The Anatomy of Center
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.