What are the basic concepts and techniques of Dance Movement Therapy? When can it be beneficial?
After World War II, Marian Chace, the founder of DMT, was invited to work at St. Elizabeths Hospital in Washington, DC. She was asked to work with war veterans who were nonverbal, markedly withdrawn and closed off. Chace played music and interacted with patients through mirroring their movements, establishing eye contact, engaging in physical contact, and waltzing to rhythmic steps. Patients responded positively to the methods she employed. Thus, DMT was born.
DMT enhances an individual’s self awareness, creating a channel of communication between the mind and the body. When the mind is in distress - feeling stress, anxiety, or just a general disconnect - it is easier to express what one feels through the body, rather than finding the words to speak. The body has its own vocabulary. The therapist’s role is to help the client understand this and how it is connected to inner emotional and mental states.
A few concepts and related techniques associated with DMT are:
Creating Therapeutic Relationship: Simple steps like walking with the client, syncing with the client’s breath pace, or moving together in sync may enable healing and allow a therapeutic relationship to blossom (Meekums, 2002). Techniques like mirroring, sharing an expression, etc. allow this healing relationship to take place (Stamoulos et al., 2016). In DMT speak, this is called Rhythmic Synchrony and Kinesthetic Empathy.
Body-Mind Integration: Kinesthetic Awareness is a DMT concept that allows one to re-integrate awareness of movement and emotion. It helps in being more in tune with one’s thoughts, feelings, and actions (Norcross and Goldfried, 2005). This is particularly helpful for disassociation or numbness associated with depression or trauma.
Using Imagery and Creating Narratives: This is called using Movement Metaphors. DMT taps into dance’s ability to engage the creative and reflective processes of our mind (Karkou and Sanderson, 2006).
Using movement to understand and change Inner States: DMT can bring out hidden emotions such as repressed anger, rage, and sadness, as it provides a safe space for expression (Karkou and Sanderson, 2006 and Freud, 1917). This is called Focussing. Movement also allows one to work on these emotions - even small movements can change one’s emotions. The therapist will be able to work with your current emotional state and enable it to morph into a healthier state.
The Neuroscience:
When the brain sends signals of distress, the lower part of the brain is the first to kick in by releasing stress hormones to stabilize the body. Working the brain from the bottom-up by working through the body can produce an emotional change in the brain. Bottom-up regulation helps in recalibration of the autonomic nervous system.
The strategy here is to help an individual pick-up fragments from their inner experiences and work together with the therapist to identify the connection between what they discover and how it forms parallels with their lives, by building on their body vocabulary.
DMT can be particularly helpful when:
People have difficulty expressing themselves verbally. For example, children may not yet have the verbal abilities required to articulate their thoughts and emotions in words.
- The problem involves painful emotions and difficult experiences, such as in cases of trauma. DMT provides a way of addressing these without having them express themselves verbally.
DMT and dance interventions improve psychological functions of emotion regulation, body–mind integration, and physiological changes.
Mirroring has proven to foster empathy and enhance activity of the mirror neurons in the brain.
A review of studies found that DMT was effective in treating anxiety and helping improve well-being, mood, and body image. By enabling nonverbal expression, Movement Therapy enhances the body’s vocabulary, encouraging increased awareness of the body and its stored emotions.
It improves coordination and movement, and encourages the release of tension.
DMT is not about working towards a public performance of dance, physiotherapy or occupational therapy. It does not require any dance ability; those without formal dance training may even find it easier to participate in initially.