































 

Feldenkrais Research Journal​ • ​volume 6 ​ (2018-2019) 
 
Original Research 
 
 

Learning with the Feldenkrais Method​®​
 of Somatic Education 

in the Dance Technique Class: A Case Study 

 

Jenny Coogan 
BFA Dance, PhD Candidate; Professor for Contemporary Dance, Palucca University of Dance Dresden 

Contact: ​j.coogan@palucca.eu 
 

Abstract 

As a dance artist, educator and Feldenkrais​®​ practitioner I am committed to facilitating somatically 
oriented teaching and learning environments in professional dance education. This article illuminates 
action research conducted in the form of a case study with Bachelor of Arts students in a 
conservatory-modelled program in Germany. Embedded in a socio-constructivist epistemology the study 
sought to make the synergetic relationship between the Feldenkrais Method ​®​ and contemporary dance 
technique accessible for the students in ways to support the development of their physical competencies, 
personal agency, self-regulative and self-reflective processes. In addition, the study’s methods 
investigated how a collective somatic sensibility might enable the dancers to navigate more effectively 
within the interplay of contextualization and shared responsibility in the learning environment. The 
inductive methodology of grounded theory was used for the collection, evaluation and interpretation of the 
data. Reviewing the data four categories emerged that bring different and interrelated perspectives to the 
complex processes of situational learning: Environment, Reflection; Personal Agency, and Transferability. 
This paper locates the research in the context of German vocational education, identifies its 
methodological and pedagogical underpinnings and outlines the setting, participant group, and the 
planning and operationalization of the study. Included is a description of the methods of data capture, its 
analysis and a critical reflection of the processes. 

Keywords 

dance pedagogy, somatic approaches, Feldenkrais Method, dance technique, conservatory model, action 
research 

Copyright ©:​ The copyright for this paper remains with the author(s). 

Please cite:​ (First published in the) ​Feldenkrais Research Journal, volume 6 ​; 2018-2019. 

Service marks:​ The terms Feldenkrais​®​, Feldenkrais Method ​®​, Awareness Through Movement​®​, ATM​®​, 
Functional Integration ​®​, and FI​® ​are service marked terms of the International ​Feldenkrais​®​ Federation 
(IFF) and Feldenkrais professional guilds and associations in many countries. In keeping with academic 
conventions, they will not be service marked in the entire text as may be required in nonacademic use, 
but only for the first and most prominent use of the terms. In recognition that these phrases are formal 

 
Published by the International ​Feldenkrais​®​ Federation (IFF) ​https://feldenkrais-method.org 
Available online at ​https://feldenkraisresearchjournal.org 
 

 
 

mailto:j.coogan@palucca.eu
https://feldenkrais-method.org/
https://feldenkraisresearchjournal.org/


 

terms referring to specific practices within the Method, and to the Method as a whole, capitalization of all 
the words in each term has been retained.  

 
Coogan • ​Feldenkrais Research Journal, volume 6​ (2018-2019) 2
 



 

Original Research 
 
 

Learning with the Feldenkrais Method​®​
 of Somatic Education 

in the Dance Technique Class: A Case Study 

 

Jenny Coogan 
BFA Dance, PhD Candidate; Professor for Contemporary Dance, Palucca University of Dance Dresden 

 

Introduction 

In the Anglosphere fusions of dance and somatics have entered the mainstream of tertiary 
education.  Germany has a rich cultural heritage of non-dualistic thought, and numerous 1

somatic systems originated in this country. Yet somatically oriented pedagogical practices in 
conservatory programs  have been slow to be included in the German speaking countries as a 2

1 In the 1940s, the pedagogue Margaret H’Doubler brought the study of dance into the university setting in 
the United States. She integrated Mabel Todd’s somatic system of Ideokinesis and the constructivist 
pedagogies of John Dewey into the curriculum. The first conservatory-based dance department within 
higher education in the USA was established in 1951 by Martha Hill at the Juilliard School, and 
Ideokinesis was incorporated into the department’s program. The American Dance Festival’s director 
Martha Myers introduced somatic therapies into the festival’s program, and her seminal articles 
advocating for the reciprocity of dance and somatic practices triggered the adoption of somatic methods 
in the curricula of the American university dance programs that followed (Coogan, 2016: 24-25). During 
the 1960s, the move into a postmodern era, where education and artistic practice were critically 
questioned, brought dance and somatics closer together (Reed, 2015: 192). These somatic-based 
approaches to movement research and processes of socialization include Judson Dance Theatre, contact 
improvisation, release techniques, and postmodern and contemporary dance. Their development extends 
from both the research of the early twentieth-century dance artists mentioned above (Eddy 2009; Coogan, 
2016, Bales, Nettl-Foil 2008), and the work of the somatic and educational pioneers Mabel Todd, LuLu 
Sweigard, Moshe Feldenkrais, Frederick M. Alexander, Gerda Alexander, and Margaret H’Doubler. For 
the past ten years the British Journal of Dance and Somatic Practices, and the American Journal of 
Dance Education have provided invaluable platforms for the dissemination of research within the field of 
somatic informed dance and movement. Martha Eddy’s (2009) article, “A Brief History of Somatic 
Practices and Dance” in Journal of Dance and Somatic Practices (1) 1: 5-27 is a prime example. Other 
key publications include: Sheets-Johnstone, M. (1979) ‘The work of Dr. Moshe Feldenkrais’, A New 
Applied Kinesiology and a Radical Questioning of Training and Technique,’ in Contact Quarterly 5/1 (Fall 
1979), 24-29; Batson, G., Schwartz, R. (2007) ‘Revisiting the Value of Somatic Education in Dance 
Training Through an Inquiry into Practice Schedules’, in Journal of Dance Education, 7(2), 47-56; Fortin, 
S., Girard, W., Lord, M. (2002) ‘Three Voices: Researching How Somatic Education Informs 
Contemporary Dance Technique Classes’, in Research in Dance Education, 3(4), 155-179; Myers, M., 
Pierpont, M. (1983) in ‘Body Therapies: and the Modern Dancer’, in Dance Magazine, 57 (August), 1 –24; 
and Kovich, Z.(2007) ‘Promoting Dexterity in Technical Dance Training using the Feldenkrais Method’ in 
Feldenkrais Research Journal (3), 1-6. 
 
2 Tertiary dance education/training in Germany (as well as in many other European countries) takes place 
in art and music conservatories called Kunst- and/or Musikhochschulen. With few exceptions, practice 

 
Coogan • ​Feldenkrais Research Journal, volume 6​ (2018-2019) 3
 



 

valuable curricular addition for supporting students to develop the competencies necessary to 
meet the twenty-first century challenges of the profession. Therefore, this case study makes an 
original contribution to the emerging body of both empirical and published research in this 
context. It grew out of years of my own dance-somatic teaching practice with students at the 
Palucca University  where I work as professor of contemporary dance. This research was made 3

possible through a grant awarded for my own authored practice-led research proposal 
InnoLernenTanz (ILT) , by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF).  4

The central focus of this study investigated the reframing of individual learning from the  external 
direction of teachers to the students’ own internal reflection in ways that might invite the 
participating students to experience their education from a first-person perspective of 
empowered and somatic authority. Its methods sought not only to encourage reflective thinking, 
self-regulation and personal agency but also explored ways in which a collective somatic 
sensibility might enable the students to navigate more effectively within the interplay of 
contextualization and shared responsibility in the learning environment. 

A scaffold for somatic learning in dance, one rooted in the Feldenkrais Method ​®​, offered the 
pedagogical frame for this research and guided the structure, content and pedagogical 
transmission of the research.  

Traditional pedagogies in Western-based theatre dance have been inclined to locate authority 
with the teacher and thereby cultivate a student’s desire to please an outside authority and to 
behave according to the environmental norms and regulations (Johnson 1994: 60). Teaching 
formats in this context tend to be primarily imitative and highly regimented. The body is often 
treated as an object to be formed through the dictates of the teacher. Typically, students learn a 
specific dance technique, understood as codified vocabulary of movement held together by a 

and theory-based programs in dance continue to remain separate. The training/education of 
pre-professional performing dancers takes place in the conservatories. In the Anglosphere both practice- 
based (BFA and BA with Honors) and theory based (BA) programs are offered within the same university. 
 
3 The Palucca University integrates a secondary school (grades 5-10) with BA and MA programs in Dance 
and Dance Pedagogy, a MA in Choreography, and a portfolio-organized Meisterklasse (masterclass). 200 
students are currently enrolled in its various programs. The BA program in Dance transmits established 
canons and aesthetics of Western theatre dance as well as hybrid mixes of contemporary practice. 
Musicians accompany all studio practice. Courses in dance history and analysis, music theory, Laban 
movement analysis, and anatomy augment the studio practice. There are nine state subsidized 
institutions offering BA programs in dance, the profiles of most of these institutions are embedded in 
conservatory models of vocational training. These programs are all tuition free. 
 
4 The ​InnoLernenTanz​ research platform afforded me the opportunity to investigate my research agenda 
in dance-somatics through the rigors of qualitative academic research. ILT ran from 2012-2016 under the 
auspices of, ‘Quality Pact for Teaching’ (Qualitätspakt Lehre), a joint program of the German Federal 
Government and States (Länder) to improve study conditions and the quality of teaching in higher 
education.  Findings of the research in somatic learning can be found in the publication, ‘Practicing 
Dance: A Somatic Orientation (Ed. Coogan), Logos Verlag Berlin 2016. 

 
Coogan • ​Feldenkrais Research Journal, volume 6​ (2018-2019) 4
 



 

system of kinaesthetic motion and associated with a particular aesthetic form. Valuation lies on 
the correctness of the performance of the movement. Most of the pedagogical practices found 
at the Palucca University proceed in this culture of conservatory dance education. 

As an alternative, somatic based pedagogies in dance offer a non-valuation of one’s felt and 
embodied experience. The dancer pays attention to letting forms of movement emerge from 
within, whilst paying attention to the intimate relationships between sensory stimuli, perceptual 
interpretation, and motor processing (Steinmüller, Schaefer, and Fortwängler 2001: 108). 
Preferred formats for transmission are explorative, directive and task-based. These pedagogies 
have been validated for enabling students to develop a greater sense of autonomy and 
responsibility (Green 2001). In addition, they establish a foundation from which dancers can 
develop performance skills and awareness for the ethical and social communication in diverse 
settings. More fundamentally somatic-dance pedagogies support the learners to attune to the 
deep self-logic of the nervous system’s balancing and self-regulating processes (Fortin 2003, 
Vieira and Tremblay; Johnson 1995). Somatic practices were at first acknowledged as adjuncts 
to, or particularly recuperative support for, dance technique (Brodie and Lobel 2012; Myers 
1983). Now they are seen as fundamental strategies for organizing technique (Alexander 2015; 
Fortin 1993) and for understanding the interplay between action and perception.  

As somatically orientated pedagogies are yet to be an integral part in Germany’s state 
subsidized conservatory dance programs, it is not surprising that a cross-fertilization of somatic 
and more traditional teaching methodologies is still met with diverse and often contrasting forms 
of appraisal, or appreciation from both students and teachers alike. A familiar line of 
argumentation that I have often heard from educators in conversation contends that students’, 
during their formative stages of professional training, have neither the patience nor the cognitive 
and affective maturity to understand and to work with somatic investigations. Rather, that a 
dance-somatic consciousness may become part of a dancer’s repertoire when dealing with 
aging and/or injury rehabilitation. A somatically infused dance pedagogy was a part of my own 
formative conservatory education at the Juilliard School in New York City.  I found this to be 5

decisively helpful in developing a reflective physical practice. My experiences working with 
somatically informed dance technique classes at the Palucca University have led me to argue 
for this integration at the onset of conservatory education/training as processes of awareness, 
self-regulation and self-directed learning can be supported at any age or stage of maturity. The 
fact that many students complete the BA program at nineteen years of age, make it imperative 
that these emerging dance artists are encouraged and supported early in their studies to take 
responsibility for their actions so that their artistic, creative and self-regulatory potentials can 
begin to unfold before they are confronted with the realities of the professional world.  

