Barbara Mahler is a choreographer, performer, movement educator, body worker; a master teacher of and

major contributor to Klein Technique, faculty and certified practitioner of Zero Balancing.

For more details about Barbaras work and Klein Technique please visit
http://barbaramahler.net/

Klein Techniquewith Barbara Mahler/Klein Mahler

Klein Technique is a living and growing body of work initially developed by Susan Klein in 1972.
Her mentors, and greatest influences were Steffi Nossen, Martha Graham, May ODonnell, Gertrude Shure,
Don Farnworth, Colette Barry, Barbara Mahler, Dr. Barbara Vedder, D.C., Irmgard Bartenieff, Dr. Fritz Smith,
M.D., Dr. J. R. Worsley, D. Ac. Many others taught her invaluable lessons; something to push against to spark
change.
Klein Technique was developed within the context of Susans personal search to heal serious and
devastating injury which occurred in 1971. She began dancing at the age of five. At the age of 19, about to join
a major modern dance company, she found herself to be considered useless, unimportant and replaceable. The
injury abruptly ended her professional career as a dancer. Her quest to recover expanded into a passion to
develop a new dance technique and that in turn developed into wanting to change the training of dancers to a
way of teaching dance for them to learn their own way, and respect themselves, and be respected by others.
Klein Technique is a body of work, of knowledge. It is a way for dancers to be treated, respected and to
be seen as individuals. The main thrust of the work is for dancers to find their own essence, identity and
integrity and take that into movement. In order to do that we work at the level of the bone, not the traditional
level of the muscles. Klein Technique is not a release technique in that our goal is not to release, but to move. In
order to move most efficiently it is necessary to release or let go of the muscles that hold us back from moving
,and fix the body and the mind into set and locked configurations. When the bones are aligned we become
connected, we become powerful and strong. The body becomes efficient and alive, and injuries often heal.
 Simply stated we work to align the bones by using the four deep muscle groups in the pevlis that are
responsible for the transfer of forces through the body the psoas, the hamstrings, the external rotators, and the
pelvic floor. We do not work to exercise these muscle but rather work to wake them up; and use them for
support and realignment of the bones. We work towards, and teach the body to be elastic, responsive, open to
choices, and expressive. Movement and the treatment of each individual students body, mind and spirit with
kindness, respect and generosity is our ultimate goal. And finally and most importantly, the body does not exist
alone but in connection to the ground, the space, and to others.
Classes (and workshops) focus on and provide the tools to support movement of all styles of dance as well
as other activities. The essential premise is that the postural and movement support of the body is the same in
all activities. The purpose of the stretch and placement class is to re-educate ones body with an interweaving
of theory and practice on a physical, intellectual, and organic level. The result is a clarity and sureness of
movement, and a new level of understanding the innate intelligence of the body. The work has many facets and
levels. It is a way to explore ones capacity to move, bringing insight into the workings of ones body. It
increases efficiency, facility, and can increase the longevity of ones dancing life. The work is non-stylized; its
embodiment creates possibilities greater technical facility, fluidity, and groundedness. It manifests itself in
the creative capacity by releasing the constrictions of the body and mind from the configurations of right and
wrong, helping to replace older patterns of movement and thinking with newer, more efficient ones. We engage
in process, and from this place of possibility and openness comes a wealth of options we often overlook in our
work, in our lives, in ourselves. It is here we find our own truth, realizing it in our lives and/or the artistic form
we choose. This work is not restricted to dancers but open to anyone who wants to achieve greater efficiency in
their movement and freedom within their body. Even though the main thrust is to right the pelvis on top of the
legs from the deep muscles of postural support that are closest to the bones, its relationship to the legs and the
upper body are constantly looked at, worked on, talked about, broken down,and explored. We break down
movement into its simple component parts- analyzing, refining, re-educating. We work with the psoas group for
deep support, the connection between the tail and pubic bone, the external rotators, and the hamstrings/sitz
bones to heels, to this end. We drop under the level of the superficial muscles, and build our center from the
inside out.
We can only change and grow with patience and guidance. Here, in the ongoing classes, space is created for
all to work, to learn, and to be. In workshops, it is the time and the group energy that moves us along quicker,-
dropping us all, participants and teachers, into an escalated learning experience.

Barbara Mahler is long-standing and active member of the New York City dance community as a
choreographer, performer, movement educator, body worker; a major contributor in the development and
outreach of Klein Technique a Master Teacher, and the Assistant Director of the Klein School of Dance from
1980-2001, and the Klein- Mahler School of Dance and Movement Studies 2001-2004- the motor of the
school, to quote Dianne Madden, current rehearsl director of the Trisha Brown Dance Company. Since 2004,
Barbara has been an ongoing faculty member with Movement Research, and The Staten Scenekunst Skole in
Copenhagen, Denmark , as well as teaching at various studios, colleges and festivals in the greater NY area,
across the US, and abroad. She is the recipient of a BAX Award in Arts and Arts Education 2013. These
awards were designed to honor individuals in the arts who have revealed and transformed our
creative world. By instigating and enduring change they have deepened the definition of their field
and paved the way for others. (http://vimeo.com/62716517

Her choreography draws upon the intricate and infinite possibilities of the textures of time, space and the (her)
body to create dances, which subtly reveal characters, emotions and stories. Her choreography is consistent
with her teaching vision and work. It explores the endless possibilities that the body can reveal - spare and
articulate, compositional, and evocative. Although mainly a solo artist, she also creates small and intimate
dances for two and three, for large and small spaces.
As well as choreographing and teaching, she maintains a private practice in hands on healing work, using the
techniques and principles of Zero Balancing, Connective Tissue Therapy, and others, working with injury
rehabilitation and prevention; movement re education and coordination. Barbara received her MFA in
choreography in 2007. She has been an ongoing faculty member with Movement Research NYC since 2004,
teaching group classes aimed towards the improvement of coordination, alignment and general physical well-
being. Barbaras viewpoint of the well-functioning person/body is grounded in her long standing work in the
dance and movement field. Her major and most consistent source of information has come from the study and
teaching (1979-present) of Klein Technique, as a certified teacher of and major contributor to; and (1983-
present) Zero Balancing, along with the perspectives and insights gained from re-educating her own body.
Contemporary dance technique, composition, improvisation, choreography and performance have all played
major roles in the focus and experience of her work. Her small and intimate dances/choreography have been
presented across the globe London, (Tangent, Circuit-Est) Montreal, Canada; Chile, (Danse Alliansen)-
Stockholm and Gothenburg, Sweden, ( Full Moon Festival) Finland, Denmark, and many venues in New York,
as well as across the US. Barbara has been a guest faculty member of the Danish National School of Theater
and Contemporary Dance since 1994. She was a guest artist/teacher at Hunter College NYC, 2000-11. She is
also an adjunct evaluator at SUNY Empire State College.