Design by Claire Calalo Berry of Flourish and Frost
From Blog Director Jill Randall:
Each August, December and June, I love connecting with college professors as they prepare their syllabi and course materials. Today I want to share resources from the blog for a Somatics Course.
Somatic Writing Series
In Spring 2021, nine dancers shared ideas around somatic themes and how these themes played out in their lives – such as softening, allowing, activating, and slowing down to feel.
Like "flash fiction writing," each writer took on the challenge of sharing their ideas in 100 words or less.
I hope you might get inspired to write on these themes as well, succinctly and poetically within this word limit.
Somatic Writing Series: Cynthia Olivia, Nina Haft, and Jill Randall
Somatic Writing Series: Bhumi B. Patel, Andrea Olsen, and Elizebeth Randall Rains
Somatic Writing Series: Sima Belmar, Leah Cox, and Molly Rose-Williams
52 Movement Poems
At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic and shelter-in-place, in Spring 2020, I started sharing Movement Poems on the blog. The idea was to offer improvisation and composition prompts that we could easily do at home. I paired each poem with a piece of music by Michael Wall, easily accessed on his site soundformovement.com.
Here is the complete list of 52 poems. Somatic concepts and language are woven throughout the poems.
Invitations: 52 Movement Poems (the complete list)
Books Recommendations
A short list of books to browse and consider for your courses. The first 3 listed here were just published in 2023.
Experimental Dance and the Somatics of Language: Thinking in Micromovement (Megan Nicely)
Somatics in Dance, Ecology, and Ethics: The Flowing Live Present (Sondra Fraleigh)
Mindful Movement: The Evolution of the Somatic Arts and Conscious Action (Martha Eddy)
Diverse Bodies, Diverse Practices: Towards an Inclusive Somatics (Don Hanlon Johnson)
The Place of Dance: A Somatic Guide to Dancing and Dance Making (Andrea Olsen)
Moving Between Worlds: A Guide to Embodied Living and Communicating (Andrea Olsen)
Other Resources, Podcasts, and Connections
I also want to mention the incredible work of Prentis Hemphill, The Embodiment Institute, and The Nap Ministry. I encourage you to explore these links as well as you prepare your classes.
Laban/Bartenieff movement analysts Sarah Donohue and Colleen Wahl started a great podcast project during the pandemic called Walking with the Body in Mind. Check out their 2023 Season 2 of the podcast, now called Embodied People, as well.
Plus, this is a great, short journal to print out:
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Life as a Modern Dancer 
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