5 The BFA curricular program included somatic based improvisation with Hanya Holm; modern dance 
technique class informed by ideokinetic principles with Betty Jones and individual lesson in the Alexander 
Technique. 

 
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Professional Field of Dance Performance 

The field of dance performance is characterized by inter- and transdisciplinary choreographic 
signatures and physical eclecticism. Dance artists must be equipped to engage with the 
materials of creation in manifold situations and settings, and to cultivate a profile that is 
emergently responsive to the hybrid and fluctuating work environments. Today’s dance artists 
are often tasked not only with being performers, but also with being creative collaborators, 
educators, curators, entrepreneurs, and lobbyists (Coogan 2016:16).  As the scope of the 
profession becomes ever more diversified, such challenges increasingly demand skills in the 
areas of critical thinking, problem-solving, collaboration, self-direction and -articulation, the 
aptitudes of adaptability and entrepreneurship, alongside artistry, curiosity, initiative, and the 
forming of a highly differentiated physical practice (DeLahunta and Hoerster 2007: 224; Sieben 
2011: 145). 

In response to the professional landscape, conservatory education now faces the challenge of 
becoming more flexible both in its regulatory structures and in curricular frameworks (Coogan 
2016:17). This includes a re-evaluation of the idea of technique for the aspiring dance artists 
learning in these contexts. As artists increasingly create their own lineages, technique has 
become more personal and can be considered as a means for supporting individual 
decision-making processes (Parviainen 2003: 162) and understood as both embodied practice 
and research (Spatz 2015). This position aligns with somatic approaches to dance technique, 
which help artists harvest from an inner authority and trust their perceptions of the experienced 
and experiencing body, imbued with a consciousness that these processes unfold in 
ever-changing patterns of situated relationships (Coogan 2016: 17). Rephrased in the context of 
the Feldenkrais Method, technique is a way to navigate with relatively reliable pathways through 
specific situations. 

Theoretical and methodological underpinnings  

Qualitative, interpretative, transformative and constructivist 

This research was conducted within post-positivist paradigms that understand experience as 
socially constructed realities and are therefore determined, in part, by the researcher’s position 
in the world. This brings critical perspectives to the investigation and works toward change in 
the teaching, learning, and research processes. Therefore, teaching and research often overlap 
(Green and Stinson 1999). My role in the study was multi-functional; that of researcher, primary 
facilitator/teacher, faculty member and leader of a six-person team of experts in the fields of 
dance, sociology, pedagogical psychology and education.  6

6 Research associate Nina Patricia Hänel shared teaching responsibilities with me and together with 
research assistants, Anja Balzer, Fanny Barz, and Karin Matko contributed to data capture and its 
analysis. Professor Jürgen van Buer and Professor Susanne Narciss offered invaluable support as expert 

 
Coogan • ​Feldenkrais Research Journal, volume 6​ (2018-2019) 6
 



 

This study harvests from interdisciplinary thought evolved out of constructivist models, including 
enaction theory. Enaction theory posits that knowledge is constructed through the sensorimotor 
dynamics of interactions between living beings and their environment, meaning that the 
individual is ‘the enactment of a world and a mind [resulting from the] history of the variety of 
actions that a being in the world performs’ (Varela, Thompson, and Rosch 1992: 9).  

Learning through the lens of the Feldenkrais Method is based on student-centred approaches 
that include problem-based and collaborative learning and teaching paradigms. Thus, the 
Feldenkrais Method aligns with the epistemological underpinnings of radical constructivism that 
preclude the notion of an objective, or singular reality. Knowledge is constructed from one’s own 
individual reality and is an ongoing, self-organized creation based on the relation of an 
individual’s past experiences to the present ones (Von Glasersfeld 1995). John Dewey’s (1934) 
20 ​th​ century progressive philosophy of education underscores these aforementioned 
propositions and is helpful in understanding the relationship between experience, reflection and 
learning. He identifies reality with experience, and experience as an interaction between the 
individual and the environment. Learning is therefore a continuous and cyclical process, a 
spiral-like phenomenon that proceeds from the individual’s engagement with and re-adaptation 
to the larger environmental factors in the world. Therefore, the new learning offers a more 
comprehensive understanding of patterns that might already be known. Feldenkrais (1972) 
posits that learning proceeds from the intermingling of heritage, education and foremost, 
self-education. Therefore, what is learned cannot be separated from how it is learned and how it 
is utilized (Feldenkrais 1985; see also Luhmann 1995). 

Action research methodology provided the operational scheme for this study, and grounded 
theory provided the procedural frame for data capture and interpretation. Phenomenological in 
nature, action research seeks to understand and interpret the meanings of individual human 
experience as it is situated in culture and society (Robson 2011; Giguere 2015). Questions arise 
through rigorous processes of observation, participation, reflection, data gathering, analysis, 
and action planning that, in turn, lead to new cycles of thought informed by the learning that has 
taken place (Giguere 2015; Creswell 1998). Among the defining factors of this methodology are: 
ongoing self-monitoring and self-reflection; privileging the voice of the participants; active 
participation; and the desire to create change (Wilson 2009; Wisker 2001). The inductive 
processes of grounded theory are analogous with the iterative processes of action-research; as 
a result, they are often employed in tandem. Both methods of qualitative social research look to 
create procedures rather than to produce results. In grounded theory, an analytic appraisal of 
each piece of newly captured data is used to shape the development of subsequent 
data-gathering processes (Corbin and Strauss 2015). Throughout the study, there was a 
constant interplay between the gathering of data, its analysis, and the generation of new data. 
This process led to revision and (re)evaluation in both the conceptual planning and the 
sequencing of the teaching modes for the study’s five phases. For example, as the skills of 

academic advisors. All participated as unobtrusive observers and critical friends throughout the research 
period. 

 
Coogan • ​Feldenkrais Research Journal, volume 6​ (2018-2019) 7
 



 

many incoming international students in the two teaching languages of this program, German 
and English, in the year of the study was so low the importance of language comprehension and 
its articulation had to be reduced. Consequently, revisions in the language of the early 
questionnaires were undertaken. Throughout the study students’ responses to surveys and 
interviews led the research team to simplify language and to substitute language with symbols 
and graphics to make the modes of data capture more visually accessible for the students.  

Research Setting 

Students, faculty, and staff at the Palucca University interact in close physical proximity. The 
campus is composed of an intimate cluster of three buildings that include eleven dance studios, 
secondary school classrooms, a library and archive, physiotherapy and seminar rooms, a 
cafeteria, administrative offices, a dormitory, faculty offices, changing rooms, practice rooms for 
musicians, and separate reclining lounges for dance faculty, musicians and students. This is a 
closed campus surrounded by garden spaces.  

The phrase, ‘Palucca family’ resonates in the institution and expresses the sense of shared 
identity and belonging of its members (Coogan 2016: 53). This is both a formative and a 
transformative environment for the individual subjects as it is one of a shared social collective 
life world and artistic practice that, in part, shape modalities of agency, habit and 
self-understanding (Röttger-Rössler and Slaby 2018:2). To prosper, all must accommodate to 
the institutional conventions and its interpersonal forms of communication.  

The curricular program in BA Dance includes rigorous daily technique classes in classical and 
contemporary dance, supplemented with a range of other studio practices, choreographic 
projects, and seminars in subject related fields. Students train and learn together as intact class 
formations throughout the duration of their six semesters of study. Collective efficacy is 
immediately recognizable. The aspirations of most graduates are to work under full-time 
contract in dance companies;  a few choose to pursue freelance careers. 7

Admittance to this program is highly selective and the common frame of reference is proficiency 
in classical dance. Familiarity with contemporary dance is not a criterion for acceptance and 
therefore students begin the program with varying degrees of experience in this dance idiom.  

The case study was located in the students’ daily contemporary dance class and in afternoon 
workshop sessions scheduled intermittently throughout the semesters. During the eighteen 

7 University dance departments are networked with a variety of public funded institutions that support the 
production, performance, and appreciation of the performing arts. Dance artists can find work in resident 
dance companies within Germany’s extensive system of federal and state theaters (​Stadt- und 
Staatstheater​), as well as state and local cultural institutions, and venues that offer alternative formats for 
the creation, production, and dissemination of dance. This climate enables dance artists to launch and 
sustain their professional careers. The prospects of employment in Germany, tuition-free education, and 
low enrollment levels have increased the internationalism and competitiveness of the BA programs in the 
nine state subsidized institutions. 

 
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weeks of the Winter semester, I was the primary teacher/facilitator for both the dance class and 
the afternoon workshop sessions. Team teaching and a guest artist residency during this 
semester brought diversity into the teaching continuum. During the fourteen weeks of the 
Summer semester, teaching responsibilities for this course were shared equally with a 
colleague who offered the students a more conventional contemporary dance technique class.  

Though participation in the dance class was required, participation in the processes of data 
capture was based on consent. The regulatory ethical procedures for ensuring informed consent 
were fulfilled. All students agreed to participate in the study and contributed data in varying 
degrees throughout the academic year. Issues regarding grade coercion were irrelevant as the 
examination for this course took place in the class of my colleague.  

Participant group 

Twenty-one students participated in this study, fourteen female and seven male ranging in age 
from fifteen to nineteen.  Nineteen students completed the study as two students 8

ex-matriculated to pursue other career objectives. Ten nationalities were represented in the 
group and seven native languages were spoken.  

The curriculum allows the teachers to decide on both the material and delivery for their classes. 
There is no required academic component in the dance technique courses. Typically, students 
are not asked to contextualize their practice through, for example, reading and writing 
assignments and/or in class group discussion or oral presentations. The methods of this study 
asked the students to recalibrate their physical practice through self-reflection and to participate 
in class dialogue, discussion and moments of spontaneous writing. Afternoon sessions offered a 
platform in which the students could contextualize their practice by sharing responses to texts 
and video material that they read and/or observed and engaging in experiential introductions to 
the field of somatics in relation to their dance practices.  

Many of the international students began their study with only rudimentary facility in German 
and English making the effectivity of language at the onset of the study challenging. Verbal 
language had to be offered in combination with physical demonstration and tactile feedback. 
Simultaneous translation between students was an ever-present factor in the class. Midway 
through the study the English language competencies of the international students had 
improved to where it was possible to lead movement explorations through verbal cuing. This 
enabled the possibility to weave short lessons in Awareness Through Movement​®​ into the dance 
training.  

8 Candidates in dance performance programs like at the Palucca University can matriculate upon 
completion of secondary school at the tenth.grade level (rather than the twelve years required as a 
prerequisite for academic study). Thus, candidates can begin a BA study in dance performance at the age 
of 15 or 16.  

