THUNAIWhy do we Dance? Why does it Heal us?
For thousands of years communities have used dance for healing. We dance because dancing creates a stimulus to have a conversation with the Self. makes us want to have a dialogue with our bodies to make the movement in that moment. When we dance, we open up the possibility to connect with a deeper spiritual and emotional part of ourselves, that we may or may not acknowledge in our everyday lives.
When we dance in a group, there is a sort of synergy that is created. This collective energy accentuates us, pushing us to go beyond our physical and mental limitations. The idea of dancing in a group creates an effect of synergy within every participant of the group.
Dance as Therapy:
Dance Movement Therapy (DMT), is a type of therapy that uses movement to help individuals achieve emotional, cognitive, physical, and social integration. Beneficial for both physical and mental health, dance therapy can be used for stress reduction, disease prevention, and mood management.
In addition, DMT's physical component offers increased muscular strength, coordination, mobility, and decreased muscular tension. Dance/movement therapy can be used with all populations and with individuals, couples, families, or groups. In general, dance therapy promotes self-awareness, self-esteem, and a safe space for the expression of feelings.
In the Indian setting the dialect of dance and music is akin to our cultures. Classical, folk, street dances, theater; India has witnessed use of dance for expression and exploration.
How does it work?
Movement communicates just as much, if not more than our verbal communication and emotions are not only felt but also held in the body, therefore the integration of the body in therapy is imperative for optimal mental health functioning.
The characteristic approach of dance and movement therapy makes it a bottom up treatment method, which allows the body to become physically relaxed, to regulate and heal itself or set in motion the path to recovery. As a bottom-up approach, the techniques of dance/movement therapy not only focus on balancing the central nervous system but also aid in the development of emotional understanding, the cultivation of empathy, the repair of insecure attachment tendencies and an increase in self-knowledge, all while engaging cognitive, physical and emotional processes.
In a DMT session a therapist will use movement to help a client achieve emotional, cognitive, physical and social integration. They build a collaborative relationship where they experiment and play with movement.
The therapist encourages the client to create his/her own movement patterns and assesses the body language, the non-verbal behaviours and emotional expressions. Based on these observations, the therapist develops interventions to address the specific needs of the client.
The therapist responds to the movements, assesses body language, nonverbal behaviors and emotional expressions to develop interventions to address the specific needs of the client. Movement is the primary way dance therapists observe, evaluate, and implement therapeutic intervention.
What issues can Dance Movement Therapy help with?
Victims of physical and sexual abuse, men and women who have eating disorders, people who are struggling with serious illnesses such as asthma, cancer, AIDS, and heart disease.
Children and adults who express their problems somatically, for example, self-destructive behaviors, excessive involvement with real or feared bodily injuries, significant weight loss or weight gain, insomnia, promiscuity, poor hygiene, and others.
Children and adults with communication disorders, autistic disorder, learning disabilities, and other disorders first diagnosed in infancy, childhood, arid adolescence.
Children who are suffering from separation anxiety or have reactive attachment disorder.
People with Alzheimer's disease.
Healthy older adults also respond positively to awakening the body, activating muscles and joints, and reducing body tension. The dance/movement therapy session gives older adults the chance to reminisce and to preserve or reclaim their bodies.
What Dance Movement Therapy is NOT:
A dance class is a pedagogical interaction between teacher(s) and learners who come with the purpose of learning dance as a skill. In other words, there is a specific content that is set out to learn.
A dance therapy session involves participant(s)/ patient(s), are involved in movements that are not predetermined, and rather generates organically in the session. The actual movement patterns of the therapist and the patient is what constitutes a session.
The patient may dance to music, may follow the movements of the therapist or other group members, but it is the patient's specific movement repertoire that the dance therapist deals with. For example, a typical psychotic patient may only have movements that consist of a slight rocking in the upper torso. This is what the dance therapist must relate to and interact with through movement.
In a dance presentation, the dancer expresses a pre-choreographed routine, set to music or rhythm. This expression by the dancer at that moment may/may not relay the actual emotions of the dancer or the person in motion. The presentation of a dance recital is the presentation of the choreographer’s intent. It is not therapy.
In Dance and movement therapy, the movements are not predetermined. It is an unstructured form of expression. The goal of the therapist is to start from where the patient is and enable the patient to develop on their movement expression. Here the movement is the manifestation of emotion felt at that moment or of past emotions.