Influence

Shannon Carson: “She truly loved natural processes, the truths of the natural world. Her teaching took away chronic pain, yes, but beyond that, it developed my belief in the power of the body.

My body size is unusual in the work. I stood six feet tall before Amelia, and now I think I am a little taller! I’m from a family of rowers, swimmers, strong sports - I had no dance background, and huge amounts of shoulder tension. “Take up your full space” Amelia would say, but it took me a while!

The work seems to draw a certain kind of people. She took on all comers, but was very deliberate in what she offered and how she offered it. The work isn’t for everyone because the exercises are really tools, not ends in themselves. You have to be ready. You need to undertake it, work with it and stretch to get there.”

 Chihiro Beppu: “I trained in Mitzvah when really young so there was a deep conversation with my body when I was young. Around 23 years ago when I was 13 or 14, I was doing ballet, and wanted to be a better ballerina, but I had problems in my right hip and side due to scoliosis. In puberty I became unable to dance, so I did lots of Mitzvah. I became interested in listening to my body, talking to my body and then found this really enjoyable and noticed lots of things in my body – then Mitzvah became more fun to do than ballet! So I earned a physiotherapy certificate in Japan, and came to Canada to train with Amelia.”

Jennifer Mascall: “In 2003 she first taught in an intensive summer school that my company has every year. She returned five times between then and 2009. The first time, she gave a lecture then taught hundreds of exercises – as though she just wanted to invite you into the whole thing, all at once. It was overwhelming, like being read the entire encyclopedia and trying to somehow take it all in. Then in the following years, you got to see. She narrowed it down, she didn’t do so many, she did hands on, and so forth.”

Kana Nemoto: “Amelia was my teacher and my mentor. It’s really important for us to have those people we can respect and learn from. She taught me lots of things about the work in my body of course but also how you can integrate the deeper meaning of this work into life. Amelia had a really big influence on myself and my family.”