The study of somatics brings people together.

This program provides the grounding that you need to become an excellent movement sharer.

Community-Centered

This program is initiated based on long-term service to the community, and it serves to foster mature somatic movement teachers that place service in their hearts.

Cross-Cultural

This integrated curriculum surveys selected somatic practices and their philosophical roots in the world.

250+ Hours

Immersive workshop segments both online and in-person will cultivate a strong sense of grounding and embodied presence for teachers-to-be.

Essential Knowledge

Embodied knowledge is passed on and discussed through basic vocabularies (a phenomenological approach), finding common threads in our human experience.

Open Dialogue

Co-teaching provides diverse perspectives, lifestyles, and teaching philosophies that will create a rich dialogue for the students.

Sustainable Path

Students will be led step-by-step to envision their own community, which will continue to nourish their personal and professional growth.

Curriculum and Pedagogical Approach

Immersive Movement Workshops

Practice

Guidance

Small Group Processes & Private Sessions

Creation

Facilitation and Crystallization

The is a 2-year program for movement teachers, and those accepted into this program come from diverse backgrounds, including coaching, psychology, professional dance, arts and theater, meditation and awareness practices. The training invites participants to draw from the richness of their life experiences to practice Facilitation, Collective Engagement, and Embodied Offerings within their respective communities. We call it Somatic Movement Training, and students certainly receive a tapestry of experiences in movement and somatics, as well as interdisciplinary approaches to finding their voices as movement sharers.

Our Students
and
Our Vision

Philosophy

“This program is unique in that it is not based on or underlining the distinctions between different somatic practices, rather it opens up a common field, where our shared human experience is without categories. It represents a new and exciting edge in the field of movement and Somatics.”

- Jessica Lu

Past Faculty

Lead Educator

Margit Galanter

is a movement educator, cultural instigator, and dance poet. Margit’s syncretic approach is based on decades of practice in movement/art lineages such as Suprapto Suryodarmo’s Amerta Movement, the Feldenkrais Method, Lisa Nelson’s “tuning” scores, Wild Goose Qigong, Taoist healing arts, dance, somatics, and composition. These forms are the basis for a mosaic of inquiries, encounters, and offerings and are assembled through the vivid grove — a live art school for moving, learning, creative evolution, and collective liberatory practices. Margit collaborates with queer, feminist, and critical race studies, as well as earth-erotics, intercultural dialogue, neurophenomenology, sacred landscapes, and poetics. Margit teaches internationally, throughout the States and at home. Shx has co-created large-scale cultural projects, festivals, choreographs, writes, and co-edited Embodied Lives: Reflections on the Influence of Suprapto Suryodarmo and Amerta Movement. Margit is dedicated to our capacities to grow and engage through subtle movement, listening, perceptual vibrancy, breathing, and communication. Shx looks forward to this unique opportunity to practice with you all. Pronouns: Shx/Hir & They/Them https://vividgrove.org

Core Faculty

Mary Ganzon

is a biodynamic craniosacral therapy practitioner, movement artist and teacher. The study and experience of stillness and movement inform Mary's work. Her foundation came from different forms including improvisation (group and solo), Feldenkrais ATM, Body-Mind Centering®, Continuum, 3D-Workout™ (based on Bartenieff fundamentals), qi gong and tai chi, dance and performance, as well as biomechanical approaches as Pilates and osteopathic exercises such ELDOA. The depth of this foundation led her to even more subtle work in biodynamic craniosacral therapy, leading to inquiries into the relational field. All of this deepens her practice in Tibetan Buddhism and cultivation of lived Dharma. Mary has taught and practiced in various cities in the United States and Canada. She was a seminal figure in bringing Pilates to Singapore, building several studios. Mary lives and practices on Gabriola Island, Canada with her partner where they are goundskeepers on the land they live on. Pronouns: She/Her

