Play with Purpose: Lessac Kinesensics in Action

An apt description of this book appears on the back cover of the book. This descrition was written by Professor Marié-Heleen Coetzee (DTech) and we quote:

"Arthur Lessac's passing in 2011 has not only left the Lessac community grieving for a remarkable man, but has brought into sharp focus the need for a continuation of his vision. This book does exactly that. Beyond furthering his vision, this book brings together artist-scholars who extend his vision into multi-disciplinary domains. By weaving together diverging theoretical and contextual terrains, the book stands testimony to the richness and malleability of Lessac Kinesensics.

The book organically develops from a layered exposition of the work to applications of the work in the domains of performance and well-being. The central epistemological principle underpinning the book is in viewing the bodymindvoice as a mode of 'knowing' and 'being-in-the-world'; simultaneously being-thinking in and through the work in accordance with the parameters of a specific learning experience or research project. The book offers an array of practice-based methodologies to compliment this principle, contributing not only to scholarship on Lessac Kinsensics, but also to the broader domain of research methodologies in/for the arts. In weaving together theoretical terrains and autobiographical narratives, the book offers a reading experience that is simultaneously deeply (and, at times, movingly) immersive and critically reflexive. In terms of praxis, this book foregrounds the ways in which Lessac Kinesensics fosters self-use, self-teaching and self-care - offering ways in which we can better interrogate our inner worlds, extend our understanding of others and optimize our ways of engaging with the external world.

The book is a manifesto of hope: using Lessac Kinesensics to activiate and collectively vision an artistic and pedagogical future greated towards human flourishing."

Marth Munro (PhD) specializes in bodymind and voice in behaviour and performance. She is a Lessac Master Teacher(R). She received the LTRI Leadership Award in 2016. She was one of the editors of the Lessac Festschrift (2009). She was associate editor of several Voice and Speech Reviews (1999-2006). She has taught in South Africa, United States of America, andCroatia. She is also a Certified Laban/Bartenieff Movement Analyst(TM), Certified NLP Business, Executive and Life Coach, Qualified Sound Therapist, Qualified Hatha Yoga Teacher and a Bio-, Neurofeedback practitioner. She is a professor extraordinaire at the Drama Department, University of Pretoria. She teaches Performance voice, movement and acting. She facilitates workshops in business communication and emotional competence. She still finds time for various artistic endeavors and practice-based research publications.

Sean Turner (PhD) has degrees in Literacy, Special Education, and Theatre Arts. He is a Lessac-Certified Trainer(R) and has been Managing Director of Lessac Training and Research Institute (LTRI) since 2013. He was one of the editors of the Lessac Festschrift (2009). He has presented and published nationally and internationally around arts based research/education. His research interests include interdisciplinary approaches towards Kinesensics, Critical Discourse Analysis, Social Learning, Multimodality, New Literacies, Special Education and Arts Based Education. Sean currently collaborates on multiple arts based programs throughout the country and teaches at Hunter College, Mercy College, and Innovation Diploma High School. He is a current member of the LTRI Research Committee and served as the President of LTRI from 2012-2013.

Allan Munro holds a PhD in Theater from The Ohio State University (Columbus, Ohio). He was Chair of the Drama Department, Pretoria University before becoming the Research Professor in the Faculty of the Arts at the Tshwane University of Technology. Currently he is a Professor in the Department of Visual Arts and Design, Vaal University of Technology. His life-long task has been to 'demystify' research in the Arts. To this end he has published a book entitled Research Methods in the Arts: a Guiding Manual (2014). He served on the ministerial subcommittee in Higher Education interrogating systems of recognizing creative outputs as research outputs. He has supervised (and is still supervising) Masters and Doctoral work in Fine Arts, Music, Photography, Film, Theatre, Theatre Technology, Graphic Design and Fashion. He was one of the editors of the Lessac Festschrift (2009). He has directed numerous plays, and has written some 12 plays.