Research Catalog

Interview with Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen

Title: Interview with Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen, 2019 / Conducted by Andrea Olsen on September 17 and 18, 2019; Producer: Dance Oral History Project.
Author: Cohen, Bonnie Bainbridge
Publication: 2019.

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Status	Format	Access	Call Number	Item Location
Available - Can be used on site. Please visit New York Public Library - Performing Arts Research Collections Dance to submit a request in person.	Spoken word recording	Supervised use	*MGZMT 3-3489	Performing Arts Research Collections Dance

Details

Additional Authors

Olsen, Andrea

Description

Online resource (2 streaming files: approximately 3 hr. and 20 min.) : digital +

Alternative Title

Dance Oral History Project.
Dance Audio Archive.

Subject

Genre/Form

Sound recordings.
Oral histories.
Interviews.

Note

Interview with Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen conducted by Andrea Olsen on September 17 and 18, 2019, for the Dance Oral History Project of the Jerome Robbins Dance Division, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, recorded on the occasion of the Somatics Festival 2019 at the Werner Josten Performing Arts Library at Smith College, in Northampton (Massachusetts).
For transcript see *MGZMT 3-3489
As of March 2023, the audio recording of this interview can be made available at the Library for the Performing Arts by advanced request to the Jerome Robbins Dance Division, dance@nypl.org. The audio files for this interview are undergoing processing and eventually will be available for streaming.
Sound quality is excellent.
Title supplied by cataloger.

Access (note)

Transcripts may not be photographed or reproduced without permission.

Funding (note)

The creation and cataloging of this recording was made possible in part by the National Endowment for the Arts, 2020.

Call Number

*MGZMT 3-3489

OCLC

1292631630

Author

Cohen, Bonnie Bainbridge, interviewee.

Title

Interview with Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen, 2019 / Conducted by Andrea Olsen on September 17 and 18, 2019; Producer: Dance Oral History Project.

Imprint

2019.

Playing Time

032000

Type of Content

spoken word

text

Type of Medium

unmediated

audio

Type of Carrier

online resource

volume

Digital File Characteristics

audio file

Restricted Access

Transcripts may not be photographed or reproduced without permission.

Event

Recorded for for the Dance Oral History Project of the Jerome Robbins Dance Division, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, on the occasion of the Somatics Festival 2019 at the Werner Josten Performing Arts Library at Smith College 2019, September 17 and 18 Northampton (Massachusetts).

Summary

Streaming file 1, September 17, 2019 (approximately one hour and 34 minutes). Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen speaks with Andrea Olsen about her birth in Miami, Florida (on December 31, 1941) and her childhood, in particular growing up amidst the Ringling Bros., Barnum & Bailey Circus, where her parents worked; her mother, including her background and her circus acts; Emmet Kelly [Sr.] and how (in effect) he taught her psychology; her poor health for a year after her birth, her bout with polio when she four and other childhood ailments; how these experiences have influenced her view of people who are suffering; her family's often straitened economic circumstances; how embryology has helped her weave together the multiplicity of both her own personality and that of other people; her high school, in Hialeah (Florida), in particular her teacher Paul Barringer and her senior year science project, dissecting a cat; her dance training and some of her teachers from childhood through high school including Dolores Jordan; continuing to dance while studying OT [occupational therapy] at Ohio State University; after graduating in 1963, working at the Ohio State University rehabilitation center while starting the dance major program under Helen Alkire; the circumstances of her move to New York City in 1965 to study with Erick Hawkins, whom she considers a major mentor; her study of Laban [movement] with Irmgard [Bartenieff], Vera Maletic, and Warren Lamb; how Hawkins inspired her to start thinking (in early 1966) about specific anatomy; Genevieve Stebbins [1857-1934] and the significance of her (Delsarte-inspired) system of Harmonic Gymnastics in the lineage of natural movement, including [the therapeutic movement therapy] of Berta Bobath [and her husband Karel Bobath]; more on Jordan and how she fits into this lineage; teaching at Erick Hawkins' studio and elsewhere, including Hunter College at the invitation of Dorothy Vislocky; her study of aikido (and aikitai), initially in New York; how this led to her meeting Len [Leonard Cohen]; marrying Len and going to Japan with him; finding work in Japan as an occupational therapist, including at the (newly-founded) Fuchu Rehabilitation Center; how she came to study Katsugen undo, with [Haruchika] Noguchi (the founder of Seitai) in Japan; describes a Katsugen undo session, as practiced in Japan; Noguchi including his off-the-body training method and his strong energy field (chi, or ki in Japanese); her continuing to practice katsugen undo since this time; her writing including her use of embodied rather than cortical language; reasons she found living in Japan (1970-1972) difficult; her successful return to teaching in New York; the transition of many of her students to teachers; the use in her classes of modeling clay; her and Len's time in (the town of) Shingu, in the Kumano area, after the birth of her son Joshi.

