How Healing Dance was developed

In 1990, while a resident at Harbin Hot Springs in northern California, Alexander George studied Watsu from its founder, Harold Dull. Following the course he began experimenting and improvising in the Harbin warm pool. Alexander was influenced not only by his professional background in ballet and Trager Work, but also by the ways in which the body and water...    

...interact in movement. After studying WaterDance in 1993 from Arjana Brunschwiler, a new spaciousness and three-dimensionality appeared in his experimental moves. By then, he had created a flowing and dancing side branch of Watsu. Healing Dance, as the technique Alexander innovated is now called, has had to refine itself down from the sheer joy of movement to discover its full therapeutic potential. Since 1999 Inika Sati Spence has collaborated closely with him in defining and growing the work into a distinct technique. Mary Theri Thomas joined the roster of teachers of Healing Dance in 2003, having already made significant contributions to its development. Since 2007, Kathrin George’s perspectives as a physical therapist, practitioner and teacher have advanced the technique tremendously. The application of the Spiraldynamik teaching of Christian Larsen has brought further refinements.