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Core Faculty

James-Amutabi Connie Haines

is BaltimorePiscataway born and OaklandOhlone raised. They are a multimodal artist who uses performance, facilitation, dance, music and writing as parts of their process. They are committed to creating art and opportunities that inspire people into using creative expression, their bodies, their experiences of pleasure and possibility to emphasize abolitionist sensibilities for visioning beyond the edge of their discovered imagination. They enjoy the way somatic practices, movement, and mindfulness call them into appreciating the dynamic ways we have chosen to choreograph our humanity. They are committed to restor(y)ing their life through vulnerability, courage and a mindset that honors the ancient, the present and our potential futures. They are grateful for their ancestors who have walked in dignity through the complexities of this world, demonstrating what is possible, both in light and shadow, many blessings. Pronouns: They/He

Guest Faculty

Carol Swann | RSMT, RSME

is a teacher, private practitioner, facilitator, co-director, performer and activist. Her work is focused on contributing to a more socially just and inter-connected world. She is a co-founder (with Martha Eddy), director/faculty of Moving On Center-School of Participatory Arts and Somatic Research, bridging Somatics and the Performing Arts for Social Change (1994-current). She was Admin. Director/Curator for Movement Research (N.Y.) from 83′-86′. Carol has been teaching and performing Contact improvisation, movement improvisation and vocal related work for over 40 years in the U.S., Latin America, Russia, Israel and Europe. She has extensive studies in Body Mind Centering, Laban/Bartenieff MovementStudies, Roy Hart Theater, Theater of the Oppressed and Social Somatics which informs everything does. She maintains a private practice in Somatic therapy, (based in Hakomi Method, Somatic Experiencing Trauma Training & Process Work/Arnold Mindell), Alexander Technique (NASTAT), teaches Voice, Social Somatics, Authentic Movement, Improvisation, Group Process and Conflict facilitation. For three years she curated/facilitated a monthly series “Somatics In Action” featuring professionals in every field in Somatics and currently continue to co-teach with various faculty, workshops in the “Socially Conscious Body”. Carol’s performance history and collaborators has included: Eszter Gal, Kirstie Simson, Jess Curtis, Andrew Harwood, Simone Forti, Anna Halprin, Nancy Stark Smith, Angus Balbernie, Paul Langland, Daniel Lepkoff, Ka Rustler, Brenton Cheng, Vitali Kononov, Julyen Hamilton and many others. http://www.movingoncenter.org

Guest Faculty

Salty Xi Jie Ng

is an artist, educator, and diasporic body from the tropical metropolis of Singapore, with ancestry tracing to coastal Southern China. Serving an enchanted process guided by the noumenal and oracular, her transdisciplinary practice is an alchemical site in collaboration with people’s lives, individual and shared dream imaginaries, within the interdimensional, intimate vernacular. In hopes of uncovering hidden selves and histories in kinship with the other-than-human, she tends to the erotic, ancestry, ageing, the inner worlds of older women, the end-of-life, and relationships with the departed and spirit worlds, while examining artists’ lives and what gets to be called art. The work she has developed across cultures and contexts, locally and internationally, manifests in diverse forms from ritual-gathering, co-created meals, community space and durational site-specific project, to one-on-one encounter, performance, video, installation, conversation, publication, painting, and writing. Xi Jie is an akashic records practitioner and studies Qigong, Butoh and Hokkien, her ancestral tongue. She created the Ancestor Dream Visitation Repository 托夢庫, has an MFA in art and social practice from Portland State University, and is the 2024 winner of the Chamberlain Award for social practice artists. Pronouns: she/her saltythunder.net baibairesearch.art

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Private Session Faculty

Michael Dick

is an Amerta Movement practitioner and appointed pribadi art teacher. Professional life includes experience as an actor, director and performance artist. Lecturer for elementary teachings and practice of performing arts. Practitioner and guide for Sumarah-Meditation and longterm student of the Ridhwan School and its Diamond Approach. Pronouns: He/Him/His

