What ever your movement awareness and communication goals, together we develop more choice, functionality and expression. Through somatic movement education processes, I help you identify, understand and re-pattern movement habits that are no longer serving you.
Thanks for your total and palpable support with the sessions. It’s been intriguing, and I very much appreciate your clarity, skill and complete integrity.
Penny Randall-Davis, opera singer and teacher, UK
Movement coaching leads to more choices, clarified intent, and meaning.
I work with people online, in person in SE London, UK, or come to observe in places of work.
- gain self-awareness & insights into personal habits
- more skills & refined tools for communication
- open questions, develop a personal movement practice
- increase movement range, confidence & choices
- solve problems affecting your work & play
- work with with rigour & curiousity
What I offer:
1 hour movement coaching consultation in-person (London, UK): £80 – 200
1 hour movement coaching consultation online: £60 – £150
Establish your goals
Understand your movement profile
Receive follow up notes & suggestions for personal practice
6 in-person movement coaching sessions: £475
6 online movement coaching sessions: £359
Deepen your understanding, skills and embodiment
Build a personal practice
Review aims and goals
Receive notes, films, reading materials and personal practice suggestions
Movement coaching prices are negotiable with me based upon personal circumstances. My work in non-profit theatre and performance recognises the different conditions of work to the commercial sector. Please get in touch for a conversation.
Fill in some details below to book a call. We will talk more about your needs and interests to design a package bespoke to you.
Message sent – thanks and expect to hear from Alexandra soon from hello@alexandrabaybutt.co.uk
Who am I again? About Alexandra
I am a movement educator, artist and postdoctoral researcher. I am a Certified Movement Analyst (CMA) since 2010 and Registered Somatic Movement Educator with international organisation ISMETA. I use the Laban/Bartenieff Movement System, along with my background in dance, somatic movement education and research in the humanities to help you identify, understand, and re-pattern tension holding and movement habits. I hold full teaching insurance and am dedicated to my ongoing professional development as a practitioner.
What is movement coaching and somatic movement education?
Movement coaching is an enlightening and empowering support to your personal and professional life. I use principles and practices developed by movement pioneers Rudolf Laban and Irmgard Bartenieff. I apply these rich and creative perspectives to a diverse range of needs and contexts.
I work with your needs and goals to problem-solve, deepen, play and increase choice and awareness. Unlike a group movement class, you receive my full attention, guidance, feedback and dialogue about your individual movement and goals.
More choices results in more ways of responding in any situation, physically, emotionally, cognitively.
How does it work?
Through guided exercises and explorations, observation and feedback, I help bring conscious awareness to your current movement preferences and choices. This process shines a light on habits and patterns – some which may serve you well, others which may be holding you back. By re-patterning, accessing new pathways and new choices in movement, you increase your range of how you respond and may act in any context. Working with me takes you from mere coping to mastery through the insights we discover together in a focussed movement inquiry.
It takes at least 30 repetitions of something to begin to re-pattern a movement habit. My sessions with you will equip you with tools for independent practice to work solo and achieve performance goals sooner.
Is this therapy?
No. This movement education is grounded in somatic movement repatterning. It addresses the bodymind connection to integrate and repattern our neuromuscular pathways. Sometimes reopening these pathways and releasing tension can provoke deep emotions or memories. This is completely normal, but can be surprising or even frightening. I aim to provide a safe space where you can feel okay about whatever you experience. Sometimes we can continue to work, but occasionally an emotion feels too intense to focus. I encourage you to acknowledge what you feel and make an honest decision about what you need. I will hold the space for you and provide support with my presence, but I am not a therapist and will not act as one.
Is this dance?
No. The roots of this work also underpin much of contemporary modern dance and improvisation training. However ‘dance’ can indicate doing steps to music, performing for someone or recreation, which is not what is being practiced in this context. At times movement education and somatic movement repatterning might feel like dance as you are moving in ways that might not feel familiar. At times, I invite time for you to explore your own movement impulses and choices, which is akin to dance improvisation, but this is for your own personal research. This work is about whole movement and the whole person. But if you want to dance or use movement coaching to support your dance practice of any style or genre, then we can do that.
Booking and cancellation policy
Sessions with me are 1 hour long, in person or online. When possible, working in-person takes place in Brockley, SE London. On request, I do work in client’s offices, studios or homes in London. Contact me for a discussion of your needs. I am flexible with booking sessions based on your schedule and time-zone. I require 24-hours notice to cancel or reschedule. A six-session booking must be used within three months of purchase. T&Qs.
How is this different from Yoga, Pilates and other somatic practices like Feldenkrais?
The Laban/Bartenieff Movement System shares many features with other somatic practices:
– exploring movement from the inside out, from the felt sense of the body
– in a context that cultivates acute awareness of the bodymind connection.
However, the work of Laban and Bartenieff is different.
– As well as exploring your inner connectivity, you bridge to moving in the general space, developing an embodied understanding of your kinesphere.
This supports integrating subtle movement experiences and examines outer expression. This work is both micro and macro, looking at parts of movement and the effect on the whole person. Discoveries made about your micro sensations and perceptions of movement can have repercussions about how you may operate in your every-day life.
Is this Body Language?
Too often the notion of ‘body language’ presupposes a definitive meaning. Cultural, linguistic and individual differences in communication exist in specific contexts. This cannot be ignored. What the concept identifies is the importance of perception of patterns, but human movement is complex. In the attempt to convey the significance of non-verbal communication, journalists can fall into the trap of oversimplify movement behaviour and neglect the context. Body Language study often focuses on static postures, but the actual information is in the process of change, the movement of how you got to the posture and how you move to something else.
What does your movement say about you?
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