 
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Feldenkrais Informed Contemporary Dance Practice 

The practice of somatically informed contemporary dance and the Feldenkrais Method interface 
in a variety of manners. Both are movement based socially organized processes of shared and 
experiential learning. Individuals create their meaning in ongoing negotiation and 
accommodation with the environment; be it in a dance class, in a one-to-one session in 
Functional Integration ​®​ (FI​®​); or in a group lesson in Awareness Through Movement (ATM​®​). 
The role of the teacher is that of steward or facilitator, one who sets parameters that encourage 
students to be their own decision-making agents and to assume ownership of their own learning 
processes and questions. Thus, the facilitator must critically engage with ideas and perspectives 
beyond the realm of his/her own experience in accordance to the life worlds of the students. 
This allows the student-teacher relationship to move beyond the transmission of knowledge to a 
more collaborative learning environment that invites multiple channels of dialogue between all 
agents (Freire 1993). The act of stewarding necessitates the recognition of what ‘is’ in order to 
support the curiosity, ease, efficiency, uncertainty and eventual satisfaction of the movers. 

Awareness Through Movement lessons are meticulously structured sequences of movement 
designed to address a biomechanical function. Awareness Through Movement lessons are built 
on permutations resulting from variation, repetition, the use of constraints, and changes in 
orientation in continual dialogue with gravity. These same strategies are used to compose a 
dance class. Both the Feldenkrais Method and my teaching strategies in contemporary dance 
rely on an explorative quality of repetition of prescriptive movement or teacher-led directives. 
These frames are playful and allow for individual interpretation but are not grounded in purely 
improvisational practice. For me facilitating contemporary dance through a Feldenkrais Method 
lens is as much about proceeding with a particular approach to the teaching/learning situation 
as about the actual inclusion of Awareness Through Movement lessons in the dance practice. 
The pedagogical approach put forward in this case study sought to offer the students a learning 
environment infused with the following fundamentals found in the Feldenkrais Method: 

● Engaging in creative self-questioning to unveil curiosity for learning, 
● Loosening the binds of control to allow space for ‘not knowing,’ 
● Replacing ‘right’ and ‘wrong’ with informed choice, 
● Imagining, both as a neuromuscular action and a metaphorical inspiration to unleash the 

possibilities of what movement can be, 
● Encouraging pleasure and playfulness,  
● Investigating the relationship of effort and ease, 
● Regarding resilience not as a matter of strength, but one of learning and recovery, to find 

balance in the ever-present fluctuations of life,  
● Inviting paradox to reduce the rigidity of belief and to welcome the multiplicity of 

perspectives and variations for learning, 
● Focusing of attention to engage with the possibilities for repetition, 

 
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● Returning a question with a question in order to listen more intuitively to one’s own felt 
experience. 

The class structure combined directive, imitative, explorative and task-based modes of 
transmission. During the study’s five phases the proportional distribution of these strategies 
varied. For example, in the first phase directive and imitative methods of transmission were 
paramount as these were the ones in which the students felt most comfortable. During the third 
phase, the emphasis focused on movement exploration with a focus on the strategies of the 
Feldenkrais Method, while in the fourth phase dominance was placed on a task-based, 
peer-assisted format. All strategies shared a focus on the direction of attention to sensory 
awareness and kinaesthetic feedback. Through self- and peer observation students were asked 
to notice:  

● Gradations in effort and muscle tonus,  
● Congruency between breath and movement,  
● The interplay between weight and gravity, and 
● The availability of the pelvis as a center of motor function.  

Class themes running through the course of the study were: 

● Slowing down to give time to assimilate the idea of the movement,  
● Sensing difference to differentiate and to integrate,  
● Using bodily constraints to inhibit movement along habitually organized routes, 
● Noticing the coordinative and performative effects of variation and changes in 

orientation, 
● Directing attention to the initiations and spread of kinetic chains through and beyond the 

body. 

Classes explored developmental movement patterns to identify personal preferences and 
habits, and to reflect on how these might affect alignment, coordination and efficiency in 
executing complex dance material. Working within these parameters, a repertoire of floor, 
standing, and locomotive material was generated and developed in length and complexity over 
periods of two to three weeks. As the year progressed, students began to create, develop and 
vary their own material in solo, duet and group constellations.  

The indirect pathways of learning in the Feldenkrais Method take the dancer off a direct path of 
goal achievement that is characteristic in pre-professional dance performance training. In this 
study students were asked to relax their expectations that training should always prioritize 
external modelling and a fast-paced assimilation of prescribed material. They were invited to 
slow down the execution of their movement in order to pay attention to the sensations and 
experiences that create space for body awareness and proprioceptive sensitivity. In the 
oscillation between the doing and the conscious reflection of action, one “learns to act while 
[one] thinks and to think while [one] acts” (Feldenkrais 1972: 60). Feldenkrais referred to this as 

 
Coogan • ​Feldenkrais Research Journal, volume 6​ (2018-2019) 11 
 



 

“reflection in action” (1981). A constant thread throughout the study for the research community 
was to engage with this experience of reflection-in action. 

Research questions  

The following questions were steering this study: 

Wherein lies the potential for the co-existence of a pedagogical practice oriented in the 
Feldenkrais Method with more traditionally based training practices in a conservatory 
environment?  

In contemporary studio practice, what strategies and methods might support young 
dancers in learning to locate themselves with self-efficacy in the inherently collectively 
organized structure of dance education? 

Within a German conservatory environment, what conditions are necessary for dancers 
to find value in a somatically informed pedagogical practice, with particular emphasis on 
the Feldenkrais Method, as an integral component of contemporary dance ‘technique’? 

The study spanned the course of the entire academic year 2014-15, comprising a total of 
thirty-four weeks of intervention. The table below provides a structural overview of the study’s 
five phases. Term breaks and examination weeks periods dictated the apportioning of time for 
each phase.  
 

Phase Duration 
Facilitator 

Data Capture Feldenkrais 

Integration 

Focus 

1, 6 weeks 

Jenny Coogan,  
Nina Hänel 
Daily 90-minute 
contemporary 
dance class; 
6,120-minute 
afternoon workshop 
J.C and N.H 
 

All:  

biographical 
interviews; 
focus-group 
interviews; 
mixed-modal online 
questionnaire; 
quantitative survey 
of aims and 
objectives; video 
recordings 
researcher field 
notes 

Somatic Referencing 
Body scanning and the 
physicality of breath; 
peer and 
self-observation in 
class and workshops; 
reduction of tempo to 
support kinaesthetic 
feedback; floorwork 
built out of segments of 
ATM, particularly 
developmental 
movement patterns. 
 
 

Orientation and Contextualization 

Creating common ground with a 
heterogeneous group of students with 
diverse backgrounds in contemporary 
dance; to provide a conceptual frame for 
understanding these dance styles through 
physical explorations, text and film analysis, 
movement explorations in workshop 
formats, and attendance of performance 
events; to introduce the field of somatics 
through physical practice in class and 
workshop formats. 
 

 
Coogan • ​Feldenkrais Research Journal, volume 6​ (2018-2019) 12 
 



 

2,​ ​7 weeks 

Team teaching, 
Jenny Coogan,  
Nina Hänel  
Daily 90-minute 
contemporary 
dance class; 
3 inter-disciplinary 
workshops 
Guest artists  
J. Jacobs,  
M. Buckland with 
J.Coogan 
 

M. Buckland 
 
 

All:  

text responses to  
the weekly themes; 
video recordings 
 
Focus-Group:  
interviews; journal 
writing 
researcher field 
notes 

 

Movement material 
devoted to the 
functional organization 
of the shoulder girdle: 
de-patterning and 
re-patterning of habitual 
ways of using the 
shoulder girdle; 
repetition, variation; 
self-reflection where 
introduced through a 
writing practice. 
The guest residency 
offered variations in 
movement material and 
strategies of their 
transmission.  

Indirect leadership       team teaching 

Creating classroom situations that reveal 
how different perspectives in 
learning/teaching can occur simultaneously; 
to offer anatomically based movement 
explorations; to present a variety of learning 
strategies, including sensory and 
proprioceptive discrimination, analytical 
properties of observing and reflecting, and 
movement composition; to engage with 
interdisciplinary projects.  
 
To create a lively climate and culture of 
interaction encouraging the development of 
symmetrical exchange among all 
participants in the learning situation through 
team teaching and interdisciplinary projects. 

3, 5 weeks 

Daily 90-minute 
contemporary 
dance class; Jenny 
Coogan 

2, 120-minute 
workshops with 
J.Coogan and 
N.Hänel 

All:  

video recordings; 
biweekly 
questionnaire;  
 
Focus-Group:  
interviews; journal 
writing 
researcher field 
notes 

ATM integration in the 
class: 
Differentiation and 
integration; movement 
initiation and kinetic 
chains through 
variation, permutations, 
shifts in orientation and 
perspectives. 

“To make sense out of sensation” (S. 

Clarke) 

To improve self-organization and 
coordination; to use visualization to enrich 
understanding of anatomical principles; to 
find the endurance and concentration to 
persevere with the ‘same’ material to make 
more informed choices about one’s dancing; 
to understand that a change in movement 
function can change one’s awareness; to 
use movement sensation to track one’s own 
progress. 

4, 4 weeks 

2, 90-minute 
contemporary 
dance classes per 
week 

Jenny Coogan,  
Nina Hänel 
 

 

All:  

mixed-modal 
questionnaire, video 
recordings shared 
through social media 
 
Focus-Group:  
interviews; journal 
writing 
researcher field 
notes 
 
 

Refinement of 
proprioceptive 
distinctions, particularly 
in regard 
to muscle tonic to 
improve performance 
and physical skills 
practice  

 
 

Peer-assisted learning,​ ​Performance 

qualities 

To support autonomy and self-reflection 
through a laboratory-like environment of 
peer-centered learning working on 
choreographic material; to take 
responsibility for individual composition and 
performance choices negotiated within the 
group; to collectively document the creative 
process in written and video formats; to 
improve performance and social skills. 

 
Coogan • ​Feldenkrais Research Journal, volume 6​ (2018-2019) 13 
 



 

5,12 weeks 

2-3 90-minute 
contemporary 
dance classes per 
week; Jenny 
Coogan,  
Nina Hänel; 
4 workshops 
with J.Coogan and 
N.Hänel 
 
 

 

All:  

mixed-modal 
questionnaire; 
quantitative survey 
of aims and 
objectives met; 
digital recordings; 
final evaluation 
 
Focus-Group: 
interviews; journal 
writing 
researcher field 
notes 

Feldenkrais as a 

choreographic tool 

Social competencies in 
creating a duet;  
Working with 
constraints for 
re-inventing the 
material offered​. 
 
 

Integration and evaluation 

To work with an individual combination of 
the tools, methods, and strategies 
investigated during the course of the study; 
to embody dance and dance training from a 
somatic sensibility; to transfer learning from 
one situation to another independent of the 
practice in contemporary dance class; to 
encourage self-reflective and self-directed 
practice. 
 

 

Phase One: Orientation and Contextualization 

This phase combined the familiar mode of imitative practice, through teacher demonstration 
which, in fact, is necessary for students to learn new motor skills, with unfamiliar somatic 
referencing strategies as body scanning and the physical experience of breath. Much of the 
movement material was based on ‘floorwork’. Integration of the Feldenkrais Method proceeded 
in which the movement patterns were constructed, de-and re-constructed, repeated with 
variations in time, spatial orientation, sequence and energy expenditure.  Awareness was 
directed to how each individual part contributes to the effective functioning of the whole and to 
the profound neuromuscular and performative effects of variation. Students reported that this 
phase challenged them to focus on the subtlety of movement. One student recalled:  

to really focus on the details and not to focus on ‘OK, I want to do all that stuff:’ but to 
take one thing and then try to work on that and take the other thing and try to work on 
that. ... Then I actually feel improvement and feel that I can work more precisely with 
things (focus group interview October 2014).  