Private Session Faculty

David Leung

has 30 years of teaching experience with different groups of participants with different physical abilities, and has studied and practiced the structure, anatomy and mechanics of bodily movement for many years. In 1999, he became one of the first Pilates and Gyrotonic educators in Hong Kong, studying under Juliu Horvath, the founder of Gyrotonic. In 2002, he began to study “Sui Yi Kung” with Mr. Ho Chung Tai. He studied with Dr. Ruthy Alon, one of the thirteen wonders of the first cohort of teacher training in 2002 under Moshe Feldenkrais. Over the past ten years, he has practiced various bodyworks and therapies, including sports massage, myofascial releasing techniques, and Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) Tui Na. In recent months, he has been studying Structural Therapy Manipulation class with Mr. Liang-Chuan Lin, one of the leading orthopedic surgeons in Taiwan. David has been invited by different organizations and festivals around the world to give lectures and share his experience. He was a guest lecturer for the School of Dance of the Hong Kong University. In 2023, David and Hongyi Liu founded Somalign, a platform dedicated to spreading the idea of “bringing the body back to its natural alignment through playful and relaxing movement exploration”. Pronoun: He/Him

Private Session Faculty

Tim Jones

has specialised in intercultural research and performance, with particular interest in voice and sound. Public workshop programme The Nature of Sound; Amerta Movement Practitioner; extensive studies in South Indian Carnatic music with Sivasankara Panikkar. Ongoing Group Relations Conference ‘Energy, Creative Collaboration and Wellbeing’ for Il Nodo Group; qualified Craniosacral practitioner. Student of the Ridhwan School following the Diamond Approach. Pronouns: He/Him/His

Past Faculty

Pearl Ubungen

has been a practitioner of meditation in the Shambhala Buddhist tradition since 1989. She is a vajrayana student of Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche, lineage holder of Shambhala Buddhism. Ms. ubungen is an authorized Director of Shambhala Training and meditation instructor. Her art making/performance projects are infused with the view and practice of the dharma. She is also a practitioner of the Feldenkrais Method and has been refining/articulating language to describe the interconnectedness of body/mind somatic work and formal meditation practices. From 2002-2006, ubungen designed and implemented a BFA in Performance at Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado. The innovative curriculum centered critical theory and cultural studies while integrating conservatory-style training in dance, theater and voice with meditation and contemplative practices. Ms. ubungen continues to evolve an embodied artistic praxis (Diamante) that intertwines the view and practice of meditation with improvisation and composition. ubungen is desirous to find/create/support balance between academic rigor, textuality and extremes of “higher” education with the provocation of lively embodied practices and broader questions of access, mobility/fluidity, and the infrastructure of the built environment. Ms. ubungen directs West Coast Performance Works, a collaborative, project-based group that revels in the interstitial, drawing from San Francisco’s radical heritage of innovation, counterculture and diversity. Pronouns: She/Her https://pearlubungen.com

Past Faculty

Haoyang Li

is the creator of "JuuSho" body class, a movement researcher, choreographer, and dancer. Haoyang was an active child who loved climbing mountains and trees, watching birds, and obsessing over Ultraman and the unsolved mysteries of the universe. At a young age, he was trained in martial arts, athletics, table tennis and basketball, and started to try dance under the influence of Korean hip-hop culture. He majored in choreography in college and explored the wonders of dance to his heart's content. At the beginning of 2016, he joined Hou Ying Dance Company, learning diverse movement techniques and participating in numerous performances. He taught modern dance classes at the Minsheng Art Museum, OWSpace, and Qihao-Beijing. In 2018, he began to focus on movement research, exploring ways to improve one's physical and mental state through movement practice, and started "JuuSho" body class in the same year. His teaching focuses on sensing the "close connection between our inner state and movement behavior." Since then, he has taught more than 600 body classes in Beijing for different demographics addressing various topics, and gradually established a systematic body&mind training method. Pronouns: He/Him/His

Past Faculty

Siwen Bo

In order to explore the relationship between body and mind, she went to Goldsmiths College, University of London to study dance therapy in 2011. However, she found the Western deconstructive understanding of the body deeply confusing, and was not able find the answer she was looking for, so she returned to drama and earned a master's degree in musical theatre in 2013. After returning to China, she worked in the theater field, and at the same time, she continued to study how dance connects body, mind and soul. In 2016, she met the Amerta Movement from Indonesia, which really opened the door to a new world. Following Prapto from Java to Bali, England and other places, practicing in diverse cultural and natural situations, her body experienced renewal, change, and gradually let go of many habits of the ego, finally welcoming a spiritual emergence. To receive and surrender to the present moment, to minimize the use of energy, to cope with various situations, to achieve deep connection with all things and non-things in motion have been her inspiration of dance. Since 2018, he has independently led the Amerta movement workshops, often borrowing the strong field of natural energy - wilderness, ocean, temple, helping people to open up their consciousness, tap into their potential, learning profound skills, and solve problems in life. Pronouns: She/Her/Hers

Experienced Faculty

The Somatic Movement Teacher Training Program draws together a group of experienced teachers who have been actively practicing and teaching for decades.

