Sonja Riket, a native Belgian, is a Registered Somatic Movement Therapist® through ISMETA (International Somatic Movement Education and Therapy Association), Guild Certified Feldenkrais®Practitioner and Teacher, Certified Teacher in Body-Mind Centering®, Somatic Educator, Aquatic Therapist, Infant Developmental Movement Therapist, Certified Massage Therapist through NCBTMB (National Certification Board for Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork), Dance Educator and Social Change Artist.
Besides completing professional training programs in the Feldenkrais® Method and Body-Mind Centering® approach, Sonja engaged in extensive studies in Alexander Technique, Ideokinesis, Jahara Aquatic Therapy, Aikido, Qi-Gong, Zen meditation and Zen Archery, Jungian Psychology, Dreamwork.
She started dancing at age 4. Her consequent 30-year professional modern dance career and 25 years of study and practice in the somatic field, puts her in a unique position to understand and communicate the power of the body-mind-spirit in movement. In her private practice and group classes, she focuses on body awareness, injury prevention, movement retraining and creative expression.
Her purpose is to help people walk the path of awareness and compassion, and rediscover their capacity for healing and connection to their innate wisdom.
She has worked with infants and children with developmental delays, neuromuscular and psychophysical challenges both on land and in a warm water pool for the Bridge School, CA; United Cerebral Palsy of SF, Physical Therapy Center, MI. and Epiphany Center for women and children, SF.
Sonja teaches classes and workshops in university and community settings internationally and presents her work at professional conferences in the US and Europe.
As a Body-Mind Centering Teacher she taught in the Body-Mind Centering® training program in Brussels, Belgium and regularly assists Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen, founder of Body-Mind Centering®, in her workshops and seminars.
As faculty of the SF Community Music Center, she teaches a course “Embodiment and Expression” for performing artists.
In 2003, out of a desire to increase the accessibility of Somatic Education to the low-income and racially diverse community, she founded the San Francisco Somatic Wellness Program in SF’s Women’s Building.
In her modern dance career Sonja has been fortunate to collaborate with the Jose Limon Dance Cie. and the Lar Lubovitch Dance Cie. in NYC, USA; Peter Goss Cie. in Paris, France; Susanne Linke Cie. in Essen, Germany; Extemporary Dance Cie. in London, England; MUDRA, Maurice Bejart’s multi-disciplinary Higher Institute of the Performing Arts in Brussels, Belgium and many others spanning 3 continents.
Sonja has studied many forms of ethnic dance, such as Flamenco, Indian, Balkan and African dances. While learning Argentine Tango as a social dance in Buenos Aires, Europe and the USA, her heart has found a home in this sensual and subtle art form. In 1999, together with visual artist Todd T. Brown, she co-founded Intimate Embrace Tango, which envisions tango as a medium for Relationship to ourselves, each other and our world and has since inspired hundreds of novice tango dancers throughout the SF Bay Area to learn the subtle movements of the dance while getting in touch with their own creative expression.
To encourage the spontaneous inclusion of music and dance in our everyday life as a communal experience, Sonja created Tango Revolution, a free socialTango music and dance event open to the public, held in an accessible café. For further information, please visit:
www.IntimateEmbraceTango.com
www.tangorevolution.blogspot.com
For more information on group classes or to schedule an individual appointment, please call Sonja at 415.661.1852 |