As we all were in the process on getting to know each other, most students were open and 
curious to slow down and to explore the material through repetition. Two students commented 
as follows:  

By working on this particular exercise so very slowly and really taking every section at a 
time – I remember we spent an hour and a half on one exercise – and at the end I really 
felt that I’m able to do this and I’m able to do that in a good and healthy and smooth way 
for my body. That was pretty impressive to me (focus group interview October 2014).  

Another student reflected: 

 
Coogan • ​Feldenkrais Research Journal, volume 6​ (2018-2019) 14 
 



 

I felt like I was stepping on place in a way, but through these weeks and through the 
work and through the theory and through the understanding of what we're doing, in the 
end, I found that this is still very important work I need to do, and which is maybe a little 
bit neglected (focus group interview October 2014).  

Frustration was voiced by international students who encountered difficulty in the reading and 
comprehension of textual material and in the amount of verbal exchange: ‘especially for those of 
us who don’t speak good English or even German, it’s difficult to read and speak and try to 
understand these things’ (focus group interview October 2014). The language difficulties were 
addressed by the research team through the simplification of verbal language in class and in 
questionnaires.  

Phase 2:  Multiplicity of Perspectives  

This phase sought to make the non-fixity of mind and movement evident through team-teaching 
both in the dance class and in interdisciplinary workshops, and with a guest residency. The 
introduction of a writing/notating practice with students of the newly formed focus group 
encouraged processes of self-reflection. Journal writing proceeded in the students’ own native 
tongue.  Team-teaching identified shared objectives and made the continual processes of 
negotiation, immediacy, and spontaneity explicit.  

The two weeks of team teaching with dance educator, Feldenkrais practitioner in training and 
member of the team, Nina Hänel was organized either as fluid leading and following, or through 
the division of roles in which one person attended to the group, while the other offered individual 
feedback. Musicologist, Monika Buckland and I worked with the students’ compositionally 
combining music and dance improvisation-based scores. Variations and permutations were of 
central focus for these workshops. Students appreciated the horizontal pathways of 
communications, and one commented:  

For me it was sometimes just helpful to hear ideas and images with different and new 
words. Every teacher teaches at least a little bit differently. Small differences can have a 
big effect on my understanding of an exercise or principle. In addition, I had the feeling 
that the teachers felt comfortable in their cooperation with us (written response to the 
weekly question November 2014).  

During the two weeks of team teaching, students were confronted with a small amount of 
movement material that focused on the complex functional organization of the shoulder girdle, 
weight support and locomotion and its integration with the pelvis. This period of thematic 
specificity was followed by a two-week guest residency with dance artist, Jason Jacobs. The 
movement material and themes of Jason’s lessons changed each day thereby breaking up the 
pattern of mindful repetition and variation that had been primary at the beginning of this phase. 
His lessons offered students the degree of variety and physicality with which they were familiar.  

 
Coogan • ​Feldenkrais Research Journal, volume 6​ (2018-2019) 15 
 



 

Students appreciated the variety of this phase and one student stated ‘What we are aiming for 
in the class is to touch and try everything without any prejudices’ (written response to the weekly 
question December 2014). 

Phase 3: Visualization and Sensory Discrimination 

This was the most challenging phase for all. Fifteen-minute Awareness Through Movement 
lessons were explored at the beginning of the class. The pacing of the class was slow and 
required the students to resist the tendency to focus on the movement’s outward representation, 
and to draw their attention to proprioceptive cues and the subtle dynamic variations of its 
execution. At the beginning of this phase, one student remarked, ‘I’ve done the movement so 
often, but now I have the feeling that I can feel every detail’ (focus group interview January 
2015). Attention was directed to coordination understood, as in the Feldenkrais Method, as the 
proportionally efficient relationship between gravity and energy expenditure.  

As students’ English language skills had improved, demonstration was not always essential, 
and classes were increasingly led through verbal cuing. Students were encouraged to move 
away from dependence on the teacher and toward self-directed learning. However, during this 
phase students struggled to concentrate on the small amount of athletic movement material. 
Midway through this phase one student articulated the general tenor of the group with this 
remark: ‘I don't feel like I'm moving enough, that it's getting me to the place that I want, that I 
see myself in’ (focus group interview February 2015). Another student questioned, ‘It feels 
different, but I don’t know if one can see the difference from the outside’ (class discussion 
February 2015). 

At this point during the study some students began attending the class with less regularity and a 
general atmosphere of boredom and restlessness arose. This mood persisted even when more 
athletic movement was introduced. This phase marked the end of the first semester and a 
welcomed two-week semester break followed.  

For the duration of the second semester, daily teaching was shared with a colleague. The 
sharing of the teaching responsibilities brought greater diversity into the teaching and learning 
environment that helped to ease the sense of frustration. An atmosphere of openness and 
receptiveness returned. However, those students who had begun to attend this class 
sporadically continued to do so until the study’s completion.  

Phase 4: Peer-assisted Learning; Performance Qualities  

Both Nina Hänel and I facilitated each session of this phase. We adopted the role of mentors. 
Each session began with a gentle warm-up of recurring material that prepared students to work 
in a laboratory-like environment with a complex sequence of choreographic material. In small 
groups, students explored this material with specific tasks that addressed:  

 
Coogan • ​Feldenkrais Research Journal, volume 6​ (2018-2019) 16 
 



 

● Differentiated use of energy expenditure,  
● Phrasing and musicality as processes of exertion and recuperation, and 
● Spatial orientation.  

Students’ compositions grew in complexity and proprioceptive differentiation throughout the 
phase. The studies were captured digitally each week and shared so that the students had the 
opportunity for feedback, self-evaluation, and discussion with other class members between 
sessions.  

Students appreciated the artistic freedom offered to them and began to feel confident in this 
situation of self-directed learning. They experienced the physical fullness of dance that was 
absent in the third phase and could explore their own creative inclinations. This endowed their 
daily training with a sense of artistry which was both personally and socially satisfying. They 
were asked to position and to negotiate their artistic decisions within the group, respect the 
ideas of others and articulate appreciation. This created a triangulation between self and other, 
or self and the world that brought students together in a social somatic sense of shared 
learning. One student elaborated:  

This was really great because we had the chance to learn from each other. The fact that 
we were in smaller groups, and that we had to show what we did with the others, gave 
me more confidence and really helped me to take more risks and to show what I have 
deep down in me (focus group interview March 2015).  

The Feldenkrais intervention during this phase was not about movement functionality, but rather 
one that supported the unfolding of ownership and personal agency into a state of collective 
awareness. Another student commented: 

The different focuses in each lesson were great because they showed that we could go 
even further—we have the skills to do it. It's just that we normally don't think of using 
them. And the teachers were really supportive during these classes, which was great. 
This made me feel more secure (focus group interview March 2015).  

Phase 5: Self-Directed; Reflective Practice 

Themes explored during earlier phases were revisited so that students could more clearly track 
their own progress in relation to the energetic and plastic qualities of movement, muscular 
efficiency, and affective commitment. The warm-up phase of the class was directed to having 
students make and take their own decisions. Later they paired up to create their own 
compositions initiated from modular units of teacher-given movement material, underscored with 
rhythmical ostinati and polyphonic uses of the body. The students’ creations were modelled 
according to their own decisions. One dancer commented: 

 
Coogan • ​Feldenkrais Research Journal, volume 6​ (2018-2019) 17 
 



 

As soon as we put ourselves into a piece of work, it made a big difference to me 
because it kind of triggered my creativity or made me think: How can we make that 
work? We have this and we have that: How can we put it together? What possibilities do 
we have? (focus group interview May 2015) 

A flexible atmosphere of dialogue helped students to work with the material following their own 
creative interests and trusting in their own artistic identity.  

In review of the five phases of the study, I propose that the imitative practices employed during 
the first phase that concluded with a performance were a motivating factor for student 
engagement. During the second phase in which students encountered either a highly reflective 
or a highly physical practice, different appreciations of the work were articulated. The third and 
most challenging phase invited the students to practice ‘reflection-in-action’. This phase was 
met, after the initial lessons, with resistance. The fourth and fifth phases proved to be 
satisfactory for those students who persevered through the stage of difficulty.  

Data Analysis and Overview of the Results 

The prolonged research period of thirty-four weeks and the density of contact hours allowed the 
research team to observe changes in the environment and to gather, review, and interpret a 
diverse pool of data. Throughout the study, student attitudes and reactions were collected and 
assessed by the team through questionnaires, semi-structured focus group and individual 
interviews, feedback sessions, in-class video recordings and researcher notes. Questionnaires 
(web based and in paper form) included rating scales, graphics and space for individual text 
commentary.  9

‘Life world’ interviews were conducted with each student at the onset of the study and all 
students participated in group interviews and evaluations after the first and last phase of the 
study. As time and resources prohibited the possibility for individual interviews after each phase 
of the study, eight students representing a range of cultural and social backgrounds, dance 
experience, age and gender were selected to form a focus group. Focus group interviews were 
conducted at the end of the second, third and fourth phases of the study.  

The research was conducted in one of the students’ multiple daily dance technique classes thus 
making it impossible to uncouple the learning that took place in the research environment with 
the other experiences of the dancers’ day. Drawing relationships between the research 
questions and the coding system of grounded theory four primary categories emerged that bring 
different and interrelated perspectives to the complex processes of situational learning: 
environment, reflection, agency, and transferability.  

9 Refer to the appendix for examples of mixed modes methods of data capture. 

 
Coogan • ​Feldenkrais Research Journal, volume 6​ (2018-2019) 18 
 



 

Learning Environment 

A somatic approach to teaching and learning heightens one’s sensitivity to personal and 
collective agency and affect. This makes the quality of the class climate a factor for successful 
learning that cannot be ignored. A supportive, safe and communicative learning environment 
proved to be the fundamental condition necessary for the students’ learning. Students’ 
repeatedly identified the class atmosphere as primary in their ability to concentrate and to learn 
with comments as, ‘There needs to be a certain atmosphere in class that allows for 
concentration without disturbance’ (group interview at the completion of the study June 2015).  

Classes proceeded with an attitude of shared responsibility and horizontal pathways of 
communication. This condition heightened the need for the whole group’s positive motivation in 
class, which many students acknowledged and expressed as follows: ‘It helps me so much if I 
have the feeling of we’re all going there together’ (group interview at the completion of the study 
June 2015). During the course of the study, students gained awareness of their responsibility as 
co-creators of the class climate and began to consider the consequences of their actions with 
greater sensitivity. A sense of awareness encapsulated their movement, their interaction with 
others, and the way in which they worked in the environment.  One student expressed: ‘I feel 
like appreciating everybody else and being aware of the group helps the awareness of each 
individual to grow’ (group interview at the completion of the study June 2015).  

Reciprocal methods of student-centered learning and peer tutoring were emphasized 
throughout the study and these created direct and intimate exchanges necessitating an 
environment of mutual trust and respect. Not all students were able to work within this learning 
paradigm. Some recognized divergent attitudes and offered comments such as the following: ‘I 
did notice some discrepancies among my fellow students. I felt that some in particular were rude 
and judgmental when it came to the new approach to teaching’ (group interview at the 
completion of the study June 2015).  

For some students the teaching/facilitating modalities were not accessible, as they were 
incongruent with their expectations for dance technique training.  As stated earlier, midway 10

through the study four students began to participate with less frequency. Their absence 
transformed the class climate into one in which students could finally profit more effectively from 
the study’s pedagogical offerings. One student expressed: ‘Even within myself, letting go allows 
me to accept things more easily and faster, so for me atmosphere and energy in the group is 
pretty much everything’ (group interview at the completion of the study June 2015).  

