First find a teacher that is willing to only teach you technique. You may still need some reading skills to help you along. You can get plenty of instruction on line. But a good teacher will be a big help. Someone who can guide you away from problems before they become habits. Also most violins are the same in shape. Tone is where there's a big difference. And that WILL change. The bow is where it's at. It's the very thing that changes all. The right bow feels, reacts and plays right in your hand. I've tried ones in the thousands to the $30 cheapo I started with. The one that I have now is heavy. Most players would call it clunky. But in my hands it's magic. Don't be surprised you spend just as much or more on a bow than you did on your violin. Good horse hair and don't buy the cheap resin. Not worth the containers they come in.
Yeah, I've already pondered all of this. It might sound weird to you, but I've gotten to where I can stop and go back to the drawing board when something doesn't feel right - and that's in a holistic sense. The tone, the bow's reaction, and how it feels in my hand are part of this, but I'm also keen to things like my own movements, how much energy I put into my movements and where that energy goes, how that would affect the instrument, how certain environments would affect my performance (and how it would carry through the violin's melodic expression), and other things a violin teacher couldn't give me any lessons on simply because "they're not me." In order to play a violin effectviely, you do have to be in tune with yourself as well, and that leads into the next part of your comment.
As far as moving around wile playing goes, good luck. : ) You don't see very many people do this for a reason. Or if they are moving they're playing very simple parts at that time. The two points that hold the violin in place is your chin and shoulder. Not your left hand.
That last part...I already know this, too. The only thing the passive hand really does is hold the neck and perform fingerboard movements. As for "the reason many people don't move around while playing," the reasons are inevitably different in some way for each individual, but moving around while playing requires a
lot of physical stamina and mental focus...or, as I said, being "in tune" with oneself as well as with the instrument. This is different for everyone, and the reason people play so many different kinds of instruments.
The reason I've had an interest in classical strings is simply because they're what I've gravitated most naturally to. Trust me, I'm aware of the violin's and viola's difficulty, and also how my approach would be even more difficult than normal. Most people are stationary when they play a violin simply because most people don't have the stamina and focus required to play it effectively while moving (which also changes how one plays the violin overall). I'd certainly do well to start off by standing and playing, but when I said "I have
far too much natural energy and vigor to be still like most people," I wasn't joking at all. In fact, there are many times when I'm
brimming with that natural energy, and if I can't release it, it actually comes back to me in the form of physical and mental stress. The reason I'd have to move around while playing is mainly because that's how I'd regulate my own natural energy; if I'm just standing and playing, I'm going to feel that stress because I won't be able to release that energy, and that stress will go into my bow motions. Because of the sheer
intensity of that stress, it could mean ruin for the instrument since that's the only place I'd be able to release all of that energy.
Everything I've said is stuff I had to figure out on my own though lots and lots of introspection and retrospection, self-awareness, control, and discipline. No "teacher" could have ever told me any of this, and that's the reason a good teacher for me would be someone who would give me simple pointers with the expectation that I'll figure the rest out on my own. That being said...
Just go for it!
There is no better way for me or anyone else to learn than that. In fact, that's pretty much the only way, haha - it may be good that I understand myself as I do, but that doesn't mean anything without follow-up action. I'm also aware that the instrument that's best suited for me may not be a violin, but a custom-made instrument that "is like a violin, but isn't a violin."