Dr. Melanie Johnson French shares how using the Kesternberg Movement Profile has led to fascinating client transformations in her work as a dance/movement therapist.
Dr. Melanie Johnson French is a board certified dance/movement therapist, certified KMP analyst and master trainer, and counselor in the Boston metro area. She has served as adjunct faculty in the dance/movement therapy program at Antioch University New England, as well as had teaching appointments at universities and institutes in the US and internationally including the UK and China. Her PhD research demonstrated how specific rhythmic movements can elicit particular feeling states—a study that examined developmental movements in Kestenberg Movement Profile (KMP) theory called tension flow rhythms. She has co-authored several articles, presented at national and regional conferences, and contributed to a book chapter in The Meaning of Movement: Embodied developmental, clinical, and cultural considerations of the Kestenberg Movement Profile (2018). She offers supervision to dance/movement therapists as well as body-oriented practitioners who incorporate the KMP into their work with people across the lifespan in diverse contexts. She specializes in teaching how to recognize psychological phenomena in body movement, facial expression, tone of voice, and interpersonal styles of individuals, groups, and communities. She offers private and large-group trainings and workshops year-round in the KMP and its utility in healing, education, parenting, and research contexts.
Find Melanie’s upcoming workshop at http://kestenbergmovementprofile.org/
Thank you so much Melanie for a clear and lively exchange on the KMP. I loved your wonderful illustrations and examples to help make this system accessible. You gave wonderful examples of how this is a strength-based system and how it supports the nervous system. You touched on parenting, education, work with children and adults, and couples as well as self-compassion.