence. Long before it was named or systematized, this practice was alive in Indigenous and ancestral traditions across the globe. From the ritual dances of West African griots to the trance movements of the Kalahari San, from the embodied prayer of Indigenous North and South American ceremonies to the sacred gestural languages of Balinese and Pacific Islander rituals—humans have always turned to spontaneous, intentional movement as a form of healing, expression, and spiritual connection. In the mid-20th century, Mary Starks Whitehouse, trained in modern dance and Jungian analysis, brought these ancient ways into dialogue with Western psychotherapy. She emphasized “movement that arises from the unconscious,” a process she simply called “movement in depth.” Her student, Janet Adler, later gave this practice the name Authentic Movement, shaping it into a relational discipline rooted in non-judgmental witnessing and contemplative presence. Adler brought forth the spiritual and therapeutic dimensions of the work, integrating it with mysticism, somatics, and psychological inquiry. Contemporary practitioners—including Joan Chodorow, Tina Stromsted, and a growing number of BIPOC dance/movement therapists—are now expanding the field by reclaiming and reweaving the threads of its ancestral origins. Today, Authentic Movement continues to evolve as a practice of deep inner listening, reverent witnessing, and embodied remembrance—a bridge between inner truth and collective healing.