10 No student learning disabilities as dyslexia, autism, ADS, or psychological disorders were evident to the 
research team nor were communicated from student to teacher. Disabilities of this nature were not 
evident and were not put forward by the students. The students’ responses to the study’s teaching 
formats and modes of transmission were based on their ability to find access to ways of engaging in their 
contemporary dance technique class that were, for most, unfamiliar to them. 

 
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The preceding statements and my observations of the group dynamics indicate the students’ 
desire to have proceeded forward as an integral and intact group. However, the recognition of 
those who completed the study articulated that a constructive and supportive environment was 
essential for learning somatically. Therefore, the elimination of destructive and distracting 
factors, as in the absence of four students, was crucial for the rest of the student group to profit 
from this learning paradigm.  

Reflection 

Dewey (1997: 6-15) identifies three essential components in reflective thinking: openness or a 
freeing from prejudice; wholeheartedness, becoming absorbed in the material; and responsibility 
in facing the consequences of one’s own action. He writes that: “Active, persistent, and careful 
consideration of any belief or supposed form of knowledge in the light of the grounds that 
support it, and the further conclusions to which it tends, constitutes reflective thought (1997: 6). 
Throughout the study the students were asked to review their individual prejudices about the 
materials and procedures for engaging in a contemporary dance class and to be open, available 
and personally responsible for new learning.  

In focus group interviews, group discussions, and questionnaires, students were asked about 
their ability to navigate the changing modi operandi found in the study. At the onset of the study, 
one student expressed that: ‘For me, engaging in my contemporary class means trying 
everything, and even more so things that I am not used to, so that I can evolve more’ (focus 
group interview October 2014).  

Initial responses as the one above were compared with responses made at later points during 
the study, such as this student’s statement: 

For me, to stay fully engaged and tuned into myself within this contemporary dance 
class, I need to understand. I need to be able to give context to what I am doing to 
facilitate the full potential of the exercise or concept (focus group interview February 
2015).  

Yet critical self-reflection also led to some uncomfortable realizations, such as recognition of the 
high expectations for recognizing improvement that one places on oneself as expressed by the 
following: ‘I expect from classes to do as much as I can. It’s just—I always kind of pressure 
myself to come back, and I expect to see improvement’ (focus group interview February 2015). 
This issue of self-expectation appeared to be challenging for many students, especially in an 
environment that aimed to reserve judgement. A student identified that: ‘It is important for me 
not to judge myself, but just to observe, experiment, and try as much as possible, thereby 
tackling problems in a constructive way’ (written response, mixed modal questionnaire March 
2015).  

 
Coogan • ​Feldenkrais Research Journal, volume 6​ (2018-2019) 20 
 



 

Responses demonstrated that a student-centred learning atmosphere was an important 
condition for developing self-reflection. Those responses offered early in the study illustrate that 
reflection was channelled more toward improvement in physical skills. With time, students 
reported a growing recognition of the value of self-reflection in developing an ability for directing 
and evaluating one’s own learning processes that facilitated their availability and openness for 
novel teaching and learning situations. 

Personal Agency 

Confronted with disruption to familiar ways of negotiating training situations, the group was 
brought into dialogue and discussion about both class content and the teaching methods. 
Students formed and articulated diverse opinions and positioned themselves with personal 
agency in this new context. A student recounted: ‘I have discussed this class a lot with my 
colleagues, as this is a new situation for all of us, and everyone has a different opinion about it’ 
(focus group interview February 2015).  

Later in the study a student noted:  

There was a more cooperative vibe between the students, which to be honest was much 
more enjoyable! Also, there has been an increase in communication between my 
colleagues and me about the new concepts that we have learned in and out of the 
studio, which I personally find incredibly interesting (final full group interview June 2015).  

Personal agency is crucial for artistic work. Particularly in the fourth phase the research team 
noticed a direct correlation between personal agency and performance aptitude. One student 
reflected:  

Within that directness there was quite a lot of freedom, which was really good. Because I 
feel that gave you so much choice and opened up so many options, and it's interesting 
to see how different groups interpreted different things. It really shows what an artist is 
(written response, mixed modal questionnaire March 2015).  

These comments demonstrate that higher-order thinking processes had become more firmly 
rooted in students’ practice. One student noted:  

I'm actually doing something. I'm improving. And that's it. And even if people don't see 
that I have improved, I don't care, because I did. That's it. And that’s when you start to 
be more settled and to enjoy everything even more (final full group interview June 2015). 

Transferability  

The idea of yielding to the methods and materials of the class accompanied the students 
throughout the entire case study. Increasingly those who participated with a curious state of 
mind accepted that learning does not always follow a linear path and needs time to unfold as 

 
Coogan • ​Feldenkrais Research Journal, volume 6​ (2018-2019) 21 
 



 

reflected in the following statement: ‘I give myself the time I need. I not only use my body but 
also my imagination to learn’ (focus group interview February 2015). Another student reflected: 
‘When you learn things you either choose to take it on or you don't take it on, and sometimes 
things take longer’ (final full group interview June 2015).  

Another student observed the need to evaluate the material, rather than to accept it blindly:  

Sometimes it's good if you don't really take everything on from the beginning, because 
then you think more about it, and it stays with you more because you had a process with 
it (final full group interview June 2015). 

As described by the following comment some students began to recognize the impacts of the 
somatic work in their dance practice: 

If I think about applying somatics, it's just moving. If I want to do an exercise, I really 
think about myself and how my body moves through space and how I do something. I 
just feel like all the bumps in my phrases have smoothed out. That's a really cool feeling. 
Like when we do floor phrases. I mean one of the first ones we did lasted two weeks. It 
was long, but I feel like when you're applying somatics, then things come fluidly, and you 
don't necessarily understand why it's fluid, but it just happens (final full group interview 
June 2015).  

Another commented:  

I had some really strong sensations about it. It feels normal and integrated as well, so I 
am happy that I can feel it in my body. I can feel it even more actually when I do really 
physical things, for example in different classes. And then I try to find a different way to 
do it, and then I think “How would I do it if I were in Jenny's class or in Nina's class?” And 
then I kind of find a different impulse or different way, and then it sometimes actually 
works faster as well, as I try to think how I would approach it in a somatic kind of way 
(final full group interview June 2015).  

During the year students became less dependent on personal feedback or corrections. The 
hesitation at the beginning of the year to work in pairs or small groups was replaced with an 
eagerness to engage in cooperative learning and peer-tutoring frameworks, as they could work 
from a place of personal agency, knowledge transfer, self-reflection, and self-confidence. This 
all required time. 

Critical Reflection and Summary 

Dancers aiming for careers as performers often have explicit expectations and assumptions 
about dance training and technique, summed up by learning fast, pushing hard, sweating and 
being corrected. Competition in the dance industry is intense and for many a performing career 

 
Coogan • ​Feldenkrais Research Journal, volume 6​ (2018-2019) 22 
 



 

is one of limited duration. Accordingly, dancers typically identify their goals at an early age and 
strive to achieve them in the most direct way possible (Buckroyd 2000).  

Learning with the Feldenkrais Method proceeds along indirect pathways and makes evident that 
disruption of known patterns and acceptance of states of uncertainty spawn creativity. 
Improvement is measured through pleasure and ease. These criteria stand in contrast to a 
prevalent position in conservatory-based dance practice that posits if the movement is 
pleasurable and easy, the dancer is either under challenged or his/her delivery of the movement 
is lacking in the necessary push and will power.  

Clearly the focus of the study did not always align with the dancers’ expectations for technique 
class or with the skill set they already possessed. Many encountered destabilizations and/or 
discomfort as their familiar modes of practice were disrupted. For some this produced 
motivational and/or cognitive dissonances, others faced periods of boredom. Frustration and 
experiences of loss arose when known measures for weighing and balancing the physical 
sensations of effort and movement were recalibrated. The U-shaped trajectory of change 
(Gershkoff-Stowe and Thelen 2004; Stavy 2012) as described in the graph below aptly 
represents the developmental curve that many students experienced during this study. Learners 
were asked for patience, open-mindedness and the facility to dwell in liminal moments of 
uncertainty. The persistence to move through states of disorganization in which known 
strategies and sometimes automatized patterns of behavior were questioned before new 
competencies formed was needed (Stavy 2012). The study required stamina on the part of the 
entire research group to work through discomfort and to allow time for new skills to take hold. 
Dewey reminds us that certain subprocesses are involved in reflective thought: “These are: a 
state of perplexity, hesitation and doubt; and an act of search or investigation directed toward 
bringing to light further facts which serve to corroborate or to nullify the suggested belief” (1997: 
9). I believe that educators and educational institutions should be cognizant of the findings 
regarding U-shaped trajectories of change to encourage patience when coping with the difficult 
phases of reorganization, during which students might experience stagnation and frustration 
(Krasnow and Wilmerding 2015). Without this understanding there is a risk that student 
engagement with unfamiliar opportunities for learning might be reduced or even halted before 
they have the chance to experience their possible benefits (Narciss, S. and Matko, K. 2016: 89). 
In this sense the research team would have appreciated a more genuine welcoming of the 
study’s teaching and learning methods as a constructive curricular contribution from the faculty 
and institution’s direction.  

 

 
Coogan • ​Feldenkrais Research Journal, volume 6​ (2018-2019) 23 
 



 

 

 
Figure 1: U-shaped curve of changes in competencies within training and instruction, adapted from Slavy 2012: 
Narciss, S., Matko, K. (2016) in (ed) Coogan, J. Practicing Dance: A Somatic Orientation, p. 85.   

 
The students who exited the study could not find value in the work and expressed that the 
physical material was not challenging enough, the class pacing too slow, and the amount of 
repetition and discussion tedious. These comments reveal that their expectations were not 
those put forward in the study. The affective responses of these students led to disrespectful 
behavior, communicated verbally and through aggressive body attitude and disengaged 
participation. However, the students were empowered with a voice and I had to accept the 
reality of how the voices of these young dancers between sixteen and eighteen years of age 
were expressed. I was challenged to be aware and in control of my own affective responses to 
the resistance I encountered. Those who engaged with openness were aware of the change in 
the environment once the disruptive element disappeared, and one expressed: ‘For me it was 
really prominent to actually see … how certain concepts will click because a negative energy is 
brought out; it's just gone’ (final full group interview June 2015).  

Every year there are students who participate in their contemporary dance technique classes 
with varying degrees of frequency. Often students principally interested in the classical dance 
idiom do not endow the same attention, motivation, presence or interest to their contemporary 
dance course. Throughout the six semesters of study, this course that meets daily is mandatory; 
however, there is no attendance requirement. Therefore, faculty members must tolerate student 

 
Coogan • ​Feldenkrais Research Journal, volume 6​ (2018-2019) 24 
 



 

absence. The only requirement is to pass the practical examination at the end of the academic 
year. As the examination for the course in which the case study was located took place in the 
class of my colleague, these students experienced no consequence for their absence in my 
class.  

Throughout the study I questioned to what extent I could accommodate the students’ desire for 
a fast paced purely physical studio practice without compromising my own teaching ethos. 
During the study’s early phases, students expressed a desire to “dance more” and to learn a 
greater range of movement material. This desire was met during the first phase in preparation 
for a performance of class material as part of an open-house event, and during the second 
phase through a period of a guest residency.  

