Musings of a Dance/Movement Therapist

Mettler-based Creative Dance

Last week I had the opportunity to attend the IACD (International Association for Creative Dance) Congress for the first time, and what a wonderful time it was. I had not studied with Barbara Mettler since 1976 except for 1 or 2 brief workshops. When I did study with Mettler, it was for 5 weeks one summer and 7 weeks the next. I knew that Mettler's words and aesthetic were a very strong influence on me, but was surprised to see how much. The workshops at the Congress were led by some very experienced Mettler inspired creative dance teachers and some less experienced. Regardless of who led the workshops, Mettler's commitment to the basics of creative dance was entirely present.

My introduction to the week long Congress was a free dance the first evening. With no verbal introduction to the concepts, we began to dance. I was amazed to find how easy and how beautiful it was right from the start. It was clear that we were speaking the same language and that we knew how to find common focal points and themes. The Congress mostly provided us with the opportunity to hone our small group and large group dances. Given the brief length of time we had to dance with one another and the fact that I have the opportunity to hone my solo dances with other improvisation teachers, I appreciated the focus on group dance. I do not believe that anyone teaches the sensitivity to the group that the Mettler based teachers teach.

If you are interested in the basics, I would highly recommend studying Mettler-based Creative Dance.

Creative Dance for Adults 1 week Summer Course

Taught by Griff Goehring and Mary Ann Brehm

Tucson

Creative

Dance

Center

Monday –

Friday July 27-31, 2009

9:30 am to 4:30 pm

Contact: (520) 323-6711 or  (802) 380-0068

mabdance@aol.com

Find out where you can learn Mettler-based dance.

Amanda Fogg Speaks of Her Experience with Mark Morris Dancers and Parkinson's Disease

Foundation for Community Dance - “We are all dancers": Dance and Parkinson's Disease.

David Alan Harris Dances with Child Soldiers

Foreign Policy In Focus | Dancing with Child Soldiers.

Dance/movement therapy in Sierra Leone.

Octaband™ - a product for stimulating movement and exercise in children and the elderly.

Octaband™ - a product for stimulating movement and exercise in children and the elderly.

A direct link to my Octaband website.

Expressive Therapist Alysa Mayer Uses the Arts to Help Ease Pain and Anxiety

Hospice workers use the arts to help ease pain and anxiety - EagleTribune.com, North Andover, MA.

Expressive therapist Alysa Mayer uses the arts to help ease pain and anxiety with elderly in hospice care at Sutton Hill, North Andover.

Dance Therapy Helps Child Soldiers Deal with Trauma

Foreign Policy In Focus | World Beat | Vol. 4, No. 24 | The Dancing Cure.

The Dancing Cure, David Alan Harris is interviewed for World Beat, by JOHN FEFFER | Tuesday, June 16, 2009, Vol. 4, No. 24.

Eliza Mallouk: "(Dance) is wonderful" in Boston Globe

Fellow dancer, Eliza Mallouk" in Joan Green's class "Dancing outside the Lines" was quoted in Monday, June 15's Boston Globe: "It's hard to come away from a dance class feeling anything except good - physically, emotionally, spiritually, mentally. It's wonderful."

Connor Kelly Uses the Octaband in New Zealand with Adults with Brain Injuries

Thanks to Connor, who wrote me last July (boy how time flies) to tell me how she was using the Octaband. This is a group she leads every other week at a residential facility for brain injured adults. Following is Connor's description:

"The facility has just added beds so my group is slowly getting bigger. (yesterday I had an all time high of 7) Sometimes I have 2 or 3.  Anyway since getting the Octaband it is the first prop I offer as we warm up.  Some of the clients use one hand as they have trouble using the other one.  A few are very mobile and can use both hands. We are seated mostly due to a few wheelchairs and we generally do some range of up and down, open and close, cross over to knee or shoulder.  We also use a flat object (you suggested a bean bag, I have this sort of clay inside like a balloon I flatten like a pancake. Originally these are locally designed as a kind of yo yo so I bought them as potential dmt props) Anyway we do play with keeping the object on or sometimes purposely bouncing it off! (that seems to be the game anyway) and yesterday one of the mobile young men used his toes along the arm of the Octaband which was quite hilarious. One of the patients is often asleep and I try and put it on her hand and often she stays asleep but sometimes is awake enough to participate.  It is a great way to start the group, to connect us all and is very accessible for the patients with the handles.  Actually one of the men on his way to a seat climbed over an arm then went under two which I thought later could be interesting for the mobile ones.

I used it once with my Hospice patients and what they seemed to enjoy was using (the legs) to bat a balloon around.  Later one of the woman gave feedback that she was impressed she could keep up with everyone else (she had been thinking she was not strong or did not have much energy) This was incredibly positive for her.

Somatic Revelations: What is a Dance Therapist?

Ty Tedmon-Jones' blog provides Ty's dance/movement therapy definition, including what it is and is not.

Somatic Revelations: What is a Dance Therapist?.

David Alan Harris Talks about Dance Therapy with Child Soldiers of Sierra Leone

All In The Mind - 6 June 2009 - Child soldiers: the Art and arts of healing (Part 2 of 2).

Click on the link below for a Podcast and Transcript of the most extraordinary interview of David Alan Harris being interviewed by Natasha Mitchell for All in the Mind on ABC Radio on June 6, 2009

Child soldiers: the Art and arts of healing (Part 2 of 2)

http://www.abc.net.au/rn/allinthemind/stories/2009/2588119.htm

 

This is a powerful and sensitive description of David using dance/movement therapy as part of the healing of these young "orphan boys of Koindu", Sierra Leone.