Musings of a Dance/Movement Therapist

Rachel Morales Is Working on a New Collaborative Dance Project

Rachel Morales is hoping to document the making of a dance piece to be performed this April, 2010. She has begun working on this wonderful collaboration with the Drexel dance ensemble,12 abled-bodied dancers and 12 disabled dancers. I am so looking forward to getting to see this work, because Rachel is an extraordinarily beautiful dancer and choreographer who has done similar collaboration and choreography with children at the HMS school and a group of semi professional high school students.

Circle of Care, The Arts in Medicine supports Rachel's dance movement therapy work with children with cerebral palsy. Here you can see a brief WHYY original documentary showing Rachel's work with these children. 

Dance and Disability
Watch the Video
At the HMS School for Children with Cerebral Palsy, dance therapist Rachel Morales helps students use dance and movement to communicate. Children come alive and vibrant in dance class, working muscles, relieving stress and doing things that other children might do. Through dance performance, doctors find that they can better understand their patients both physically and emotionally, and see the whole person rather than just the disability.

Yesterday, Rachel wrote me to say, "Yesterday in group we had a lot of fun with the small octaband - exploring light and strong.  Your prop is Fantastic!"

Abstract Thoughts? The Body Takes Them Literally

Natalie Angier wrote this article on embodied cognition in Feb. 1, 2010 New York Times.

"The new study, published in January in the journal Psychological Science, is part of the immensely popular field called embodied cognition, the idea that the brain is not the only part of us with a mind of its own.

“How we process information is related not just to our brains but to our entire body,” said Nils B. Jostmann of the University of Amsterdam. “We use every system available to us to come to a conclusion and make sense of what’s going on.”

Research in embodied cognition has revealed that the body takes language to heart and can be awfully literal-minded."

"gesturing has been shown to help children master math"

"Yesterday is regrettable, tomorrow still hypothetical. But you can always listen to your body, and seize today with both hands."

I, for one, am glad that people are beginning to discover what dancers and dance movement therapists have always known.

Kids at Mary Cariola Children's Center Love the Octaband.

Kimberley Smith Daly wrote me to say that she has just begun using the Octaband with kids at Mary Cariola Children's Center and they love it. She has already been using it with physically and developmentally disabled adults who also love using the Octaband. You can see her previous testimonial here.

The images in this YouTube video are from photographs that dance movement therapist Priscilla Harmel took of elders at Hebrew Rehabilitation Center in Roslindale and excerpts from a video of a celebration of Dance Therapy week in Massachusetts in May 2006. Thanks to Sherry Moore for putting this video clip together. Most of the adults in the video were students or graduates of Lesley University's dance movement therapy specialization. Sherry was Production Manager of the film Twisted.

Awakening to Our Inner Dance

I am just rereading a former students' paper with this wonderful quotation from Diane Mariechild in her book, The Inner Dance, 1987, p. 72,

"awakening to our own inner dance and to the dance of the universe demands our courage, our willingness to dig beneath layers of pain and find the hidden treasures . . . the ability to feel."

Touch Trust Provides Creative Movement Opportunities for Those Often Denied Access to the Arts

Touch Trust was born 10 years ago in Wales, UK when Dilys Price began campaigning for her ‘Happiness Centre’ for people with special needs.

In the early days of Touch Trust, things were run literally from Dilys’ kitchen table and sessions were held in rooms and spaces all over Cardiff. It was often difficult but from these early beginnings, the Touch Trust programme grew in reputation amongst the disabled community in Cardiff. In 2004 Touch Trust moved to its own purpose-built suite in the Wales Millennium Centre (WMC) through the support of the National Assembly of Wales, the WMC Trust and the Arts Council of Wales.

In those early days at WMC, it was envisaged that we would run 5 sessions per week for people with complex needs. It soon became clear that demand for the Touch Trust programme was far greater than that and very soon we were running 5 sessions per day! People with Autism and behaviour that challenges greatly benefit from our programme and we are providing more and more sessions for these groups. We have also had remarkable results working with very young children and babies and, more recently, people with dementia.

The Art of Movement for Health and Happiness

Touch Trust is a pioneering charity offering unique and creative movement education, and dance programmes primarily for individuals affected by Autism Spectrum Disorders, those with complex needs and behaviour that challenges, but also to other groups in the community.

We encourage self-development and active, life-long learning within a social, creative and nurturing environment.

 
We promote inclusive communities through the provision of creative movement opportunities for those often denied access to the arts.

Celebrating the integration of the disabled and non-disabled communities in our inclusive, prestigious and state-of-the-art facilities will make Touch Trust a model for the 21st Century.

Arts in Healthcare Settings

Arts in Healthcare Seen Yielding Benefits

According to a new study by the Society for the Arts in Healthcare, Americans for the Arts, The Joint Commission and the University of Florida Center for the Arts in Healthcare documents that incorporating the arts into health-care settings has multiple benefits for patients and may reduce health-care expenses.  Up to half of health-care institutions in the U.S. incorporate arts programming into their care.  Benefits from arts programming include shorter hospital stays, less need for medication, and a boost for job satisfaction and employee retention. Philanthropy Journal, Oct 19, 2009

Octaband Testimonial with Adults with Developmental Disabilities

Kimberley Smith Daly is a dance movement therapist who works with adults with multiple physical limitations due to TBI, CP, and the like, as well as with full bodied movers with developmental disabilities.

Kimberley reports after using the Octaband for a week,

"They truly enjoy using the Octoband, and I had a MARVELOUS break through with one young man who typically refuses to participate in DMT at all.  He is in his 20s and is very concerned with appearances, and typically thinks DMT is 'stupid'.  He has a significant brain injury which has left him with a great many physical limitations, and he relies on a wheelchair.  He participated the whole time, intentionally utilizing his weaker arm, and really pushed his range of motion.  His affect improved dramatically, even laughing out loud at times, and he engaged with peers and staff alike. It was amazing." 

Using the Octaband with People with Substance Abuse Addictions

At the American Dance Therapy Association conference last week, Mindy Bocko reported on how she's been using the Octaband:

“I used the Octaband 2 ways with adults who have substance abuse addiction issues and one way was based on something that someone was demonstrating when I came to your booth at the expressive arts conference (IEATA) and that was to have them pick an arm and say the different substances they use each time they pick an arm but to pull on one especially hard and to say which one pulls on them the most. I enjoyed that.

But what I almost enjoyed more was a spontaneous way of using this that a client came up with. And that was all of us were standing around holding an arm and he said ‘Just pass it to the person next to you.’ But  thinking of directives, I said ‘as you pass it to the person next to you, please tell them what you’ve enjoyed about them in the group.’ Boy, that went around 6 times, with people hearing positive affirmations about themself in their presence and then we circled it back in the other direction.

I loved that spontaneity. The client thought it up and it was great.”

These images of the Octaband being used are not with people with substance abuse addictions, but rather an international peace education training. Still it can give you an idea of what the Octaband looks like in action.

 

Arts for People shows Susy Matheson using Octaband in Dance Movement Therapy

 The Art of Living Gallery hosted Rebecca Williams, executive director of Arts for People in Dallas Texas. In this brief video, Rebecca Williams explains the use of the arts therapies for special populations.  "working on issues from the inside out". One of the first images shows dance movement therapist Suzy Matheson using the Octaband with a group of children.

Everyone can dance. Not only the tall, beautiful people, but everyone.

Dancing with Down Syndrome

"Madrid dance troop Danza Down enchants audiences with classical ballet, traditional Spanish dance and musical theatre performances. What makes this dance troop special is that all of the dancers in the troop have Down Syndrome.

Under the nurturing and patient tutelage of Director Elias Lafuente, children and adults with Down Syndrome blossom, gain confidence and develop a love of music and dance.

This is a short from a longer documentary we are working on."

People have been using dance with children with Down Syndrome for quite some time. Pioneer dance movement therapist Norma Canner used dance as a means of self expression, communication and pleasure with children with Downs Syndrome beginning in the 1960's. Her book and a time to dance has been read by generations of dance movement therapists and is a wonderful introduction to the field of DMT. Find out more about dance/movement therapy at www.adta.org.

This short showing Elias Lafuente teaching dance to the children with such tenderness and love is not to be missed by those who believe, as he does, and I do, that "Everyone can dance. Not only the tall, beautiful people, but everyone."

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