The third phase was the most challenging and was met with the most amount of resistance. The 
dancers felt they were not moving forward quickly enough, and this was the phase in which the 
degree of power-driven physicality was most reduced. I had timed this phase to correspond with 
a month of daily rehearsals with a guest choreographer. I reasoned that the hours of daily 
rehearsal would balance the students’ desire for high powered physicality in their contemporary 
technique class.  Unfortunately, the choreographic project was deemed disappointing as only a 
few of the nineteen students were fully integrated into the creation. Encountering frustration, I 
encouraged the participating students to recognize the cumulative progression and structure of 
the study’s five phases, and as the study continued, emphasis was directed to the assimilation 
and performance of virtuosic choreographic material. Those students who persevered with the 
process reflected on uncomfortable or dissatisfactory moments during the study, but by its end 
acknowledged these situations as beneficial. One student said: 

It felt like especially for me when we were doing a lot of Feldenkrais at that period of time 
that I didn't find it very beneficial at all. But now coming back and distancing myself from 
it, now I can actually see how it helps me and why certain things are easier now. But 
unfortunately, in that period of time I was just not so into it, but now I appreciate it a lot 
more. So I think that it is a good experimental phase, and I think that other people might 
feel the same (final full group interview June 2015).  

Students recognized the integration of the Feldenkrais Method most clearly during the third 
phase when Fifteen-minute Awareness Through Movement lessons were often offered at the 
beginning of the class. However, they needed more direction in understanding how 
fundamentals of this method guided the entire study and were woven into all its parts. A period 
of orientation at the beginning of the study year in somatic-dance methodologies and 
experiential practice with the Feldenkrais Method, independent of the dance technique class, 
would have been useful for clarifying the conceptual underpinnings of the study and its 
pedagogical strategies. The supplementary afternoon workshops scheduled intermittently 
throughout the year were beneficial but too irregular. The dancers’ dense amount of coursework 

 
Coogan • ​Feldenkrais Research Journal, volume 6​ (2018-2019) 25 
 



 

and rehearsals (often from 8 am to 7pm) prohibited the scheduling of additional workshop 
sessions.   11

The Feldenkrais Method relies on the innate intelligence of the individual’s nervous system to 
learn. The teaching in this method helps the learners to ‘find out’ themselves, rather than being 
told exactly what to do or to imitate the movement form through the demonstration of the 
teacher or other fellow students. In this way the method refrains from explicitly determining what 
the learning might be and how it might be physically expressed. I aimed to create an 
atmosphere of allowing rather than declaring; one that conveyed authority without being 
authoritarian. My use of language was directive, conditional, and imaginative. Questions were 
posed. Situations in which I asked the students to make their own contextually informed choices 
or returned their questions with another, often proved difficult. The students wanted to be told 
exactly what to do and how to do it. At times, they responded to my questioning with phrases 
such as “Tell me what you want” or, “Don’t ask me what I want, or how I think I should do it”.  

These comments reveal that some students perceived the invitation to make their own choices 
as cognitively tiresome, time consuming and an indication that I was unclear about my 
intentions and aims. As the case study was embedded in a pre-professional dance performance 
program in which virtuosic motor skills are schooled, it is essential for the teacher, at times, to 
be explicit both through language and physical demonstration. In retrospect, the methods and 
materials of the study might have been more accessible for the students had I used more 
imitative and declarative formats throughout the study.  

At the beginning of the study the dancers’ processes of Moshe Feldenkrais’ reflection-in-action 
and those theorized by educationalist Donald Schön’s (2016) reflection-on-action,  were yet to 12

be anchored in their practice. However, the link between agency and self-reflection grew 
throughout the year. A student acknowledged the nature of the learning process as follows:  

The movement themes of previous phases led up to the big movement pattern we dealt 
with over the last few weeks. That's why, even if the material might have been a little 
difficult to handle in the first place, it didn't totally overwhelm me. Principles like the 
starfish, ideas about how to work and roll on the floor, or even whole steps were familiar 
to me and therefore made it easier for me to deal with the complexity of the phrase 
(focus group interview March 2015). 

11 Both Nina Hänel and I offered students individual lessons in Functional Integration upon request and 
free of charge. Ten students took advantage of this opportunity that enabled them to better understand 
how to bring in strategies of the method into their own practice. 
 
12 For each, learning from experience requires shuttling back and forth from observations, to examination 
and reflection on those observations, and then acting on those conclusions. The more people reflect on 
action, the better they get at reflecting and the more they can learn about themselves. 

 
Coogan • ​Feldenkrais Research Journal, volume 6​ (2018-2019) 26 
 



 

Another reported that what had become important were issues such as ‘Taking things and 
processing them. Not only taking them in, but maybe questioning them, and answering them 
again’ (final full group interview June 2015).  

Positive effects were often registered, acknowledged, and experienced with time – a summer 
break – or with new experiences in further years. At the end of the study a student exclaimed:  

I feel like somatics is kind of a thing… you have to understand. It can't be ‘OK, I get an 
explanation, and now I understand it.’ … You have to go through it; you have to do it and 
experience it (student and alumni interview October 2015).  

Another student commented: 

What I experienced in Feldenkrais was to focus totally on understanding what we were 
doing. And I would feel this sensation in Feldenkrais, especially the ease, and try to keep 
this feeling. But that was hard and the feeling would disappear, so it took a while to apply 
this in my dancing. As the sensations became clearer and I noticed when the sensations 
changed and what is good for me, I could start to apply this approach in my ballet and 
contemporary classes (student and alumni interview October 2015).  

All participants in the study were invited to reconsider individual biases and presuppositions, 
and to encounter a juxtaposition of viewpoints and epistemologies     in working processes with 
acceptance and empathy. The research team sought to respect the decisions of all, including 
those students who struggled to find value in the study. In retrospect I believe that the sharing of 
teaching responsibilities for this daily course should have begun at the onset of the study. 
Greater variety in teaching methods for the course might have made this unfamiliar modus for 
studio practice more palatable and less threatening. The simultaneity of teaching and research 
was a first-time experience for both the students and me as teacher-researcher. Therefore, it 
was essential for the research team to keep the students as the center of attention. In hindsight, 
the quantity of data collected during all parts of the study might have been overwhelming, 
leading students to experience competition with the research. However, the benefits for locating 
this qualitative action research in a mandatory curricular course class drew the entire community 
together in reflective, practice-led research.  

The comments of the participating students did not identify their age or relative immaturity as 
factors inhibiting them from finding access to the study’s offerings. This supports my persuasion 
that somatic approaches can begin at the onset of the dancer’s conservatory education. 
Students’ comments identify that a somatically informed pedagogy informed by the Feldenkrais 
Method can support the development of these students’ personal and collective agency, and 
self-reflective skills and that this learning can be transferred to other areas of their lives. One 
student conjectured: ‘clearly that it is you who needs to figure it out, otherwise it is not going to 
be of any help’ (focus group interview October 2015).  

 
Coogan • ​Feldenkrais Research Journal, volume 6​ (2018-2019) 27 
 



 

Another commented:  

I had some really strong sensations about it. It feels normal and integrated as well, so I 
am happy that I can feel it in my body. I can feel it even more actually when I do really 
physical things, for example in different classes. And then I try to find a different way to 
do it, and then I think “How would I do it if I were in Jenny's class or in Nina's class?” And 
then I kind of find a different impulse or different way, and then it sometimes actually 
works faster as well, as I try to think how I would approach it in a somatic kind of way 
(student and alumni interview October 2015). 

In addition, the data revealed that this manner of learning does not speak to everyone. Clearly it 
was not accessible for those expecting and demanding a teacher driven highly physical 
practice. Therefore, it is essential to offer students a range of teaching and learning methods 
and strategies so that all can move forward through direct and indirect pathways of learning. A 
student remarked: 

Well the beginning of the year was difficult. I had never done something like this before, 
and you really have to be open, ready, and willing—otherwise it is not a good 
experience. It changed into a good experience for me. And I noticed that even at the end 
of the year some people in our class were still not open to accepting what was offered. 
You have to be open in order to accept it (final full group interview June 2015).  

The study’s methods did not seek to replace or to question existing ones in the Palucca 
University, but rather sought to bring greater methodological diversity into the institution in a 
spirit of co-existence. A coherent curriculum, fluid communication and acceptance of difference 
among faculty members are of utmost importance for enabling the students to experience their 
vocational education from a multiplicity of perspectives in order to navigate with resilience 
through life’s ever-changing terrains, one that includes the professional field of performing 
dance. Working somatically means to value difference, accept perspectives other than one’s 
own, and invite a space for everyone in the community to discover and to pursue their own truth. 
This state of awareness can help one to realign and reorient in new relationships, and to 
welcome serendipity. I conclude with a reflection of a recent graduate: 

I find it interesting that there is always a kind of rebellion against the introduction to 
somatics during the first year of the Bachelor’s program. I remember hearing students 
pass on advice to the younger ones, telling them “Don’t give up!”, “It will be worth it”, 
“Make it happen!” And I think that’s kind of inherent in somatic practices, that there is a 
moment where you can decide to be open, which is not always so easy to take because 
you don’t get immediate rewards. The somatic way takes you out of normalcy, and you 
have to wait to get results (alumni comment at the student and alumni interview October 
2015).  

 
Coogan • ​Feldenkrais Research Journal, volume 6​ (2018-2019) 28 
 



 

References 

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Brodie J., and Lobel, E. (2012) ​Dance and Somatics. Mind-Body Principles of Teaching and 
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Buckroyd, J. (2000) ​The student dancer​. London: Dance Books 

Clarke, S., (2017) Keynote Address at the ​Bodily Undoing Symposium​ Bath Spa University 
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Feldenkrais, M. (1985) ​The Potent Self: A Study of Spontaneity and Compulsion​. San 
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Fortin, S. (1993) ‘When Dance Science and Somatics Enter the Dance Technique Class’. 
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Fortin, S., Vieira, A., and Tremblay, M. (2002) ‘Three Voices: Researching How Somatic 
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Freire, P. (1993) ​Pedagogy of the Oppressed ​. London: Penguin 

Gershkoff-Stowe, L., and Thelen, E. (2004) ‘U-Shaped changes in behavior: A dynamic systems 
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Giguere, M. (2015) ‘Dance education action research: a twin study’. ​Research in Dance 
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Green, J. (2001) ‘Socially Constructed Bodies in American Dance Classrooms’. ​Research in 
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Green, J., and Stinston, S. W (1999) ‘Post-positivist Research in Dance’. In ​Researching Dance: 
evolving modes of inquiry​. ed. by Fraleigh, S. and Hanstein, P. Pittsburgh: University of 
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Johnson, D. H. (1994) ​Body, Spirit and Democracy. ​Berkeley: North Atlantic Books  

Johnson, D. H. (ed.) (1995) ​Bone, Breath and ​Gesture: ​Practices of Embodiment​. Berkeley: 
North Atlantic Books  

Krasnow, D., and Wilmerding, M. (2015) ​Motor Learning and Control for Dance: Principles and 
Practices for Performers and Teachers.​ Champaign: Human Kinetics 

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Myers, M. (1983) ‘Body Therapies and the Modern Dancer’. ​Dance Magazine ​ 57 (August), 1-24 

Narciss, S., and Matko, K. (2016) ‘Students’ Perceptions and Acceptance of Somatic 
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Dance: A Somatic Orientation ​. ed. By Coogan, J. Berlin: Logos Verlag, 83-93 

Parviainen, J. (2003) ‘Dance Techne: Kinetic bodily logos and thinking in Movement’. ​The 
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Raman, T. (2009) ‘Collaborative Learning in the dance technique class’. ​Research in Dance 
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Robson, C. (2011) ​Real World Research ​. Chichester: John Wiley & Son Ltd  

Röttger-Rössler, B., and Slaby, J. (eds.) (2018) ​Affect in Relation – Families, Places, 
Technologies. Essays on Affectivity and Subject Formation in the 21​st​ Century.​ New 
York: Routledge  

Schön, D. (2016) ​The Reflective Practitioner: How Professionals Think in Action ​. New York: 
Routledge 

Shapiro, S. (ed.) (1998) ​Dance Power and Difference:​ ​Critical and Feminist​ ​Perspectives on 
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Tanztechniken 2010​. ed. by Diehl, I. and Lampert, F. Leipzig: Henschel, 136-145  

Spatz, B. (2015) ​What a body can do ​, ​Technique as knowledge​, ​Practice as Research​. New 
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Hans Huber Verlag 

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Coogan • ​Feldenkrais Research Journal, volume 6​ (2018-2019) 31 
 



 

Biography 

Jenny Coogan 

Born in the USA, Coogan is based in Germany where she is Professor for Contemporary Dance 
at the Palucca University of Dance Dresden. For nearly forty years she has worked 
internationally as a dance artist, educator and scholar, performing, choreographing, teaching, 
researching and publishing. She directed the repertory-touring ensemble, ​Coogan Dancers​, 
whose productions appeared throughout Europe and in the USA. Since 2011, she directs 
ArtRose​, an intergenerational community dance ensemble. Coogan received a Bachelor of Fine 
Arts Degree in Dance from the Juilliard School in NYC, pursued postgraduate studies at the 
State University of New York at Brockport and is currently a doctoral candidate at the Centre for 
Dance Research at Coventry University in the UK. Coogan graduated from the Berlin 1 
Feldenkrais Training Program in 2001. Her research works with the Feldenkrais Method as a 
scoring practice and creative catalyst in both dance facilitating and dance making. Coogan is 
the editor and principal author of the publication, ​Practicing Dance: A Somatic Orientation 
(2016, Logos Verlag Berlin). 

