Danielle McCulloch holds a BA in Dance with distinction from the University of Calgary (joint Dance and Kinesiology departments), a certificate in Dynamic Embodiment™ – Somatic Movement Therapy Training from Dr. Martha Eddy, and is a Registered Somatic Movement Therapist with ISMETA (International Somatic Movement Education and Therapy Association). Danielle is also a certified CranioSacral Therapist, as well as a Pilates Method Alliance® Certified Pilates Teacher. She began teaching as a personal trainer including Pilates in 1999 and has a background in competitive figure skating, professional dance, and choreography. Danielle mentored for the DE-SMTT program and has been guest instructor for the University of Calgary Dance Program, youth programs for dance, the 2009/2010 Laban/Bartenieff Somatic Studies International program in Vancouver, as well as Pilates, Yoga Teacher trainings and teaching for The Movement Arc.
In about 1994 I began my life long movement practice. This may sound really strange as I have been very active my whole life. The difference is that I moved often from sheer will power, from the desire to win, to make it right, and from the desire to be 200% better than yesterday. Something happened when my teacher put her hands on my back and said, your lungs are here too. I felt like my mind exploded. For the first time, I got a glimpse of my tension; the inner life of my body. I began to understand that my mind was affected by my body and so my body by my mind. I was just at the beginning. It was incredible, frustrating, sorrowful, and inspiring all at the same time. I can honestly say that I feel better entirely within myself than I ever have, and I move far better than I ever have. I now move to find connections, to relate to gravity, to relate to others from a deep sense of self, and to find fluid motion. I am no longer interested in perfection, I am interested in practicing in the present moment whether that be happy, sad, glad, or mad. I am interested in moving from a sense of aliveness, and integrity. I have changed from vertical learning to lateral learning. There is no height to be gained for me, but there is a fullness in the practice of integrating the 70 some trillion cells of me, as an organism, in all the possible ways I can realize. It is from this place that I wake up with excitement to go to work everyday. Every client’s movement experience is different. There is no right or wrong method to discovering what you came to find. I am never bored because every session is unique.
