moveus
Germany
Jens Johannsen, Thomas Greil, Friederike Tröscher
a pre-recorded conversation
A Time in History: Transitioning from SBMC to Licensed Programs The story of moveus GbR in Germany
With Jens Johannsen, Friederike Tröscher and Thomas Greil
A conversation with Sarah Barnaby and Satu Palokangas
2003 started a European Certification Program in Germany, the second one, after Jacques van Eijden had organized and directed a full 4-year program 1995-1999 in the Netherlands. The program happened on a small island in a Bavarian Lake, called Chiemsee. The island is called Fraueninsel - the island of women. We were hosted by and inside a Benedictine convent run by nuns. The program was held by a team of four: Myra Avedon, then educational director of SBMC, Jens Johannsen, who co-directed and was at the time one of the most experienced European teachers, Thomas Greil who administrated the program and Friederike Tröscher, both had just become BMC teachers in 2002 and started to make their first steps teaching in the BMC certification program.
The Chiemsee Program planted the seed for many BMC trainings in Europe and worldwide to follow and marked the transition from programs run under the direction of SBMC/Bonnie, to the first licensed certification programs, hosted by independent organizations: Leben (Italy), SOMA (France), moveus (Germany), Babyfit (Slovakia) and Embody-Move (UK), spreading further into Brazil (corporalmente), then Estonia (Somatikum), Spain (movimiento atlas), and Argentina (CIEC); later the US (Kinesthetic Learning Center, Moving Within, Sonder Movement Project and EmbodiYoga), Canada (Esprit en Mouvement), Greece (Istos), Australasia (SEA/ Somatic Education Australasia) and Benelux (Tessura). Many of the teachers or directors of these trainings were teachers, assistants, or students in the Chiemsee program: Gloria Desideri, Walburga Glatz, Katy Dymoke, Mari Mägi, Stephanie Hahnzog, Olive Bieringa and Otto Ramstad, just to name a few. Jens, Friederike and Thomas decided to found moveus, as the first German License Organization in 2007 and started the first SME program in 2008.
Bios
Friederike Tröscher
Friederike moves in the field of somatics and dance since over 30 years. With background in dance, occupational therapy and several somatic approaches she is actively and internationally teaching for over 25 years. She trained at the School for Body-Mind Centering® with Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen and as a teacher of Body-Mind Centering® is involved in setting up licensed BMC trainings since 2003.
She directs moveus, the official BMC training program in Germany since 2007. Into her teaching and her work with individuals of all ages, she brings her passion for movement and process and the continuous wonder about the unfolding of life. Friederike is mother of two children and lives with her family in Rhöndorf / Bad Honnef, Germany.
Jens Johannsen
Jens Johannsen, *1959, explores movement, expression, dance and meditation since 1979. He started his Body-Mind Centering® training with Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen in 1986, Practitioner since ´89, teacher since `92, BMC training director and teacher-trainer since 2003. Jens contributed to the founding of BMC®-trainings in the UK, Brazil and Australasia. He co-founded the German BMC® training institute moveus.
Thomas Greil
Thomas Greil began to study BMC® in 1994, and since more than 20 years teaches worldwide in BMC® Certification Programs (SME, Practitioner and IDME) as well as in many other contexts. He was the administrative director of the BMC® Program in Germany (2003-2007), and a founding member of moveus, and SOMA. Specialized in the work with children with disabilities, he was close to Bonnie as she articulated the work with children with special needs, and together with Anka Sedlačková founded the project Making Connections. He is also a Practitioner of the Jeremy Krauss Approach (JKA), based on the Feldenkrais method. Drawing on neuroscience, and developmental psychology, he has developed a trauma-sensitive approach to somatic education and therapy. Together with Carla Bottiglieri he founded minima somatica, a laboratory of transversal inquiry in the somatic practices of movement and care, in Faenza, Italy.