November 18, 2019 (approximately one hour and 46 minutes). Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen speaks about returning with her husband Len to New York in 1973 and her decision to work exclusively as a dancer working with dancers; moving in 1976 to Amherst, Massachusetts; her teaching including her creating a formal, two-year program; her and Len's decision in 1985 to expand her teaching activities; the first summer workshop, in 1986 including her surprise at the number (around 100) of attendees; subsequent workshops and programs she created, most of which she taught personally; her collapse in 1996 and hiatus from teaching for several years; her resumption of teaching in 2000; (briefly) Jim Spira, Martha Eddy and the founding of ISMETA [International Somatic Movement Education and Therapy Association]; creating a modular structure within the training programs to allow for greater flexibility; the relationship of the BMC [Body- Mind Centering] training and ISMETA training including with respect to the number of hours required to complete a program (for certification as a therapist); around 2000, her creating child-centered and yoga programs including reminiscences about studying yoga with Yogi Ramira (from Madras, now Chennai) in New York; her exploring of the organs as early as 1973 including with respect to their use in yoga; establishing a more permanent base (for teaching) in California, in which her children, Joshi, Basha, and Isa all eventually participated; her current eschewal of computer and cell phone use; prior to her collapse, her nascent (and unrealized) internet-based project ISREP (International Somatic Research and Education Project); how her experiences in the Netherlands and Japan contributed to her development of Body-Mind Centering; trademarking the name Body-Mind Centering including why this was necessary; the circumstances of how she came to meet Don [Hanlon] Johnson; in the early 1980s, working with him, Tom [Thomas] Hanna, Seymor Levine, and others at Esalen [the Esalen Institute]; mentions various fields explored including Levine's works in psychoneuroendocrinology; Candace Pert and her work with neuropeptides and opioid receptors; Cohen's realization concerning "the guardian of the perceptions" between the pineal and pituitary glands, and identification of this guardian as the mammillary bodies; Pert's hypothesis regarding the relationship of the AIDS virus and peptide T and her book Molecules in motion [Molecules of emotion: why you feel the way you feel, 1997]; an anecdote (around 1969) about the response to her advertisement for massage therapy that led her to decide to create a field for women where they could use touch, movement, compassion, and their strengths of nourishing; her decision to include men including her creation of a men's group in the 1987 summer workshop; her new program, Touch as a Transformative Practice; (briefly) Tom [Thomas] Hanna and his wife Eleanor [Criswell-Hanna]; communication on the cellular level; (American) society's focus on information as opposed to developing the pathways to learning; the baby project [Babies Project] including its documentation on film by Lisa Nelson; baby projects outside of the United States including Babyfit in Bratislava, Slovakia; her work with very young special-needs children in Bratislava; her current writing projects including four books in progress; recalling how she first met her collaborators Lisa Nelson and Nancy [Stark Smith]; (briefly) [Ziji] Beth Goren and her connection to Nelson and Stark Smith; her study of Chinese calligraphy and painting; how she made her farewell to her painting teacher.

Funding

The creation and cataloging of this recording was made possible in part by the National Endowment for the Arts, 2020.

Added Author

Olsen, Andrea, interviewer.

Research Call Number

*MGZMT 3-3489

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