Chapter 22. Nakedness, hunger, hooks and hearts

In spite of many different theoretical approaches, there is today substantial agreement that body and psyche must be regarded as a coherent dynamic and organic system with innate cultural and social significance, some of which may be observed directly in the body and movement of the individual. This article is based on this often primarily theoretically grounded observation, and reveals, through narratives from movement pedagogic and dance therapeutic contexts, a need for regarding the multidimensional meanings of not just the body, but also of movement. The narratives in the article about embodied memories concern emotional nakedness, existential hunger, felt “hooks” and wounded hearts. The question is whether investigations of body and movement may create a counterweight to the pervasive focus on verbalization, and give occasion to examine problems and possibilities for solutions through concrete and direct access to the body’s basic expressivity, rooted in embodied experience.