Program Highlights

Close-Knit Community

Longer-than-usual continuity of support during your progress with in-between meetings and teaching supervisions. Small group processes foster intimate training environment, building life-long friendships in a professional community.

Practice & Theory

Topic-orientated discussions and "Bridge Segments" help you integrate theories across disciplines, building a solid foundation for teaching and sharing movement.

2026-2028 Schedule

Year 1 (2026) Elective Workshops

Open to Public

Year 2 (2027) Application Based

Applicant must fulfill 12 credits from Year 1 Electives.

Application Opens

September 1st, 2026

Application Ends

November 20th, 2026

Notification of Admission

December 1st, 2026

View Electives

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Apply

Submit
Your
Application

Our application for Year 2 Training (2027-2028) is not yet open.

Year 2 Tuition

Deposit 165 USD

Tuition 4800 USD

Total Amount 4965 USD

Payment plans will be available for admitted students:

Pay in 4 separate installments (quarterly).
Pay in 12 installments (Monthly).

We will help you set up a payment plan suitable for you.

FAQ

The total number of participants will not exceed 30 people. Small-size groups are used to foster your learning with the training staff in an intimate and personalized context. For example, in topic-oriented discussions you will bridge the gap between readings and your class experiences, to make connections between ideas and devise ways to put those connections into action. We are committed to creating a constructive atmosphere, where all students can speak and be heard. We want to expand beyond the idea of being in a group and learning individually to create a process of learning with a group and as a group. By drawing on the different skills and background that each participant brings, the training will be a place for collaborative interaction and cooperative learning.

In an ongoing process, the faculty members will evaluate each student by witnessing and supervising their teaching practices. Self-evaluation halfway through the program through written reflections will envision future steps for growth. All students will also share their “crystallization” project to the community at the end of the year. The progress and learning of each student in the training program will be closely supported, guided and followed throughout.

The Somatic Movement Teacher Training uses a hybrid online and in-person format. This allows for a great deal of flexibility and a lot of possibilities that don’t exist when a training is limited to in-person learning only. Primary among these is the ability to meet more frequently without raising the expense for students. In fact, it reduces costs considerably. Some may wonder whether the online format sacrifices quality for this convenience. We believe that, in fact, the online structure, when used intentionally, actually raises the standard of the training program in several ways. Both online and in-person learning formats have benefits. Our training format takes full advantage of the opportunities that they each afford. The current schedule allows for 32 days of online learning and 18 days of in-person learning over the course of the training program. The opportunity to meet more often at less expense will allow students to maintain the continuity of learning and also integrate what is learned practically in daily life. A typical in-person training segment meets over many days and includes about six hours of class time each day. Online segments are shorter and each day is about 3 hours. This hybrid format also creates opportunity to address people’s different interests in developing their teaching. We know that video conferencing present particular challenges. However, due to the nature of our work, this has not been a significant issue. This is largely because a very significant portion of the training is dedicated to movement where the students do not need to be at the computer but instead are moving in space. The video feed allows the instructors to observe, but there is no need for students to look at the screen for a large portion of an online training day.

This program is for practitioners who already have some experience in bodywork, movement, or meditation practices. More importantly, it is for those who are deeply impacted by somatic practices and sincerely wish to facilitate other people on their journeys of self-inquiry. In this program, participants will gain a basic blueprint that provides the constellation of inter-related ideas, and will be able to expand and recreate this framework based on their own background and prospect. This framework allows practitioners to understand the essential knowledge common to various systems of somatic practices, substantially reducing the time and resources needed to pursue each individual disciplines. Graduates from this program will have an integrative and fundamental understanding of their own and other people’s embodiment processes.

The study of somatics brings people together.

This program provides the grounding that you need to become an excellent movement sharer.