Dancing Based on Natural Movement

Abstract

The following extracts are taken from an unpublished manuscript held in the Natural Movement (NM) archives at the National Resource Centre for Dance (NRCD) at the University of Surrey (NM/E/2/3).¹ This document is part of a larger collection of papers which appears to form the basis of talks and lectures given primarily by Madge Atkinson, the British artist/teacher who developed the dance form of Natural Movement (NM/E/2/3/1). Care must be taken in ascribing authorship, however, for none of the papers are signed or attributed. Some are handwritten, some are typed, some typed with annotation. The archives do hold a verified but undated copy of Atkinson’s own handwriting and this can be matched against some of the manuscripts, but any certainties are problematic for this comparison does not allow for changes in handwriting over a period of years. Furthermore, the papers are not dated. They were kept, perhaps for tidiness, in printed programmes dated 1928 but this is no sure indication of date/period of writing.