Holly Sweeney-Hillman and Patchwork.

About Holly Sweeney

Holly began her life long love affair with the art and science of movement as a teenager riding a horse named Ben over hill and dale in rural Pennsylvania. She left Ben and horse riding to pursue a career in dance, earning a BA in Dance and Graphic Arts from Mary Washington College in Virginia and became Dance Director at the Foxcroft School after she graduated.

While teaching dance at the Foxcroft School, she trained during school breaks at the Alexander Foundation of Philapelphia and graduated from their Alexander Technique teacher training program in 1991.

She moved to New York City in 1992 and pursued graduate study at New York University in Orthopedic Biomechanics and Ergonomics. While in graduate school, she served as advisor for the NYU ballroom dance team and taught dance and Alexander Technique at several studios in New York city as well the School of Continuing Education at NYU. During this time, she began serious study of traditional Yang family Tai Chi Chuan.

After graduating with a Master’s degree in Orthopedic Biomechanics and Ergonomics from New York University, Holly made the first of several trips to China to study Tai Chi Chuan with the Yang family in Shanxi Province. She began teaching Tai Chi Chuan in New York in 1998 and became an internationally recognized teacher of Yang Family Tai Chi Chuan in 2002. She tested for and earned Level 6, Golden Tiger Rank, in 2006 in Brazil. This is the highest tested rank awarded by the International Yang Family Tai Chi Chuan Association.

She founded the Physical Literacy® Project in 2000 with help from students Rose Lansbury and Ann Sloane. The project’s studio is located in Bedminster, New Jersey. Holly also teaches in New York city and Montclair, NJ.

Essays and articles by Holly Sweeney-Hillman have appeared in Exchange, the journal of Alexander Technique International and Tai Chi Chuan, the journal of the International Yang Style Tai Chi Chuan Association.