school of myth & movement arts

The School of Myth & Movement Arts. Established 2009.

Mythology is a universal poetic language that speaks about the hidden patterns guiding the unfolding of life. To learn to speak this language helps us develop a greater understanding of ourselves and of how we can participate in the grand architecture of life.

Movement as art (dance) is also a universal poetic language. Uniquely holistic among the arts it involves matter, time and space. It is the foundation of theater.

The combination of dance and mythology gives birth to festival. Festival is the time out of time, sacred temenos, where the abiding patterns of life are named, celebrated, propitiated and honored.

In our work, we discover and create new modes of healing, learning and community through exploratory festivity.

Our programs, being based in this ancient and strange combination of sources, generally defy modern categorization.

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Director Laura Melling grew up in New Jersey, and is of Irish, Quaker and Native American descent.  She was trained in yoga and sports psychology from a very early age and was a near-Olympic athlete in her teens.

For her undergraduate studies, Laura pursued a self-developed program combining Native American and European philosophy, Jungian psychology, Religion and Cultural Anthropology.  Given a full fellowship for her doctorate at the age of 20, Laura studied in the Anthropology of Human Development.  

She prepared dissertation research comparing Western and non-Western approaches to human development and socialization.  Within non-Western cultures she noted a more holistic picture of human nature supported by a pervasive focus on embodied and symbolic cognition in the process of socialization, resulting in more healthy adults. This led her to question the imbalanced nature of Western education and psychology.

Laura left her doctoral fellowship to seek out an appropriate form of holistic education for herself. This led her to the Isadora Duncan International Institute. Isadora was the creator of the first modern form of holistic education. Her ‘School of Life’ was studied by Rudolf Steiner and influenced the creation of Waldorf education. Her reanimation of the ancient Greek concept of the soul was a major inspiration to the modern arts movement, created a modern interest in mythology and paved the way for the work of Carl Jung.  

Laura is a fourth-generation lineage holder in direct connection to Isadora and a certified teacher of the Institute. In 2004, Laura began creating festivals celebrating nature through dance, music and drama for large groups of children in the Botanical Gardens of NYC. This became the basis on her unique approach to holistic education through place, festivity and the arts.  

Laura traveled extensively to gain a holistic, cross-cultural education.  At 18, she used her college scholarship to spend nine months in South Africa. There she worked in the Zulu community in KwaZulu-Natal during the rebuilding of civil society and the Reconciliation Commission after apartheid.  In 2004, Laura was invited to live and work with indigenous Andean people of Ecuador.  Considered by local elders to carry spiritual medicine, Laura collaborated in the creation of rituals, festivals and camps for healing and learning. She has returned to work and live in this community several times.  

Laura's touring with the Duncan Institute company took her to Europe where she spent several summers performing and immersing in ancient sites and art of Greece and Italy.  She then settled for several years in Connemara, Ireland, where she collaborated with local artists and poets and directed a dance troupe.

Laura returned to the US and established the School of Myth and Movement Arts. For 9 years the school offered weekly and seasonal events and programs for all ages.  Most popular among these was Fairy Tale Forest, which attracted children from all over the country to attend summer immersions.  It also attracted scholars of Sustainability education who came to the school to study its unique methods for teaching love of Nature through the arts and festivity.    

In 2017, Laura spent a year living in a tipi in the Rockies, without modern conveniences. During that time, she started offering one-on-one soul work, combining her many influences. She then moved to Tewa land/New Mexico and has spent the past 7 years living elementally, off-grid. During this period she became more deeply engaged in native American culture, opened an herbal medicine business, and learned to grow herbs and food.

Starting in 2020, she underwent a three-year training in the Bodydreaming method which combines Jungian psychology with neuroscience. In her current work with clients, she is exploring new approaches to healing developmental trauma and discovering cultural renewal in the depths of the soul.

FORMAL TRAINING: Laura carries a Masters in Anthropology of Human Development from New York University, a Bachelors in Cultural Psychology and Human Development from Rutgers Honors College, a post-graduate degree in Isadora Duncan Studies, and post-graduate training in Myth and Movement.  She was privately mentored for ten years by renowned philosopher Bruce Wilshire. Laura is a trained and experienced Waldorf teacher and selected Waldorf teacher-trainer.  She has more than 15 years of training in Jungian psychology, Bioenergetic psychotherapy, Body-soul Rhythm, Archetypal psychology and somatic trauma therapy.  Laura trained with RJ Stewart and Anastacia Nutt in the indigenous pagan traditions of Europe. She was previously part of a Lakota ceremonial community and now follows a ceremonial path under the tutelage of Mohawk/Mayan medicine woman Okhi Forest.

AWARDS/POSTS: Laura’s studies and creative work have received generous support from the National Arts Council of Ireland, New York University, Isadora Duncan International Institute, Rutgers University, the state of New Jersey, Boulder Arts Council, Boulder County Arts Alliance, Galway North Beach Poetry, and a generous anonymous patron. Laura has held teaching and artistic directing positions at National University of Ireland, Shining Mountain Waldorf School, Boulder Waldorf Kindergarten, NYC Botanical Garden, Galway Dance Centre, The Meadow Studio NY, Catholic Charities NYC, among others.  She has performed with the Isadora Duncan International Institute touring company in Europe and the US and directed her own company and solo work on stages in South America, Europe and the US.