What is InterPlay?
InterPlay is an active, improvisational practice that integrates movement, voice, storytelling, and stillness to access what practitioners call “body wisdom”—the intelligence held in physical experience. Developed as a system of forms and practices designed to unlock the inherent wisdom in our own bodies and heal the splits we have between body, mind, heart and spirit, InterPlay offers structured yet playful ways to reconnect with embodied knowing. The practice operates through incremental “forms”—simple, repeatable structures for exploring physical expression without the pressure of performance or aesthetic judgment.
Unlike dance training or therapeutic modalities that require extensive background, InterPlay is accessible to people of all ages, abilities, and experience levels. Participants engage the five languages of their body: movement, voice, words, contact, and stillness. Classes, workshops, and “Untensive” retreats (a portmanteau of “un-intensive”) create environments where improvisation, affirmation, and play converge to restore what adherents believe gets suppressed through socialization and cultural conditioning.
Origins & Lineage
InterPlay was co-founded by Cynthia Winton-Henry, M.Div, and Phil Porter in 1989. Both modern dancers, they sought to explore the intersections of movement and spirit beyond the boundaries of religion. Winton-Henry holds degrees in dance from UCLA and studied dance and religion at the Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley, where she was ordained as a Protestant minister. The founders have degrees in dance, education, textile design, theology, and social sciences.
InterPlay originated in the San Francisco Bay Area, with the national office, InterPlayce, located in downtown Oakland. In 1989, the founders also created WING IT! Performance Ensemble, which has grown to be a company of over 20 improvisors who weave together movement, storytelling and singing, including live instrumental music.
Influences on InterPlay include modern dance, improvisational theater, somatics, feminist theology, and Eugene Gendlin’s Focusing—a body-oriented psychotherapy approach that emphasizes felt sense. In 2004, just under 200 hundred “InterPlayers” gathered in Nashville, Tennessee for the first International InterPlay Conference. The practice has since spread to over thirty U.S. states and countries including Australia, India, Thailand, England, Germany, Singapore, and Malawi.
How It’s Practiced
InterPlay classes generally begin with a warm-up and then move into a series of “forms,” which are simple structures for playing with movement, stories and voice, with a few basic forms and then variations of those. Forms are incremental—designed to ease participants into embodied awareness without overwhelming or requiring advanced skill. Common elements include spontaneous movement to music, paired storytelling while walking, vocal improvisation, group circle dances, and periods of stillness.
The practice is grounded in an ethic of play and embedded in a context of affirmation. Rather than correcting or critiquing, facilitators affirm what emerges. The motto sometimes associated with InterPlay is “Life Doesn’t Hafta Be So Hard,” reflecting its philosophy that ease, grace, and enjoyment are pathways to insight rather than obstacles to depth.
InterPlay can be practiced alone, in pairs, or in groups. It can take place in classes, workshops, or performances. Many participants report that the practice lowers self-consciousness and unlocks creativity, often leading to unexpected emotional release or clarity.
InterPlay Today
Body Wisdom Inc, a non-profit arts education organization directed by founders Cynthia Winton-Henry and Phil Porter, administers the InterPlay practice, with classes, performances, publications and leadership training supported worldwide through the center, InterPlayce, in Oakland, California. The organization offers a Life Practice Program for personal development and a Leader Training Program for those wishing to facilitate InterPlay professionally.
Untensives (usually three or four days long) are held frequently across the country and in other parts of the world, led by the most experienced InterPlay leaders, including InterPlay co-founders Cynthia Winton-Henry and Phil Porter. These retreats provide immersive introductions to the forms and philosophy.
InterPlay has found applications beyond personal growth: in healthcare settings (including Kaiser Permanente leadership programs), religious communities, classrooms, social justice organizing, and therapeutic contexts. InterPlay is intergenerational, multicultural and interfaith. The organization has developed community practices and a Racial Equity & Transformation Committee to address issues of inclusion and systemic oppression within its network.
Key texts include What the Body Wants and Chasing the Dance of Life by Winton-Henry and Porter, along with Winton-Henry’s Dance: The Sacred Art. The practice is also documented through the album Like Breathing and numerous online resources.
Common Misconceptions
InterPlay is not dance training in the conventional sense—there are no steps to memorize, no technique to master, and no emphasis on virtuosity or aesthetic achievement. It is also not a therapeutic modality, though many participants report therapeutic effects. Certified InterPlay leaders are not necessarily trained as therapists, and the practice does not diagnose or treat mental health conditions.
While InterPlay originated within progressive religious contexts and retains spiritual language (“body wisdom,” “grace,” “ensoulment”), it is not a religion or belief system. Participants need not hold any particular theological or metaphysical views. The practice is phenomenological—focused on direct experience rather than doctrine.
InterPlay is also distinct from structured embodiment practices like yoga, qigong, or authentic movement. It does not rely on fixed postures, energy maps, or lineage-specific techniques. The emphasis is on improvisation, play, and the authority of each person’s felt experience.
How to Begin
The most accessible entry point is an Untensive retreat or local InterPlay class. An Untensive is a great place to get an overview of InterPlay practices and ideas, welcoming both newcomers and experienced InterPlayers with an interesting mix of people with different levels of experience. The InterPlay website (interplay.org) lists events by region.
For those preferring self-study, What the Body Wants (also published as Move: What the Body Wants) offers a step-by-step introduction with exercises that can be practiced alone or with a partner. The book includes access to the Like Breathing album, which guides listeners through basic InterPlay forms.
Prospective leaders can pursue the Life Practice Program (a year-long training emphasizing personal practice) or the Leader Training Program (which prepares facilitators to teach). Both programs are offered regionally in the U.S. and internationally. InterPlay does not require prior dance or movement experience—only curiosity and a willingness to play.