Dance Past Faculty

Martha Eddy

Martha Eddy headshot

Photo courtesy Martha Eddy

About

Martha Eddy, CMA, RSMT, EdD is a sought-after authority within the field of Somatic Movement Education & Therapy & Dance Somatics (www.DynamicEmbodiment.org), author and lecturer on how to apply dance and body awareness to neuro-motor (www.WellnessCKE.net) & socio-emotional development (www.InnerResilience.org ), as well as to peace education/ conflict resolution (www.EmbodyPeace.org ) and ecological issues (www.GlobalWaterDances.org ). She holds a doctorate in Movement Science and Education specializing in Exercise Physiology as well as Curriculum Development.

Dr. Eddy created a somatic dance system - BodyMind DancingTM in 1986 combining knowledge from her studies with physical therapist and dancer Irmgard Bartenieff, founder of the Laban/Bartenieff Movement Studies, and occupational therapist and somatic movement educator Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen, founder of the somatic system called Body-Mind Centering®. She's taught BodyMind Dancing, Dynamic Embodiment and other somatic systems worldwide and prior to Princeton within dance departments at NYU, Columbia, Hope & Hampshire Colleges. Dr. Eddy works on the faculty of the Dance Education Laboratory at the 92nd Street YMCA in New York City and directs the Center for Kinesthetic Education, providing professional development and workshops for the NYC Department of Education in pre-K through 12 “healthy dancing.” In 1999 she developed Moving For Life DanceExercise for Health® with a focus first on Breast Cancer Recovery. Moving For Life (www.movingforlife.org ) is now its own non-profit organization and has been featured on National Public Radio and TV with NY1, CNN, Fox News, the Today Show and CBS.

Dr. Eddy is working on three manuscripts at present: one on the history and applications of Somatic Movement and its relationship to mindfulness and consciousness, another on applying somatic awareness to dance training and expression, and another on the life teachings and social activism of her parents – the Reverends Norm and and Dr. Margaret Ruth Eddy (who was the first female professor in the seminary at Princeton) — and their life in East Harlem. She serves on the board of the Yard, one of the premiere dance residencies for choreography in the United States.