|
|
|
| Current Issue |
|
|
| Resources |
|
|
|
The Healing Art of Dance Therapy
| Article
# : |
14249 |
|
|
Section : |
LIFE
|
| Issue
Date : |
7 / 1988 |
2,795 Words |
| Author
: |
Robin Parker
Robin Parker, Life editor of THE WORLD & I, was formerly a
health-care professional. |
Three men and a young black woman stand in a circle, pounding on their chests to the beat of soul music. The woman then begins to forcefully punch up into the air. The others follow. "That's right!" she says. "Let all your frustrations, your anger, your tension go dow-w-w-wn your arms and out through your hands. Now let's slow it down ... good!"
The young woman, Bonita Evans, a dance therapist intern at St. Elizabeth's Psychiatric Hospital in Washington, D.C., is working with patients. In the course of several sessions she helps them--primarily through movements--to recognize, vent, and gain control of their emotions; discover a more realistic self-perception; and learn socially acceptable behavior.
Dance therapy utilizes creative movement for the purpose of healing adults and children with psychiatric disorders, chronic pain, and autistic or learning disabilities. It has been used effectively in prisons, substance-abuse programs, and nursing homes.
Trudi Schoop, a pioneer in the field, postulated that when psychoanalysis results in an improved mental attitude, there is a corresponding improvement in physical actions. Therefore, she concluded, when dance therapy causes a change in body behavior, there should be a corresponding change in the brain.
In individuals with strong verbal defenses, movement is a safer and more reliable expression of feelings than words. "Thoughts, images, feelings, and memories that have been at a preverbal, unconscious level are crystallized into direct feeling and personal experience through dance," says Arlynne Stark, associate professor and director of the dance/movement therapy graduate program at Goucher College in Towson, Maryland. This process unfolds as the therapist facilitates one spontaneous expression and leads it into a more therapeutic movement.
Healing
For centuries, people have danced to express ecstasy, to conquer pain, to culminate sacraments and ceremonies, and to bind communities in fellowship. In the forties and fifties, a number of accomplished modern dancers combined their art with psychotherapy and rediscovered dance as a healing art. These pioneers found that elements in dance such as rhythm, synchrony, and creativity had curative possibilities.
The background music is an
...
Read Full Article
Look for this article in Ask.com
|
|
