Sally Morgan
(BFA, MES, Dip. EE, RSDE, CYT, CPT)
My name is Sally Morgan. I am a white, cis-gendered, heterosexual woman, and a mid-career artist, academic, and educator. I am a third-generation settler with a family background from Ireland, and England. I currently live and work here in Mi’kma’ki and have spent my adult life between K'jipuktuk/Halifax and Tkaronto/Toronto.
I am dance/somatic movement educator and certified Pilates and yoga Instructor with over 25 years of teaching experience. My practice and teaching are inspired and informed by my professional background in contemporary and post modern dance, contact dance, improvisation, and somatic practices. My teaching emphasizes the joy of movement and a ’work in progress’ approach to the body. I teach from my heart, with care, highlighting listening, grounding, safety, and ease. My offerings are trauma informed and aim to be accessible and inclusive. I am currently enrolled BMC/SME program through The School for Body-Mind Centering at Sonder Movement Project (USA), under the direction of Amy Matthews.
Movement has helped me heal several major injuries, assisting in better posture, awareness, strength, mobility, and stability. I have learned for myself, because of my own disabilities, injuries, and challenges, the incredible healing power(s) of somatic movement education and therapy.
I have been a part of the Canadian dance community in many capacities for 25 plus years and have both studied and taught internationally. I have trained extensively in multiple movement modalities in the community and through the Professional Training Program at The School of Toronto Dance Theatre, York University, EDAM, Movement Research, Chisenhale Dance Space, Earthdance, SUNY Purchase, Body Harmonics, Yoga Space, The School for Body-Mind Centering, and Sonder Movement Project, as well as with many influential mentors and teachers including (but not limited to): Diane Moore, Nancy Stark Smith, Simone Forti, Martin Keogh, Naomi Sparrow, Lee Saunders, Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen, Mariko Tanabe, The BodyCartography Project (Olive Bieringa and Otto Ramstad), Denise Fujiwara, KJ Holmes, Evangeline France, Susanna Hood, Margot MacKinnon, and Patricia White.
I have taught since 1997 for extended periods in London and Toronto Ontario, and in Halifax, Nova Scotia. I co-coordinated (with Meryem Alaoui) the Somatic Movement Exploration Lab in Toronto (SME Lab) from 2014-2018, and my teaching and research have taken me into various settings (community based, private studios, public schools, post secondary). More recently I taught as contract faculty in the English and Theatre Department at Acadia University and at the Fountain School of Performing Arts at Dalhousie University.
I am also a mother (single parent, now partnered) and live with invisible disabilities. As someone involved in the arts/dance as work my whole life, I identify with and understand the difficulties working in an underfunded and undervalued sector. I understand how poverty, lack of community support, lack of arts funding, and systemic and problematic power structures create barriers that affect an artist’s career, livelihood, and overall health and wellness. I support anti-oppressive frameworks, inclusive education and practices, knowledge sharing, community-led change, and horizontal learning and development. I am continuously learning and listening.
RSME/T at The School For Body-Mind Centering® at Sonder Movement Project (USA), Class of 2025 (In progress)
RSDE Registered Somatic Dance Educator (ISMETA)
Certificate in Traumatic Stress Studies, Trauma Research Foundation(in progress 2023/24)
Trauma Informed Practices for Somatic Movement Professionals, ISMETA (2023)
Integrative Somatic Trauma Therapy Certificate, Embody Lab (2022)
Reverence and Repair, WildBody Somatics (2022)
PhD Dance Studies, York University (2013-present in progress/withdrawn year 4). Primary research: Slow Dance as an Act of Resistance: Towards an Ecosomatic Performative Pedagogy
Master of Environmental Studies (MES). Thesis “Dancing the Landscape: Embodying and Performing Place”, York University (2013)
Graduate Diploma in Sustainable/Environmental Education, York University (2013)
BFA (Hons) Dance, York University (2008)
Restorative Yoga Certification with Cyndi Lee (2019)
Introduction to Restorative Yoga Advanced Certificate (2016)
Embodied Performance Training with Bodycartography Project (2015)
Private Study in BMC with Naomi Sparrow and Lee Saunders (2011-12)
Body Harmonics Pre/Post Natal Pilates Training/Certification (2008)
Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (2007)
Body Harmonics Pilates Mat Training/Certification (2006)
Healing Through Yoga Advanced Certificate (2005)
Yoga Space Teacher Training Certification 200 hours (2004/05)
Stott Pilates Mat and Reformer Training (1999-00)
The School of Toronto Dance Theatre PTP (1995-98)
Professional Affiliations and Memberships: ISMETA, BMCA, CADA, CDA, DANS, VANS, CFAT
As a Registered Professional Member of the International Somatic Movement Education and Therapy Association, I meet the Standards of Practice and uphold the Code of Ethics. For information visit www.ISMETA.org
photo credit: Linnet Finley
Selected Education and Certifications: