Musings of a Dance/Movement Therapist

Jungian Psychologist James Hillman Presents an Inspiring Look at Aging

As I prepare an application to present on dance therapy with elders for the New Jersey Creative Arts Therapy Conference in March 2012, I am reviewing my resources about elderhood. James Hillman's The Force of Character has long struck a vibrant chord in me, and I would like to sing its praises. Unlike our society's infatuation with the superficial, Hillman tackles the substantial. This excerpt below from an interview on the Paula Gordon show provides inspiration for those of us who would challenge the notion of beauty being skin-deep and assert our connection to character:

Today's materialist monoculture is making us sick, according to the world's leading Jungian psychologist. So Dr. James Hillman has stopped treating people. Instead, he treats ideas. Why? Because the ideas underpinning America's refusal to grow up and our addiction to the New are diseases endemic to the United States, he believes.

Dr. Hillman is equally unsparing of today's reigning myth that we can engineer our way into a golden future. We are in a delusional state, he believes, mistakenly content to believe we are separate from and superior to nature. Our current foundational ideas put us at great risk, according to Dr. Hillman, who warns us against what the Greeks called hubris -- a terrible kind of pride which comes before a catastrophic fall.

But Hillman is more than a critic, he is a doctor. First he diagnoses the sick ideas. Then he offers us ways to reduce the pains inflicted by our monoculture, premised as it is on materialist economics, religious fundamentalism and mechanistic science. Challenge the system. Start with your own character. . . . Face life's challenges -- its fears and its beauty -- squarely. Learn from what life puts in your path. Grow up. And grow old. It takes time for character to come into its fullness, Dr. Hillman insists.

Oldness is something we accumulate. Along with sagging skin and cataracts comes also the quality that goes with soul and beauty . . . . Start looking for that quality in people, starting with yourself. Aspire to be an Ancestor instead of fantasizing about eternal youth, Dr. Hillman urges. . . . . Ancestors sit at the edge of the tribe and protect us from evil spirits: injustice, sham, hypocrisy, exploitation, destruction of the planet. Ancestors come in many forms, including individuals and ideas that help the tribe continue for seven generations.

Nail the evil spirits of our age, Dr. Hillman charges us. It is in humility (not hubris) and the force of character (not delusions about engineering the future) that we find lasting life.

I am reminded of the beauty of a gnarled old tree and the scars that develop around the limb long removed. What does this have to do with dance therapy? Dance therapy isn't about "pretty dances". It's about dancing and speaking what is real. The goal of dance therapy is not to get people to dance ~ it is to use the medium of dance and movement as source for healing. Looking back at my notes of one dance therapy session with elders, some of the themes that arose from our moving together expressively: a woman with lifelong physical and cognitive challenges cried on remembering an uncle who used to carry her to school. They were tears of sadness and joy. Another woman, a Holocaust survivor, found herself not wanting to talk about something bothering her. She acknowledged, "I didn't tell my children, tried to protect them. I found out that my daughter knew when I was worried, even though I tried to not let her know. I lost a son." Lest you think that experiencing the sadness and pain were depressing, at the end of group, she smiled and said "You're wonderful. You made me feel better." She acknowledged that she felt better because she was accepted for what she was feeling, and not pretending.

 

This photo is from another dance therapy group with elders.

Inspired

My daughter sent me a link to a Bill Moyers and David Grubin glimpse into Bill T. Jones' dance "Still/Here." The Moyers' blog offers, "At workshops around the country, people facing life-threatening illnesses are asked to remember the highs and lows of their lives, and even imagine their own deaths. They then transform their feelings into expressive movement, which Jones incorporates into dance."

Having people embody the issues of their lives, expressing them verbally and/or through movement is the work that dance movement therapists do every day. You don't have to wait for Bill T. Jones, fabulous though he is, to offer you such an opportunity.

Just back from the ADTA's 46th annual conference in Minneapolis, that was what every workshop that I went to was about, whether for children on the autism spectrum or adults recovering from trauma. Dance movement therapists are trained to create relationships with people such that they become more in touch with their inner and outer worlds, integrating body, heart, mind and spirit.

There were several attendees, colleagues and friends, who like me find the ADTA Saturday night dance at the conference banquet their favorite time of the year. After spending 1 to 5 days at the conference,  coming together with old friends or new ones from around the globe, individuals courageous enough to intend to somatically inhabit their lives, on Saturday evening, we dance, not only in partners, but with everyone on the dance floor. To see several hundred people dancing with abandon, not because they are drunk with alcohol or on drugs, but because they are intoxicated by life and relationships, this is a truly awesome experience and sight. Dance therapist Paul Sevett and I sat together briefly appreciating not just the rocking out, but the relatedness. We watched as dancers from other cultures danced from one cultural dance form to another.

We all appreciated the 53 years that Judith Bunney has contributed to the DMT profession. More on that another time when I have more time (much time is needed to speak of her achievements). Below is a photo of a panel of 5 DMTs who have been very influential in the field (Left to right: Cynthia Berrol, Ann Lohn, Linni Diehl, Kathleen Mason and Diane Fletcher). Thanks to Linni for creating this panel annually. The photo of Mimi Berger was of her giving the Annual Marian Chace lecture, totally brilliant, a retrospective on her contributions to the field.

I am grateful to these courageous pioneers.

American Dance Therapy Association 46th Annual Conference Oct. 20-23

I am psyched. Tomorrow I leave for the Board meeting at the American Dance Therapy Association in Minneapolis, MN. This year's conference is a collaborative event with the National Dance Education Organization and the International Guild for Musicians in Dance. I look forward to seeing friends and colleagues, many of whom I only see once a year at the ADTA conference. We will have 2 days of Board meetings, and then 3.5 days of workshops. I'll be exhibiting and selling Octabands and presenting a poster about Relationship-Centered Nonverbal Communication Training for Caregivers of People with Dementia: An Embodied Approach with friend and colleague Dr. Meg Chang.

Over the years, I have discovered the importance of remaining nourished and supported by colleagues in to remain inspired. Sharing ideas and experiences with like-minded, -souled, and -hearted colleagues will hopefully fuel my work for the year ahead. In addition to the wonderful workshops and generative conversations, I look forward to wonderful dance performances, and my favorite, dancing on the dance floor on Saturday evening with hundreds of people who love to dance! Stay tuned. If you're interested in dance therapy, getting to a national dance therapy conference is a MUST.

Blame the Mirror Neurons

Wonderful article by Debra Cash about the affect of choreographer Trisha Brown's drawings on observers. " as an observer, [the drawings] made her want to move, to try to recreate the making of the drawings in her own body.... Dance is an embodied practice that carries sensations between people. Dance communicates viscerally. If you must, blame the mirror neurons."

The things I do when I'm supposed to be working on creating a poster presentation for next week's ADTA conference in Minneapolis!

Dance for People with Diverse Abilities

Just found this lovely site, Indepen-Dance an inclusive dance company in Scotland. They have a full company DVD which will likely provide ideas for people creating dance opportunities for integrating people with special needs and diverse abilities.

 

Dr. Richard Coaten will be leading a training session on working with the elderly and people with dementia. I'm sure the Octaband will provide a delightful visual, tactile and kinesthetic addition to the workshop.

Octaband Helps Child with Autism Connect with Peers

Music therapist Mary Lynn Bennett had this to say about using the Octaband at the Madonna School with students with special needs in Omaha, Nebraska.

"I use the Octaband to help a student with Autism connect to his peers. He loves it and so do they. My student rarely acknowledges his peers but if one of them drops his/ her leg of the Octaband this student will pick it up and hand it to that person so they can play again."

That may not seem to be a big deal if you are not familiar with this population. However, as I have learned over the years, it is our appreciation of these small steps that allow the larger progress to happen.

How About Saying Hello? Dance Therapy with People with Dementia

Friend and colleague Heather Hill has done it again! She's written another moving article about dancing with people with dementia.

Talking about her work many years ago, Hill wrote:

"Despite the awful environment, despite the dementia – entering a ward filled with people in various states of withdrawal and confusion was daunting– I found PEOPLE.  Together we created moments that were, creative, exciting, emotional, loud, joyous, touching and sometimes fabulously funny!  This was the beginning of a passion, which still burns brightly in me to this day."

and,

"it was clear that I and others working with and caring for people with dementia could indeed make a difference -  and that difference was to help the person remain a person. It also reinforced my own experience in the dance sessions where seemingly “lost” people could reappear in all their vitality."

Hill asks, "how can we help people with dementia experience themselves as persons in their everyday lives, not just in the heightened moments of an arts experience?" and goes on to say, " The present, especially for the person with dementia, can be a second by second thing and therefore this requires a heightened attention to who the person is right now in this moment." This is why dance movement therapy is such a powerful modality for people with dementia. And it is also why my work has begun to focus increasingly, not only on dancing with people with dementia, which I love, but also training caregivers how to communicate nonverbally with the people in their care, whether patients or loved ones.

To find out more about dance therapy with dementia, go to  and click on DMT with Dementia for the American Dance Therapy Association's information sheet on the subject.

And please, don't take my word for it, read Heather's article, and then go dance with a person with dementia. Make both of your lives better.