Embodied Lives

List Price: £25/$32
Format: Paperback, 336pp
Size: 9"x 6" ~ 15.3 x 22.9cm
ISBN: 978-1-909470-32-3
Tags: Suprapto Suryodarmo, Amerta Movement, Joged Amerta, Prapto, Movement, Performance, Somatics, Java, embodiment.

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Strongly situated in the daily life, culture, traditions and ecology of Central Java, Prapto's Amerta Movement practice draws on Theravada Buddhism, Sumarah meditation, sites like Borobudur temple, Candi Sukuh, and coastal Parangtritis - as well as his internationally-known Padepokan Lemah Putih in Mojosongo, Solo.

Embodied Lives
Reflections on the Influence of Suprapto Suryodarmo and
Amerta Movement

edited by: Katya Bloom, Margit Galanter and Sandra Reeve

30 movement performers, therapists, artists, teachers and colleagues from around the world describe the impact of Prapto's Amerta Movement on their lives and work.

Prapto at Parangtritis Beach, Java, 2014. Photo: Karolina Nieduza

Since the mid-80s, Prapto's moving/dancing has inspired many thousands of people in the West, and many more in his native Java, who have witnessed, worked with or been otherwise influenced by his Amerta Movement practice.

But what is this non-stylised Amerta Movement practice? And what is it about Prapto's work that so touches the lives of therapists, artists, musicians, dancers, teachers, performers, monastics and laypeople from all walks of life?

To answer these questions, this new book brings together the experiences of 30 movement practitioners from Indonesia, Europe, North and South America and Australasia. As their chapters show, their personal and professional lives have all been affected by their long-term studies and interactions with Prapto.

The common denominator for all the authors is the exploration of their own movement as a way of deepening their connection to themselves, to each other and, at the same time, to their respective worlds.

These chapters all also share the potency that comes from writing from lived experience, rather than writing about something with distance.

Amerta Movement may be seen as cultivating an embodied interdisciplinary approach to life through the practice of movement as a skilled art.

Some themes and areas covered

The authors explore themes and ideas as diverse as:

Moving with babies
Amerta Movement and Buddhism
Using movement to work with autistic children
Movement as a way to loosen the habit of critique and criticism
Movement and film... and the law... and archaeology... and music
Movement mantra
Somatic costumes and movement performance

Different chapters look at contemplative, vocational, daily life, therapeutic, musical, dance and performative applications of Amerta Movement. See the full contents list here. See the visual flow web of the chapters here.

“Suprapto’s work with movement is radically inventive and his dancing a revelation.”
Anna Halprin

"Suprapto is a movement master. and his work has deeply touched my life and the lives of countless others... A joy to read for anybody interested in making the most of this creative project called living in a body on planet earth."
Ya'Acov Darling Khan, author of Movement Medicine.

"Dancing inside, dancing outside - this elegant book illuminates awareness of both body and place."
Andrea Olsen, author of The Place of Dance.

"As I continue to search for ways in which critical thinking can be brought together with movement practices taught in university settings, I am drawn to Embodied Lives… It points to ways in which embodiment not only informs perception and communication but also shapes the ways we can deepen knowledge of ourselves and others.

[Its] willingness to engage discursive theories and movement practices makes Embodied Lives… an important addition to academic reading. Although it is not published by a university press... it explores and uncovers essential links between verbal and nonverbal epistemologies."
Kate Mattingly, graduate student in Theater, Dance & Performance Studies, Univ. of California, Berkeley

Glimpses: extracts/highlights from the book
Click here to view or download a pdf:

Contents and authors
Reviews
Visual flow web of chapters
Additional Resources
Images of Prapto
Amerta Movement - Timeline
Embodied Lives - The Introduction

Related titles:

Nine Ways of Seeing a Body
Attending to Movement
Body & Performance

See our other titles in:
Movement & Somatics

Mythogeography & Walking

People in Society

Readership:

As well as all those familiar with Prapto's work, the book will also be an inspiration and resource for:
dance, movement and performance artists, teachers and trainers;
therapists of all sorts, especially those working with somatics, embodiment, dance and movement;
academics and researchers in the fields of intercultural studies, human geography and living heritage;
anyone wanting to learn more about the nature and application of Prapto's movement practice;
anyone interested in the value of an embodied approach to life and work - current thinking about the brain and body points to the crucial importance of nonverbal, embodied perception and communication, and Amerta Movement offers an important path toward growth in this area.

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