Malcolm Manning
Background
I have nearly 30 years experience of working with the Feldenkrais Method which I continue to find profoundly transformational, both in my personal life and as a professional movement educator, researcher and artist.
I trained initially as a dancer and still teach in the field of dance for professionals. I also have extensive experience working with a wide range of people from different ages, professions and cultures. The Feldenkrais Method offers me a pedagogical framework within which I am able to share with others all the knowledge and experience I have gained over the years.
My other studies include experiential movement and developmental movement (Body Mind Centering), Traditional Chinese Medicine in connection with developmental movement and nutrition, and a range of body-centered (somatic) dance and movement practices that, like the Feldenkrais Method, foreground the self-organisational intelligence of the body.
I came to specialise in these fields because as a child I had many problems with my body though I always loved to move. My legs were in painful braces from 3-5 years old and at 14, after a series of injuries sustained while playing various sports, I was advised by doctors to avoid moving much.
In my early twenties and suffering crippling back pain, I was encouraged by an osteopath first to swim, and then to take up a sport again. Long story short, I have spent the rest if my life studying, practising and teaching movement and dance.
In working with children with special needs, I am especially concerned to create the kind of trauma-free and pain-free learning experiences, through gentle non-invasive touch and guided movements, that I would have wished for myself as a child.
Experience
- 2019: moved to Vienna
- 2019-20: Advanced Training for Feldenkrais Practitioners with Theory and Techniques from Anat Baniel Method (sm) for Children taught by Nancy Aberle
- 2015 to present: visiting lecturer at Scenekunstskolen (Danish National School of Performing Arts), Copenhagen
- 2008-2011: senior lecturer in dance at TEAK (Theatre Academy of Finland)
- 2006-2019: developing and teaching Dance and Somatics course at ISLO, Finland
- 2005-2006: Feldenkrais lessons for children with special needs at Mahdollisuus Lapselle (Chance for a Child), Helsinki
- 2005: graduated as Feldenkrais practitioner with Elisabeth Beringer, Biel Switzerland
- 2004 to present: visiting lecturer TEAK (Theatre Academy of Finland), Helsinki
- 2001: moved to Finland
- 1993-95: studied dance at SDNO (School for New Dance Development) Amsterdam
- 1991-93: studied circus and physical theatre at Circomedia, Bristol
- 1991: discovered the Feldenkrais Method with Shelagh O’Neill
You can read more about me and my work on my website: www.movetolearn.com