Overview

How much do you know about your body? How much does your body know about you? Internationally celebrated choreographer and director Sir Wayne McGregor is renowned for his trailblazing innovations in performance. His ongoing enquiries into movement and the body have radically defined dance in the modern era. Over the past three decades, he has discovered that our intelligence lies not only in our brains, but in our bodies too. In We Are Movement, McGregor argues that physical intelligence is instinctive, pre-verbal, and continually upgrades itself. Mastering it will allow us all to release the knots in our physical and emotional selves, leaving us free to experience new forms of creativity and connection. Drawing on his research with elite performers, athletes, cognitive neuroscientists, anthropologists and technologists, he shows how we can all become more physically fluent. Using simple steps, from practicing mindful walking to harnessing our bodies’ chemical reaction to stress, he teaches us how to become better communicators and more creative thinkers, so we can ultimately live fuller lives. Elegant, cutting-edge and practical, We Are Movement is a user-friendly guide to priming your physical intelligence that will revolutionise the way you live your life.

Full Product Details

9781526629548

Table of Contents

Reviews

This book invites us to be alive, alert, and aware; to be grounded in the body and its innate intelligence - a gift to our urban animal natures * Antony Gormley * Wayne McGregor's We Are Movement celebrates the profound and often overlooked concept of physical intelligence, arguing that our bodies hold a deep, intrinsic knowledge. In this book McGregor highlights how mastering body language, and intentionally holding the space around us, can unlock extraordinary new levels of creativity and self-understanding, fundamentally revolutionising the way we live and communicate. This is an insightful book for anyone seeking to experience life with greater fluency and presence. I strongly recommend it * Carlos Acosta *

This book invites us to be alive, alert, and aware; to be grounded in the body and its innate intelligence - a gift to our urban animal natures * Antony Gormley * Wayne McGregor's We Are Movement celebrates the profound and often overlooked concept of physical intelligence, arguing that our bodies hold a deep, intrinsic knowledge. In this book McGregor highlights how mastering body language, and intentionally holding the space around us, can unlock extraordinary new levels of creativity and self-understanding, fundamentally revolutionising the way we live and communicate. This is an insightful book for anyone seeking to experience life with greater fluency and presence. I strongly recommend it * Carlos Acosta * Movement is fundamental to living life well, with passion, strength and happiness. As Wayne explains in his superb new book, physical intelligence allows us to make meaning of our everyday * Darcey Bussell * In Wayne’s McGregor's new book We Are Movement he brings together with such skill the connection between brain and movement and the relationship between body and mind. The chapter entitled ‘We Are Balance’ which helps understand the science on how to fall particularly resonated with me because falling in old age is such a universal problem. This will empower me to tap into all of the movement skills I developed as a dancer, to live a longer, stronger life. I first saw Wayne’s choreography in the early 90’s with his extraordinary dance company Random, it blew my mind. I knew I was looking at the future of dance, and I was right. This book is a revelation, and a must read for developing our ability to move, unlocking our physical intelligence, and the confidence that follows * Arlene Phillips * Another tour de force from Wayne McGregor; this time it’s prose that moves. We Are Movement diagnoses and treats modern ennui by skilfully empowering us to reflect on what makes us human. It’s a masterful masterclass: every page turn prescient and practical. Wonderful! * Aleks Krotoski * Despite never having become a dancer professionally yet completing training in my early twenties, the self awareness I have of my body has helped and informed everything I do from work, to walking, to lifting to childbirth. Physical awareness is important to all of us to be healthy fully functioning humans whether we sit behind a desk all day or rotate from the ceilings on a rope! This is a revolutionary book which will improve the lives of all its readers… highly recommend * Paloma Faith * Wayne McGregor is not only a world-renowned choreographer, but a deep thinker about how the body shapes the mind with a unique ability to link his creative art with science and philosophy. His dazzling fluency across disciplines is on full display in his remarkable new book. We are Movement is not only an innovative meditation on the embodied, embedded mind, but a practical guide to thinking, and living, better. Best read while stretching * Anil Seth, author of Being You: A New Science of Consciousness * This a deeply humane book about how we move and touch the world and I loved it * Edmund de Waal * In We Are Movement Wayne McGregor distils a lifetime’s enquiry into the potential of our physical being into a readable overview, presenting many fascinating ideas along the way. The book is full of refreshing and valuable insights, and reads like an advanced user’s manual for the human body * Max Richter * Everything about us, including our intelligence, flows from and through our bodies. In this era of AI, Wayne McGregor offers a powerful reminder of the original general purpose technology: the human body itself. Our movement, he argues, matters. But this 'physical intelligence' isn't just about motion; it's a complex, cognitive system that underpins our creativity and connection. We Are Movement is a compelling manifesto that reveals why our most powerful software remains written in flesh and bone * Mustafa Suleyman, CEO of Microsoft AI *

