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An approach to the center: An interview with Mary Whitehouse

1972; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 3; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/00332927208408799

1556-3030

Gilda Frank,

Musicology and Musical Analysis

Abstract Mary Whitehouse, a pioneer in movement therapy, spent a couple of afternoons talking with me about her art and her ideas. What follows is an extract of those conversations. She is a graduate of Wellesley College, and holds a professional Diploma from the Wigman Central Institute in Dresden, Germany (an institute of dance), and is a charter member of the American Dance Therapy Association. Her rich background of professional dance training, teaching and performing which includes the Jooss Ballet School, Bennington Summer School, the Martha Graham School and others, qualifies her to speak with authority about Dance. She has taught at colleges both on the East and West coasts, was on the Dance Faculty at the University of California at Los Angeles, and has studied at the C. G. Jung Institut in Zurich, although she is not a graduate of that Institute. Her membership in the Analytical Psychology Club of Los Angeles grew out of her personal depth analysis. Her studies in analytical psychology as well as her personal analysis, have influenced her development of a psychosomatic approach to personality. Mrs. Whitehouse conducted both a private movement therapy practice and a movement therapy teacher training program in her Los Angeles studio until recently. I was a student of hers during her early exploratory days. I came to her home once each week, seeking a better understanding of my own body through movement. It was a one-to-one experience during which she would play rhythms or beat a drum (subsequently she used many types of musical approaches with people) and I would sit or lie on the floor and move as directed from within or follow her directions toward physical movement. During these sessions I had a dazzlingly explicit revelation of haw little Z knew my awn body and how it moved. This knowledge was like a door opening that exposes buried treasure, for I could now see the possibilities of being able really to move. I stayed with Mary Whitehouse only a short time, but the experience of becoming conscious of my entire physical self has stayed with me to this day. During our talks we discussed many things, but it was in discussion of her work with movement therapy, which is called “movement in depth,” that occupied most of our time.