 
Coogan • ​Feldenkrais Research Journal, volume 6​ (2018-2019) 32 
 



Appendices: Examples of instruments used for data collection during 

the case study 

 

Phase 3: Feldenkrais in Dance Class  
 
The following questionnaire was distributed to students on a biweekly basis during phase 3 of the case 
study. It was filled in at both the beginning and end of their contemporary dance class. 
 
Dear	Students,	 	 January	5,	2015	
During	this	3rd	phase	of	the	case	study	in	which	you	are	participating,	time	will	be	offered	at	the	
beginning	of	selected	ZT/MT	classes	for	you	to	respond	to	the	following	questions	listed	below.	
Reflecting	upon	these	questions,	that	ask	about	your	momentary	mood	and	state	of	physical	well-	

being,	might	enable	you	to	better	“tune	in”	to	today’s	class.	Please	respond	to	the	questions	by	
marking	the	boxes.	
 

1.			 At	the	moment	how	confident	do	you	feel	in	your	ability	to	direct	your	attention	to	yourself?	
not	at	all�  slightly�  moderately�  very�  extremely�  

 
 

2.			 At	the	moment	how	confident	do	you	feel	in	your	ability	to	distribute	your	attention	
between	yourself	and	your	environment?	
not	at	all�  slightly�  moderately�  very�  extremely�  

 
3.			 How	confident	are	you	that	you	can	maintain	goal	-directedness	even	when	encountering	

difficulties	in	today’s	class?	
 

not	confident�  slightly	confident�  moderately	confident	�  confident�  very	confident�  
 

4.			 How	curious	are	you	to	explore	unfamiliar	movement	patterns	and	possibilities	in	today’s	
class?	

 
not	at	all�  slightly�  moderately�  very�  extremely�  

 
5.			 To	what	degree	are	your	experiencing	fatigue	or	alertness	at	the	moment?	

 
very	fatigued�  moderately	fatigued	�  neither-nor�  moderately	alert�  very	alert�  

 
 

6.			At	the	moment	are	your	dealing	with	an	injury?	 �  Yes	 �  No	
 

7.			 If	you	are	dealing	with	pain,	how	intense	is	it	at	the	moment	on	a	scale	of	1	–	100?	
	1	───────────────────────────────────────── 100	

8.			 To	what	extent	do	you	feel	confident	in	your	ability	to	actively	engage	in	today’s	class?	
 

not	confident�  slightly	confident�  moderately	confident	�  confident�  very	confident�  
 
 
Coogan • Feldenkrais Research Journal, volume 6 (2018-2019)      A1 



 

Disk Diagram 

Dear	students,	

On	the	accompanying	disk-shaped	diagram,	please	identify	four	points	of	interest	

or	goals	that	are	important	for	you	in	today’s	class.	Write	these	in	the	four	corners	
of	the	disk.	Use	the	symbol	“I”	in	the	four	fields	to	correspond	to	the	importance	of	
these	goals	for	you	today,	and	use	the	symbol	“C”	to	correspond	to	how	confident	

you	feel	of	your	ability	to	achieve	these	goals.	The	closer	you	set	your	“I”	and	“C”	to	
the	center	of	the	disk,	the	more	relevant	these	goals	are	for	you.	
	

Next,	using	the	symbols	“M,	A,	T,	MA,	MT,	TA”,	please	mark	in	the	appropriate	fields	how	you	feel	
these	criteria	will	help	you	to	achieve	your	goals.	The	closer	you	set	your	sign	to	the	center	of	the	
disk,	the	more	helpful	you	feel	the	criterion	is	for	you.	
 
 Please	mark	with	

My	own	facility	alone	will	help	me	to	address	these	goals.	 M	

The	atmosphere	of	the	class	alone	will	help	me	to	address	these	goals.	 A	

The	teacher’s	input	in	the	class	alone	will	help	me	to	address	these	goals.	 T	

The	combination	of	my	own	facility	and	the	atmosphere	of	the	class	will	help	
me	to	address	these	goals.	

 
MA	

The	combination	of	my	own	facility	and	the	teacher’s	input	will	help	me	to	
address	these	goals.	

 
MT	

The	combination	of	the	teacher’s	input	and	the	atmosphere	of	the	class	will	
help	me	to	address	these	goals.	

 
TA	

 

 
 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Coogan • Feldenkrais Research Journal, volume 6 (2018-2019)      A2 



 

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Coogan • Feldenkrais Research Journal, volume 6 (2018-2019)      A3 



 

How	to	assemble	your	code:	
 
 
First	letter	of	the	first	name	of	your	mother:	 ………		(i.e.	“M”	for	Michaela)	
 
Second	to	last	letter	of	the	first	name	of	you	father:	 ………		(i.e.	“A”	for	Stefan)	
 
Day	of	your	birthday:	 ….…..	 (i.e.	“07”	for	7th	of	June)	

First	letter	of	your	hometown:	 ………		(i.e.	“D”	for	Dresden)	

 
 
 
In	case	an	“Umlaut”	(Ä,	Ö,	Ü)	is	asked	in	one	of	the	following	questions,	please	enter	the	appropriate	vowel	

(A,	O,	U);	example:	Ä	à A.	
 

	

	
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Coogan • Feldenkrais Research Journal, volume 6 (2018-2019)      A4 

	



 

Phase 4: Student Centered, Self-Organized Learning 
 
 
Dear	Students,																																																																																															March	24,	2015	

 
Now	at	 the	end	of	 the	4

th	
phase	of	 the	 case	 study	 in	 somatically	orientated	 teaching	and	

learning	in	dance,	we	kindly	ask	you	to	complete	the	following	questionnaire	by	marking	the	

appropriate	SMILEYs	and	adding,	if	you	wish,	your	own	COMMENTARY	in	the	boxes	
below.	

 

 
 

CODE	
First	letter	of	the	first	name	of	your	mother:	 		 		(i.e.	“M”	for	Michaela)	

 
Second	to	last	letter	of	the	first	name	of	you	father:	 		 		(i.e.	“A”	for	

Stefan)	
 
 
 
I	participated	fully	in	 		 					of	the	10	sessions.	

I	participated	partially	in	 		 					of	the	10	sessions.	
 
 
 

 
I	agree	fully……………not	at	all.	

 
 
1.			SMALL	GROUP	WORK	

 
Overall,	working	together	in	my	small	group	with	the	
material…	

 
 

-	 helped	me	to	learn	the	material	more	fully.	
 

 

-	 offered	me	the	possibility	to	express	my	own	

ideas.	

 

 

-	 was	enriching	through	the	exchange	with	others.	
 

 

-	 inspired	me	to	try	out	the	ideas	of	others.	
 

 

-	 created	a	productive	atmosphere.	
 

 

-	 created	an	atmosphere	of	trust	and	acceptance.	
 

Coogan • Feldenkrais Research Journal, volume 6 (2018-2019)      A5 



 

The	work	in	the	small	group	supported	my	understanding	of:		
 

-	 Fluid	coordination	
 

 

-	 Phrasing	
 

 
The	work	in	the	small	group	supported	my	ability	to	apply	

these	qualities	in	practice:	
 

-	 Fluid	coordination	
 

 

-	 Phrasing	
 

			
 

- The	work	in	the	small	group	helped	me	improve	

performance	skills	dancing	the	material.	
	 The	work	in	the	small	group	helped	me	improve	performance	skills	dancing	the	material.	
	

 

 
 
 
Commentary	relating	to	the	category	of	questions	above:	

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
2.			DIGITAL	FEEDBACK	
	

	
 

 

I	used	the	video	material	as	a	tool	to	give	feedback	to	

myself.	

 

 

Using	the	video	supported	my	self-reflective	and	physical	

processes.	

 

 

Sharing	the	video	with	others	invited	discussion.	
 

	
Commentary	relating	to	the	category	of	questions	above:	
	

 
 
Coogan • Feldenkrais Research Journal, volume 6 (2018-2019)      A6	



 

3.			TEACHING	FORMAT	
	

 
 

 

The	non-changing	format	of	the	warm-up	gave	me	the	
space	to	tune	into	myself.	
	

 

 

The	teachers’	way	of	“mentoring”	during	the	phase	in	
small	groups	was	helpful	for	me.	
	

 

	
	

The	sharing,	dancing	and	observing,	with	the	whole	group	at	the	end	of	the	class	was	for	me:	
 

-	 satisfying	  

-	 irritating	  

-	 important	  

-	 helpful	  

-	 scary	  

-	 enjoyable	  

The	format	of	these	sessions	encouraged	me	to	explore	

different	approaches	in:	

 

-	 Learning	given	material,	  

-	 Interpreting	and	performing	given	material.	  

 

Commentary	relating	to	the	category	of	questions	above:	
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
	
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Coogan • Feldenkrais Research Journal, volume 6 (2018-2019)      A7 

	



 

4.			SPACE	AND	TIME	FACTORS	
 
The	division	of	time	between	warming-up,	learning	and	

reviewing	the	material,	working	in	the	small	group	and	 	
sharing	with	others	was	appropriate.	 	

  
I	would	have	preferred	to	have	more	time	for:	

 
 

-	 warming-up	
 

 

-	 working	on	the	phrase	material	altogether	
 

 

-	 working	on	the	phrase	material	in	my	small	group	
 

 

-	 sharing	the	dance	with	everyone.	
 

 

The	amount	of	space	in	the	studio	for	working	in	my	small	

group	was	sufficient.	

 

	

Commentary	relating	to	the	category	of	questions	above:	

	
	

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Coogan • Feldenkrais Research Journal, volume 6 (2018-2019)      A8 



 

 
5.			LAST	BUT	NOT	LEAST	

   
Could	you	make	connections	between	the	movement	themes	in	this	phase	with	

movement	themes	introduced	to	you	during	other	phases	of	the	case	study?	
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Do	you	have	any	issues	that	you	think	should	have	been	addressed	more	intensively	during	

this	phase?	
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Can	you	express	which	format(s)	for	the	final	phase	of	this	study	you	think	would	best	support	

your	own	artistic	development?	Hint:	Consider	the	teaching/learning	formats	you		
experienced	thus	far	this	academic	year.	