This book invites us to be alive, alert, and aware; to be grounded in the body and its innate intelligence - a gift to our urban animal natures * Antony Gormley * Wayne McGregor's We Are Movement celebrates the profound and often overlooked concept of physical intelligence, arguing that our bodies hold a deep, intrinsic knowledge. In this book McGregor highlights how mastering body language, and intentionally holding the space around us, can unlock extraordinary new levels of creativity and self-understanding, fundamentally revolutionising the way we live and communicate. This is an insightful book for anyone seeking to experience life with greater fluency and presence. I strongly recommend it * Carlos Acosta * Movement is fundamental to living life well, with passion, strength and happiness. As Wayne explains in his superb new book, physical intelligence allows us to make meaning of our everyday * Darcey Bussell * In Wayne’s McGregor's new book We Are Movement he brings together with such skill the connection between brain and movement and the relationship between body and mind. The chapter entitled ‘We Are Balance’ which helps understand the science on how to fall particularly resonated with me because falling in old age is such a universal problem. This will empower me to tap into all of the movement skills I developed as a dancer, to live a longer, stronger life. I first saw Wayne’s choreography in the early 90’s with his extraordinary dance company Random, it blew my mind. I knew I was looking at the future of dance, and I was right. This book is a revelation, and a must read for developing our ability to move, unlocking our physical intelligence, and the confidence that follows * Arlene Phillips * Another tour de force from Wayne McGregor; this time it’s prose that moves. We Are Movement diagnoses and treats modern ennui by skilfully empowering us to reflect on what makes us human. It’s a masterful masterclass: every page turn prescient and practical. Wonderful! * Aleks Krotoski * Despite never having become a dancer professionally yet completing training in my early twenties, the self awareness I have of my body has helped and informed everything I do from work, to walking, to lifting to childbirth. Physical awareness is important to all of us to be healthy fully functioning humans whether we sit behind a desk all day or rotate from the ceilings on a rope! This is a revolutionary book which will improve the lives of all its readers… highly recommend * Paloma Faith * Wayne McGregor is not only a world-renowned choreographer, but a deep thinker about how the body shapes the mind with a unique ability to link his creative art with science and philosophy. His dazzling fluency across disciplines is on full display in his remarkable new book. We are Movement is not only an innovative meditation on the embodied, embedded mind, but a practical guide to thinking, and living, better. Best read while stretching * Anil Seth, author of Being You: A New Science of Consciousness * This a deeply humane book about how we move and touch the world and I loved it * Edmund de Waal * In We Are Movement Wayne McGregor distils a lifetime’s enquiry into the potential of our physical being into a readable overview, presenting many fascinating ideas along the way. The book is full of refreshing and valuable insights, and reads like an advanced user’s manual for the human body * Max Richter *

Author Information

Sir Wayne McGregor CBE is a multi-award-winning British choreographer, director and curator pursuing physical intelligence through body and technology. He is the Founder of Studio Wayne McGregor in London, encompassing creative collaborations in dance, choreography, film, music, visual art, technology and science; a company of dancers, Company Wayne McGregor; and learning and research programmes. McGregor is Resident Choreographer at The Royal Ballet and Director of Dance for La Biennale di Venezia. He is also the choreographer of ABBA Voyage, the revolutionary avatar concert. His work continues to be performed and exhibited internationally. Professor of Choreography at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance, McGregor’s research residencies include: Innovator in Residence at UC San Diego and Research Fellowships at King’s College, Cambridge and Oxford University's Schwarzman Centre of Humanities. McGregor has Honorary Doctorates from The Royal College of Art London, Plymouth University, University of Leeds, University of Chester, and UAL, and is an Honorary Fellow of the British Science Association.

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