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Nancy’s Topfs manuscript, The Anatomy of Center, was recently edited and revised by Hetty King and published by the University of Florida Press (available on Amazon). Now, through the practices in this book, a gently guided process, you can sense and feel your own bodies teaching and wisdom.

Hetty King revised the draft with integrity, keeping close in mind and heart to Nancy Topfs original intent.  She also contextualizes the materials within the larger field of somatics and her own development as a dancer.

Nancy Topf sent me on an ever-curious journey into this terrain of the body.  As a young artist, her approach gave me a way to enter into any dance/theatre rehearsal or improvisation while listening and sensing the bodies structure and alignment principles.  Her work offered me a way to cultivate a mutual understanding and deeper connection with the dancers I engaged with, practice self-care, grow, and inspire my creative process.

Her contribution to the Dance and Somatics field connected a technical process with a creative one, and the dancers who studied with Nancy communicate a unique quality in their dancing and presence.

Nancy’s Topfs work has much to offer people  (not just those who identify as artists)  Through an often slow pace, extended relaxed attention, and the repeated inquiry into simple mechanical principles and skeletal images, the inner space of the body opens and people can come into an awareness of their full being.

A fun, quick road trip to Brooklyn. Nothing quite like walking in prospect park with an old friend after two + years of separation.  It was an unseasonably warm day and the sun peeked out from behind the clouds.  All the residents were about and also every breed of dog.  Photo:  lemon cake on eggplant couch.

Two upcoming online pop up classes. Topf Technique/Dynamic Anatomy

The topic — Hands

Spine, Central Axis and Psoas Workshop

Jaime Ortega and I are teaching together online.

The Dynamic Anatomy® workshops offer an in-depth and concentrated study of the specific anatomical concepts fundamental to Topf Technique®. We will explore how the body organizes around the central axis, a line passing through the center of the body conveying gravity’s force.  We will bring awareness to the psoas muscle, and investigate its location, shape, direction and function. We will use imagery, deep stretches, and movement exploration. Participants experience the material in a longer format, enhancing the learning process. We also use drawing and discussion to incorporate the information into each individuals life process. This workshop can be taken to help fulfill the requirements for certification in the Topf Technique through the International Somatic Movement Education and Therapy Association.

The TOPF Technique was developed by Nancy Topf (1942-1998), a pioneer of release and alignment work. It stems from the ideokinetic tradition established by Mabel Todd (The Thinking Body, 1937).

When:  Saturday and Sunday  February 12th and 13th   12-3pm  (EST)  online via zoom  $65 .

Come join us, everyone is welcome.  Would you like to participate?

Questions and to register:  topfinfo@gmail.com

Tuesday January 11th  1-2:30pm (EST time)  Online

https://movementresearch.org/event/16534

I’m teaching a Topf Technique/Dynamic Anatomy class through Movement Research. Everybody is welcome–all levels of experience.  This is a gentle, fluid and grounding movement practice.  We connect to the breath and to our inner sensations while researching selected anatomical images for nuanced awareness in our dancing and enlivened ease in everyday movements.  You can work with the camera on or off.

This class is by donation

When I step into a natural landscape, studio, or urban context and let go of any preconceived idea of what is going to occur, then I am in a space where the aliveness in that moment reveals itself.

The environment provides inherent structural elements that offer ways to work with or circumvent explicit use.  I am with my curiosity.  I experiment with allowing a little more softness within myself, more ease or a peripheral seeing,  Other times more density, a shift in tempo or energy extends the not knowing.  I am available to give or receive what the moment calls for and meet the creative process in a fresh way.

Excitement in response to an upcoming event, this is a beautiful thing to be with and behold.  I can become so lucidly receptive, as I embody this particular state of being.  I can see the sparkle in anticipations eye, and set it down, before picking it up once again at another moment.  Play its edges. Be-friend it.  I might sense a quality of mischievousness arise — a readiness without expectation. This is perhaps the ground for the improviser.

I’m teaching Topf Technique/Dynamic Anatomy through Movement Research on Tuesdays Sept 14th, 21st, 28th and October 5th.  1-2:30pm.  Join me for a fluid and grounding movement practice to nourish ourselves and improvise as we enter a new season.

Everyone welcome.  Classes are free or by donation.  Movement Research is a wonderful organization which provides a space for international research in somatic movement modalities, dance technique, experimental performance and creative exchange.

Dancing in the backyard September 2021

Thursdays July 1, 8,15,22,29 + August 5,12,19,26th

Time: 1-2:15pm (EST)

Topf Technique/Dynamic Anatomy, also known as Experiential Anatomy, provides pathways into deeper perception, awareness, and expanded movement possibilities. We work with nourishing spirals, restorative spinal circles, developmental movements, deep stretching, observation and contemplation of our skeletal structure and guided improvisation. Everyone is welcome.

Free or by donation: suggested donation $5

Here is the link for the class:

https://zoom.us/meeting/register/tJ0pdeqorD4oEtdn7_X0KzFq0XDSRubNU1Oy

written by Laurel Ollstein
directed by Valentina Fratti

Jerrie Cobb, one of the famed Mercury 13, whose test scores surpassed many of the male astronauts during rigorous psychological and physical testing in the early days of the country’s space program was almost the first American in space.  Cobb was reaching for the moon but hit the glass stratosphere, blocked not only by her gender but by notions of sisterhood and colliding egos.

Theatre at St. Clements, 423 West 46th St.  New York, NY May12-May 27th
Tickets at Mirandatheatre.com

Join this terrific cast and crew!

“Jen Harmon’s excellent choreography adds needed aesthetic imagery.”
– Theaterscene.net

“This story of strength and resilience is beautifully told in this insightful and humorous play.” – Huffington Post