Mary Starks Whitehouse (1911-1979) was a contemporary dancer taught by pioneers Martha Graham and Mary Wigman (Whitehouse, 1980). Experiencing powerful emotional occurrences while dancing or observing others dance made Whitehouse want to deepen her practice which led her to pursue a training in CG Jung Institute in Zurich, Switzerland (Whitehouse, 1979). Becoming a psychotherapist, she was able to merge movement with psychoanalysis giving birth to what she calls movement in-depth or later Authentic Movement (AM) (Lowell, 2007). The approach is an expressive improvisational movement practice employing the principles of active imagination. Among her closest students and colleagues were Janet Adler and Joan Chodorow, both of whom are founding faculty members of the first AM institute and have continued to spread her work to this day (Stromsted, 2017). Adler and Chodorow each took AM in different directions depending on their background and interests (Pallaro, 2007). Adler’s intake of AM is rooted in Buddhist psychology, mysticism, and Mindfulness, while Chodorow’s approach employs Jungian analysis, including active imagination, archetypes, dreams, and developmental psychology (Pallaro, 2007). In my work, I use Chodorow’s approach, although Adler’s method can also be noticed.
In Berkeley, California, the Authentic Movement Institute opened its’ doors in 1993 by co-founders Neala Haze and Tina Stromsted (Stromsted, 2017). After years of teaching the practice, the institute officially closed in 2004. Students of AM have taken the practice and continue spreading it to this day.