Digital lesson transcription with attached video clips of Barbara Mettler teaching her 1978 Summer Dance Course at the Tucson Creative Dance Center  are now available from Mettler Studios.

Full Summer Dance Course

37 lessons covering topics on:

Introductory Lessons

Force Element
Time Element
Space Element
Body as Instrument
Sound and Movement
Dramatic Expression
Applied Themes
Building Blocks for Group Dance

Includes 200 video clips

A reference section on Mettler's principles follows each lesson. 

Basic Concepts Series

A group of 8 topics which introduce Mettler's
 methods, materials and principles

This material provides a unique first-person experience of Barbara Mettler teaching and is helpful for anyone interested in Mettler-based dance.
Depending on your computer's operating system the material is available via free download or a flash drive mailed to you.  A charge of $10 covers the cost of the flash drive and mailing.

Contact Mary Ann Brehm mettlerstudios@gmail.com   814-677-3661 to receive a link for downloading this digital material, to order a flash drive, or to discuss the best way to receive this material. 
For more information on Mettler Studios and Barbara Mettler go to:
www.barbaramettler.org

 For people new to Mettler-based dance, we recommend starting with the Basic Concepts Series. It can be use by individuals and also groups who wish to study material together.

  Contact Mary Ann, also, for assistance forming a Basic Concept Study Group

 Basic Concepts Series Topics:

Topic I:     Introductory Lesson
Topic II:    Individual and Group Body
Topic III:   Activity and Passivity
Topic IV:   Organic Form and Unison Movement
Topic V:    Time Beat Patterns
Topic VI:   Sound and Movement
Topic VII   Position in Space
Topic VIII: Lines in Space


Video clips are embedded within the text and can be viewed while reading the lesson.  Although not linked  here, hyperlinks within the lessons take you to analysed quotes from Barbara Mettler on related principles of dance. Here is an example of the first page of a transcript of a lesson on Organic Form: 

Basic Concepts Series: Topic IV

Organic Dance Form

Related Material:  Materials of Dance as a Creative Art Activity  Chapter 6

OUTLINE

ORGANIC DANCE FORM

                One Movement at a Time
                Creative Pause
                One Movement at a Time with a Creative Pause Between Movements

ORGANIC DANCE FORM

One Movement at a Time

All right, here is something interesting that I think you must experience today, the sooner the better. You've been moving and moving and moving and moving and moving and moving and moving. Now, I want you to just make one movement—just one. And you are going to make it as if it would be the only movement you're ever going to make in your whole life. And you're going to put your whole self into it. And you are going to start with no movement and you are going to end with no movement.

Now, you might just as well start on the floor; there's no reason not to. Let's see you ready to make a movement out of no movement. Let's see you in some position in which you are not moving.

One Movement

And now make one movement...                                

And let it end in no movement.

All right, rest. I think we'll stand up.

Let's get ready to do it again. Put yourself into
        a condition of no movement.

And make a movement...

Make another...

Make another movement...

Creative Pause

Now, this is what we're interested in—the creative pause. You're going to make a movement, and then there will be a pause, perhaps a long one. What happens during that pause? You wait for the new movement to be born. And out of that pause comes the new movement. What is that new movement? Let the first movement guide you. In other words, if you make one movement—with your whole self—and wait a moment, you can tune in on a movement which feels right as a succession to the first one.

Click here for a video of excerpts from the 1978 Summer Course.  Enjoy!

For more information on Mettler Studios go to
www.barbaramettler.org