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"Wow Wow" monkey
helps children find
bananas in "Monkey
Moves."
0
Exercise videos
aim to help
children
improve motor-
development
skills.
ELIZABETH APPLEBAUM
ASSOCIATE EDITOR
f your child's idea of exercise is
lifting his finger to change the
channel on the TV remote, a lit-
tle monkey business might be in
order.
California educator Stephen
Rosenholtz is there to help you
get that little tiger going. Dr.
Rosenholtz recently wrote and di-
rected two videos, "Monkey
Moves" and "Move Like the Ani-
mals," based on the teachings of
the late Moshe Feldenkrais, who
believed increased awareness of
movement was linked to intel-
lectual and emotional develop-
ment.
The tapes feature songs per-
formed by children and adults
garbed in animal gear, who play-
filly teach viewers how to jump
like a frog, balance like a gorilla
and curl up like a cat. The
music offers a little something for
everyone, with jazz, rap,
country and even a Caribbean
Born in Russia in 1904, Dr.
tune.
Feldenkrais settled in Israel
Dr. Rosenholtz said he hopes when he was 13. Later, he stud-
the tapes, for children aged 3-8, ied physics at the Sorbonne in
will help improve motor-devel- Paris and became the first Euro-
opment skills, such as coordina- pean black belt in judo.
tion, as well as self-expression.
While in his 30s, Dr. Felden-
(In one song, for example, chil- krais began experiencing leg
dren are encour-
pain, the result of
aged to "move like
an old soccer in-
His
st
udents
a bear'' by walking
jury. Combining
on all fours and
his knowledge of
include
d
David
rolling on their
physics with his ex-
backs, developing
Ben-G urion.
pertise in judo, he
balance.)
learned to walk
A native Cali-
again. This experi-
fornian and member of Congre- ence became the basis for his pro-
gation Beth Shalom in San gram of using self-awareness to
Mateo, Dr. Rosenholtz is a former improve movement, which he
teacher who holds a master's de- taught for more than 40 years at
gree from Harvard and a Ph.D. his institute in Tel Aviv. His stu-
in education from Stanford. dents included David Ben-Guri-
While at Stanford, he was intro- on and violinist Yehudi Menuhin.
duced to the work of Moshe
Dr. Rosenholtz said he decid-
Feldenkrais.
ed to combine Dr. Feldenkrais'
teachings with how a bear rolls
and a frog jumps because the ac-
tions "go back to the things chil-
dren love so much. As toddlers
they spent a lot of time crawling,
just like the alligator (on "Move
Like the Animals") crawls."
Dr. Rosenholtz, whose "Mon-
key Moves" and "Move Like the
Animals" last about 25 minutes
each, also produced a four-vol-
ume series, utilizing the
Feldenkrais technique, for adults,
called "Basic Lessons in Aware- ,°-.)
ness Through Movement." ❑
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