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
We	thank	you	for	your	participation!	

 

 

 

 
 
 
 
Coogan • Feldenkrais Research Journal, volume 6 (2018-2019)      A9 



 

Phase 5                                           
 
Dear	Students!																																																																																																																					June	2015	

 
The	following	questions	aim	at	understanding	how	you	perceive	yourself,	both	in	the	context	of	your	

dance	program,	and	in	a	more	general	way.	We	wish	to	learn	how	you	feel	about	your	dance	practice,	

which	 learning	 strategies	 and	 tools	 you	 use	 to	 support	 your	 understanding,	 and	 how	 you	 deal	with	

difficulties	that	arise.	
 

Please	provide	an	answer	for	every	statement	as	best	as	you	can.	There	are	no	“right”	or	“wrong”	
answers,	nor	“good”	or	“bad“	responses.	This	is	about	your	personal	point	of	view.	Thank	you	for	
your	participation!	

 

 
 

CODE	

First	letter	of	the	first	name	of	your	mother:	 		 		(i.e.	“M”	for	Michaela)	
 

Second	to	last	letter	of	the	first	name	of	you	father:		 		 		(i.e.	“A”	for	Stefan)	
 

Day	of	your	birthday:	 		 		(i.e.	“07”	for	7th	of	June)	
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Coogan • Feldenkrais Research Journal, volume 6 (2018-2019)      A10	  



 

Ra
re
ly
	

O
cc
as
si
on

al
ly
	

Fa
ri
ly
	o
ft
en

	

A
lm

os
t 	

al
w
ay
s	

The	questions	below	address	your	general	experience	of	mindfulness,	
awareness	and	being	in	the	present	moment.	
 
 
 
 
I	am	open	to	the	experience	of	the	present	moment.	 �  �  �  � 

 
 
I	sense	my	body,	whether	eating,	cooking,	cleaning	or	talking.	 �  �  �  � 

 
 
When	I	notice	an	absence	of	mind,	I	gently	return	to	the	experience	of	the	here	

and	now.	
�  �  �  � 

 
I	am	able	to	appreciate	myself.	 �  �  �  � 

 
 
I	pay	attention	to	what’s	behind	my	actions.	 �  �  �  � 

 
 
I	see	my	mistakes	and	difficulties	without	judging	them.	 �  �  �  � 

 
 
I	feel	connected	to	my	experience	in	the	here-and-now.	 �  �  �  � 

 
 
I	accept	unpleasant	experiences.	 �  �  �  � 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Coogan • Feldenkrais Research Journal, volume 6 (2018-2019)      A11 



 

� � � � 

� � � � 

� � � � 

� � � � 

� � � � 

� � � � 

 

no
t	a

t	a
ll 	

tr
ue

	o
f	

a	

lit
tle

	b
it	

tr
ue

	o
f	m

e	

m
od

er
at
el
y	

tr
ue

	o
f	m

e	

tr
ue

	o
f	m

e	

ve
ry
	tr
ue

	
of
	m

e	

 

I	am	friendly	to	myself	when	things	go	wrong.	
 
 
I	watch	my	feelings	without	getting	lost	in	them.	

 
 
In	difficult	situations,	I	can	pause	without	immediately	reacting.	

 
 
I	experience	moments	of	inner	peace	and	ease,	even	when	things	get	hectic	and	

stressful.	
 
I	am	impatient	with	myself	and	with	others.	

 
 
I	am	able	to	smile	when	I	notice	how	I	sometimes	make	life	difficult.	

 
 
In	 the	 following,	you	see	statements	about	 learning	strategies	you	can	use	when	you	are	 studying	
dance,	 independent	 of	 specific	 styles.	 Please	 consider	 how	 often	 you	 use	 these	 strategies	 during	
your	general	dance	practice.	

 
 
 
 
 
When	I	study	dance,	I	memorize	what	I	need	to	learn	by	practicing	the	steps	

over	and	over	again.	
�  �  �  �  � 

 
I	study	dance	by	thinking	over	the	movement	concepts.	 �  �  �  �  � 

 
 
When	I	encounter	complex	movement	material,	I	make	decisions	about	which	

parts	of	it	I	want	work	on	first.	
 
When	I	learn	complex	movement	material,	I	translate	the	underlying	movement	

concepts	into	my	own	words.	
 
When	practicing	dance,	I	try	to	determine	how	well	I	have	learned	the	topics	

that	I	need	to	know.	
 
If	the	information	given	to	me	concerning	my	dance	practice	is	difficult	to	learn,	

I	slow	down	and	take	more	time.	
 
If	I	don’t	understand	the	given	information	concerning	my	dance	practice	I	ask	

my	teacher	for	help.	
 

When	I	study	dance,	I	memorize	what	I	need	to	learn	by	thinking	over	the	

movement	concepts.	

�  �  �  �  � 
 
 
�  �  �  �  � 
 
 

�  �  �  �  � 
 
 

�  �  �  �  � 
 
 

�  �  �  �  � 
 
 

�  �  �  �  � 
 
By	practicing	the	steps	over	and	over	again,	I	can	memorize	them.	 �  �  �  �  � 

 
Coogan • Feldenkrais Research Journal, volume 6 (2018-2019)      A12 



 

� � � � � 

� � � � � 

� � � � � 

� � � � � 

� � � � � 

� � � � � 

� � � � � 

� � � � � 

� � � � � 

� � � � � 

� � � � � 

� � � � � 

� � � � � 

� � � � � 

� � � � � 

� � � � � 

� � � � � 
 

 

When	studying	in	dance	class,	I	try	to	connect	new	input	to	what	I	already	know.	
 
 
I	study	complex	movement	material	by	giving	myself	mental	cues	in	order	to	help	

me	organize	what	I	need	to	learn.	
 
I	study	dance	by	practicing	the	steps	in	order	to	memorize	them.	

 
 
If	I	don’t	understand	the	given	information	concerning	my	dance	practice	I	look	
for	support	through	media	like	videos,	Youtube	and	books.	

 
I	make	connections	between	how	I	solve	one	challenge	with	the	way	I	could	

solve	other	challenges.	
 
When	I’m	learning	new	topics,	I	test	myself	to	see	whether	I	have	understood	

the	subject	matter.	
 
If	the	given	information	concerning	my	dance	practice	is	confusing	for	me,	I	go	

back	and	try	to	figure	it	out.	
 
If	I	don’t	understand	the	given	information	concerning	my	dance	practice	I	ask	

other	students	for	help.	
 
When	I	encounter	complex	movement	material,	I	use	strategies	to	break	it	

down	into	smaller	components	to	understand	it	better.	
 
	

I	connect	what	I	learn	in	one	dance	class	to	what	I	am	learning	in	other	classes.	
 
 
When	I	study	new	topics	in	dance	class,	I	ask	myself	questions	to	make	sure	I	
know	what	I	have	been	learning.	

 
If	I	think	I	don’t	know	the	given	information	concerning	my	dance	practice	well	

enough,	I	make	sure	I	learn	it	before	going	onto	the	next	step.	

 
When	I	study	complex	movement	material,	I	try	to	help	myself	by	recognizing	the	

underlying	movement	concepts	behind	the	steps.	
 
When	I	study	dance,	I	mentally	review	the	movement	concepts	in	order	to	

memorize	them.	
 
When	practicing	dance,	I	check	whether	I	can	deal	with	the	topics	that	I’m	

learning.	
 
	

If	I’m	having	trouble	solving	difficulties	in	my	dance	practice,	I	try	other	ways	to	

solve	them.	
 
	

If	I	don’t	understand	the	given	information	concerning	my	dance	practice	I	ask	

for	help	to	better	understand	the	movement	concepts.	
 
 
Coogan • Feldenkrais Research Journal, volume 6 (2018-2019)      A13 



 

� � � � � 

� � � � � 

� � � � � 

� � � � � 

� � � � � 

� � � � � 

� � � � � 

� � � � � 

� � � � � 

� � � � � 

� � � � � 

� � � � � 
 

to
ta
lly
	

di
sa
gr
ee
	

ag
re
e	
a	
lit
tle

	

bi
t	

m
od

er
at
el
y	

ag
re
e	

st
ro
ng
ly
	

ag
re
e	

ve
ry
	s
tr
on

gl
y	

ag
re
e	

The	following	statements	concern	your	experiences	in	your	contemporary	dance	program.	Please	
estimate	to	what	extent	you	agree	with	these	statements.	

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
In	my	contemporary	dance	program,	I	feel	very	strongly	that	the	way	I	dance	fits	

perfectly	the	way	I	prefer	to	dance.	
 
I	feel	that	I	execute	very	effectively	the	required	exercises	of	my	contemporary	

training	program.	
 
In	contemporary	dance	class,	I	feel	that	I	associate	with	my	fellow	students	in	a	very	

friendly	way.	
 
In	my	contemporary	dance	program,	I	feel	I	have	been	making	a	huge	progress	with	

respect	to	the	end	result	I	am	pursuing.	
 
In	my	contemporary	dance	program,	I	feel	that	the	way	I	dance	is	definitely	 an	

expression	of	myself.	
 
	

In	my	contemporary	dance	program,	I	feel	very	much	at	ease	with	my	fellow	

students.	
 
Dancing	in	the	style	of	contemporary	dance	I	feel	very	competent.	

 
 
In	contemporary	dance	class,	I	feel	there	are	open	channels	of	communication	with	

my	fellow	students.	
 
In	my	contemporary	dance	program,	I	feel	very	strongly	that	I	have	the	

opportunity	to	make	choices	with	respect	to	the	way	I	dance.	
 
	

In	contemporary	dance	class,	I	feel	extremely	comfortable	with	my	fellow	

students.	
 
I	feel	that	I	can	manage	the	requirements	of	the	contemporary	dance	program	in	

which	I	am	involved.	
 
The	contemporary	dance	program	I	follow	is	highly	compatible	with	my	choices	and	

interests.	
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Coogan • Feldenkrais Research Journal, volume 6 (2018-2019)      A14 



 

End	Evaluation	 	 	 	 	 July	3,	2015	
 
For	the	end	evaluation,	the	students	toured	through	a	parcour	of	five	posters	

representing	the	five	phases	of	the	case	study.	On	each	of	the	five	posters	were	

the	symbols	pictured	below.	They	were	asked	to	recall	their	reflections,	

remembrances,	and	reactions	to	the	different	phases	of	the	study	by	notations	

on	post-it	slips.	This	was	the	only	opportunity	for	students	to	reflect	and	write	

about	the	entirety	of	the	study	in	one	session.	 After	the	note	posting	was	

complete,	a	group	discussion	followed	in	which	students	expanded	upon	their	

written	responses.	This	interview	has	been,	like	all	others	previously,	

transcribed.	
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
This	really	caught	me	 This	was	difficult	for	me	 This	clicked	for	me	

 
 
 
 

 
 

I’m	glad	to	have	learned	this	 This	weighs	on	me	
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
Coogan • Feldenkrais Research Journal, volume 6 (2018-2019)      A15 

 



 

 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Coogan • Feldenkrais Research Journal, volume 6 (2018-2019)      A16 



 

These instruments were constructed by Jenny Coogan with the support of InnoLernenTanz 
team members, Dr. Susanne Narciss, Karin Matko, Anja Balzar, and Nina Hänel. The phase 5 
mindfulness questionnaire was adapted from the Freiburg Mindfulness Inventory Questionnaire 
(Walach et al. 2006). 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Coogan • Feldenkrais Research Journal, volume 6 (2018-2019)               A17 


