Part II - AT, Movement, and Emotion: Rachelle Tsachor on LBMS and the Alexander Technique
ASO Newsletter - Edition 65
Working together to enable greater understanding of the Alexander Technique through disciplined inquiry.
Introduction
This month we are releasing the second part of our conversation with Alexander Technique teacher and Registered Somatic Movement Therapist, Rachelle Tsachor MA, ATI, AmSAT. The conversation continues by focussing on the research Rachelle has been involved with alongside Dr Tal Shafir into interconnections between movement and emotions. Rachelle uses some slides she presented at the Alexander Technique International (ATI) AGM in 2017 to explain more about how this research is relevant to Alexander Technique teaching.
The discussion ranges from the explanation of the slides to how some Alexander Technique concepts align with the research findings. We also briefly discuss new research that Rachelle is involved with. A list of relevant research papers is attached in the resources below.
Additional links
Tsachor, R., Shafir, T. (2017) A Somatic Movement Approach to Fostering Emotional Resiliency through Laban Movement Analysis. Front. Hum. Neurosci. 11:410. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2017.00410 In Somatic and Bodymind Approaches to Resilience.
Shafir, T., Tsachor, R., Welch, K. (2016) Emotion regulation through movement: Unique sets of movement characteristics are associated with and enhance basic emotions. Frontiers in Psychology 1664-1078 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.02030
Shafir, T. et al. (2013). Emotion regulation through execution, observation, and imagery of emotional movements. Brain and Cognition 82, 219–227
Melzer, A., Shafir, T., & Tsachor, R. P. (2019). How do we Recognize Emotion from Movement? Specific Motor Components Contribute to the Recognition of each Emotion. Frontiers in Psychology, 10, 392097. Ebook. Shafir, T., Orkibi, H., Baker, F.A., Gussak, D., Kaimal, G., Eds. (2020).
The State of the Art in Creative Arts Therapies. Frontiers in Psychology.
Tsachor, R. P. & Shafir, T. (2019). How shall I count the ways? A methodology for quantifying complex qualitative aspects of human movement wth Laban Movement Analysis. Frontiers in Psychology, Clinical and Health Psychology,10,572. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00572
Republished in e-book. Shafir, T., Orkibi, H., Baker, F.A., Gussak, D., Kaimal, G., Eds. (2020). The State of the Art in Creative Arts Therapies. Frontiers in Psychology. ISSN 1664-8714 ISBN 978-2-88963-561-0 DOI 10.3389/978-2-88963-561-0
Tsachor, R. P. & Shafir, T. A (2017). A Somatic Movement Approach to Fostering Emotional Resiliency through Laban Movement Analysis. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 11, 410. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2017.00410. In the special edition topic “Somatic and Bodymind Approaches to Resilience.”
There is a link to her publications here… https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=lSPQti4AAAAJ&hl=en
About
Rachelle Palnick Tsachor is Associate Professor of Theatre Movement at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC). She is a teacher of the Alexander Technique (member: ATI, AmSAT, ISTAT), and is also certified in Laban/Bartenieff Movement System (CMA), Somatic Movement Therapy (M-SMT, ISMETA) and is a supervisor for the Center for Mind-Body Medicine (CMBM.org) global trauma relief programs. Her research investigates body movement to bring a human, experiential understanding to how movement affects our lives. Tsachor analyzes patterns in moving bodies in diverse projects, researching movement’s effects on our emotions, health, learning.
She is co-author of original research into connections between motion and emotion: Emotion Regulation Through Movement; A Somatic Movement Approach to Fostering Emotional Resiliency, and How Do We Recognize Emotion From Movement, which explore ways that perception of emotions from movement relates to empathy. For each of these studies, Tsachor helped to develop existing LBMS methods and new approaches bridging qualitative observation to quantitative analysis, published in How Shall I Count the Ways? A Method for Quantifying the Qualitative Aspects of Unscripted Movement With Laban Movement Analysis. Tsachor’s NSF-funded research (with UIC’s College of Education) investigates the impact movement and drama have on science learning through projects such as the Young People's Science Theatre, where Chicago Public School students from diverse communities create plays that respond to how science stories--such as water contaminated by lead--impact their lives.
Tsachor also applies movement study to affective computing and intelligent interaction for fields such as robotics.
Erica Donnison is part of the ASO team.
Thank you
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