In Conversation with History Holders of the American Dance Therapy Association: Janet Adler

In this series of 15 videos, Dr. Jacelyn Biondo is joined in conversation by 16 first-generation dance therapists who have studied directly with the foundational practitioners and theorists of the professional field of dance therapy. In each conversation, these women share their stories and wisdom in their own words, passing their knowledge on to future generations. This archival video series was made possible by funding from the Marian Chace Foundation. Janet Adler, founder of the Discipline of Authentic Movement, was introduced to movement as a manifestation of the unconscious by Marian Chace, to authentic movement becoming conscious by Mary Whitehouse, and to somatic epistemology by John Weir. She has explored authentic movement in the presence of a witness since 1969, discovering an inherent order within the development of mover consciousness, witness consciousness, and the relationship between the two. The inner witness, the thread of connection between and among these phenomena, is the core of her enduring inquiry into the study and practice of the discipline, of the evolution of embodied consciousness. She is the author of Intimacy in Emptiness ed Bonnie Morrissey and Paula Sager (2022), Offering from the Conscious Body (2002), and Arching Backward (1995), each published by Inner Traditions. She has created two films: “Still Looking” (1988) and “Looking for Me” (1968).