Associate Director
BA, SUNY Empire College, MS, Sarah Lawrence College, PhD candidate, European Graduate School; NYS licensed creative arts therapist; Board-certified dance/movement therapist; Certified in Laban/Bartenieff movement analysis.
Clinical work: Center for All Abilities, Rockland Psychiatric Center, New York Presbyterian Westchester Behavioral Health. Teaching affiliation: Expressive Therapies Summit. Publication: “Reciprocal Waves: Embodied Intersubjective Communication in Dance/Movement Therapy Practice” in Body, Movement, and Dance in Psychotherapy 2020 April issue. Current arts-based narrative research: “Invisible Warriors: aesthetic encounters on a forensic psychiatric ward.” Movement-based expressive arts practice: Clive Barnes Award and Fred Astaire Award nominee for her excellent performances in the Martha Graham Dance Company and The King and I on Broadway; facilitate movement-based community art for social advocacy.
Previous Courses
MS Dance/Movement Therapy
Movement Observation I
Graduate Seminar—Fall
This class is the first in a series of three on movement observation and assessment skills and is designed to familiarize the student with the Laban concepts and principles for the observation and description of movement, integrating other relevant perspectives for understanding human movement. Students will learn to embody and observe foundational components of physical action by exploring concepts in the categories of body, effort, space, and shape. Laban Movement Analysis provides insight into one’s personal movement preferences and increases awareness of what and how movement communicates and expresses. In addition—through readings, movement experimentation, and discussion—students will explore the principles of the Bartenieff Fundamentals, which involve concepts such as movement initiation and sequencing, connectivity, weight transference, spatial intent, effort intent, and breath support. These fundamental ideas, when present in movement, develop dynamic alignment, coordination, strength, flexibility, mobility, kinesthetic awareness, and expression and also help facilitate relationship.
Faculty
- Susan Orkand
- XiaoChuan Xie