Megan Bathory-Peeler

Dance

please click on images to view larger/watch video

A born mover, Megan Bathory-Peeler discovered the pleasure and power of expression through movement, dance, and performance art at an early age. Growing up in rural Western Massachusetts, Megan began to develop her choreographic voice by studying the complexities of human relationships and by being in direct relationship to the natural world. She was nurtured by a wealth of knowledge shared by many teachers in the direct modern and improvisational dance lineage. In 1997 Megan received her AB from Smith College in dance and self-designed a second degree in “Body-Based Systems of Communication.” She then returned to her alma mater to teach in the dance program at the Northfield Mount Hermon School, helping other young dancers find their own voices through movement. In 2002, she founded MoxieDance Group as a performance vehicle for her own choreography and devotion to play as divine work.

In 1993 Megan launched her career path as a somanaut – a professional explorer of the body – as a Registered Somatic Movement Therapist, Bodyworker, and Continuum Educator. Megan’s Somanautiko approach integrates tools gained from extensive study of dance, massage and bodywork techniques, Craniosacral Therapy, Matrix Repatterning, Somatic Experiencing, Pre-& Peri-natal, Birth and Attachment Therapy, and Continuum. A compassionate listener and a life-long lover of movement, consciousness, connection, communication, and self-knowledge, she is deeply integrative in her approach to supporting health holistically through embodied awareness. Megan helps people of all ages discover what is stuck physically, emotionally or spiritually, and supports them as they get themselves moving again. Megan still lives where she grew up, on land originally tended to by the Nipmuc people, in Gill, Massachusetts. She co-creates home with her husband, Steve, and two children, Ella and Quinn. 

www.somanautiko.com

How does Continuum inform my creative work?

I have always perceived the human body and the natural world around me in motion and as movement. I delight in sensing the world through a choreographic lens, marveling at all of the sophisticated dances happening around and within us all of the time. As a small child I moved creatively to the soundtrack of my own voice. I interpreted my experiences through sound, motion, and language. It was a like coming home when I met Emilie Conrad, dove into Continuum, and was embraced by a whole community of people dedicated to this way of being in the world. Continuum not only informs my creative work as a dancer, it sustains the philosophical basis from which I live, relate, work, and parent. Continuum is moving mindfulness, consistently bringing me into the present moment through simple awareness of breath, sensation, and fluid wave motion. By being present to what is in the moment, I can make more informed choices for action that are more symbiotic, less effortful, and maintain my focus on connection rather than on fear or isolation. This has been a significant shift for me as a woman and performer, allowing me to sense and trust my own choreographic voice as it emerges more fully. I am more willing to reveal myself to my audience from a place of authenticity and truth being grounded in this place of deep presence.