Musings of a Dance/Movement Therapist

The Power of Dance to Inspire, Uplift and Heal

Older adults & people with dementia should have an opportunity to dance every day. So it says on this 2014 Poneer Network quilt.

Next Friday, September 5, I'll be leading a Memory Cafe for JF&CS in Waltham, MA on the power of dance and movement to inspire, uplift and heal. It should be loads of fun.

A couple who had been to a similar workshop I led for the Alzheimer's Association of Mass./NH for people with early stage Alzheimer's and partners in July told others they had loved it and that September 5 would be a treat. Download Memory Cafe, September 5, 2014.

The Café will be open from 10:00 a.m. to noon. The location is JF&CS Headquarters, 1430 Main Street, Waltham.  Guests can park in any of the spots surrounding our building. There is no charge. Donations gratefully accepted. Family member of all ages, including kids, are welcome.Those requiring personal care assistance must bring a care partner with them, as staff and volunteers are not able to provide this assistance.

Contact Beth Soltzberg at 781-693-5628 or bsoltzberg@jfcsboston.org.

Once again, I return to the question of what is dance. This time it's motivated by a familiar situation. A regular member of a dance/movement therapy group I run was distracted by someone looking in through the window as we moved expressively to music. I suggested that in the mainstream U.S. culture, it is unacceptable to dance unless one has had a few drinks. I have been told this so very many times in so many settings. I asked one woman if this was true in Cuba when she was growing up. She said no, that in Cuba everyone danced, young and old. I asked the woman from South Africa if it were true in South Africa. She said no, that in South Africa people danced without a reason. I asked an African American woman if it were true in the culture she group up in. She said that in her home, dancing was against their religion. They had to sneak to dance. Then this woman, ordinarily so quiet, told us that in prayer meetings, it could happen that people began to move spontaneously. This was not called dance, "but it was dance" she told me. "I know dance when I see it." When I shared with the group that that although I talk plenty, dance and expressive movement is my native and therefore most basic and necessary language, it seemed that the entire group settled a bit more deeply into our bodies.

South Shore Senior News, Helping Seniors Age Well and Enjoy Themselves While Doing It!, www.southshoresenior.com

The August 2014 issue is a magazine devoted to informative articles mostly about How Happiness Can Happen. On the last page, editor Greg Porell included the following:

Dance Programs Revitalize and Inspire

Dance for Connection is an innovative program based in Newton that offers exhilarating dance for older adults and people with dementia. The programs are directed by Donna Newman-Bluestein, a dance/movement therapist and founder of Dance for Connection. Newman-Bluestein has worked with older adults for 35 years. Her programs are designed to revitalize and inspire improved health through movement, enhancing the mind-body connection.

The programs provide an open structure that incorporates participants’ gestures, ideas and questions, resulting in each group being unique and participants feeling empowered. The programs also train dance professionals and caregivers to bring dance to older adults and communicate non-verbally with people afflicted with dementia. Donna is available to lead programs at assisted living residences, long-term care facilities, councils on aging, senior centers and housing for older adults.

I appreciate Porell's invitation to share information about my program which I offer in the South Shore, along with the Greater Boston Area. His edits of what I had written were minor, except for one word. I would never say that a person is afflicted with dementia. It is not mine to determine whether a person is troubled, burdened, or distressed by a disease. I simply note that they are diagnosed with the disease.

AgeSong in San Francisco and Oakland is offering 2 talks, Dementia Beyond Disease: Forgetting The Nonessential and The Depth of Eldership as part of their Speaker's Series. with Dr. Allen Power and Nader Shabahangi. Having just heard Dr. Power speak at the Pioneer Network conference and getting his book, I highly recommend getting to hear him. education@agesong.com

Improvisational Dance Events in Eastern Mass. Coming Up

This workshop should be wonderful. Two very seasoned Mettler-based teachers and a wonderful group of experienced and novice dancers in the fresh New England air. I'll be there.

Sound, Beat, and Movement:
A Dance Improvisation Weekend Workshop
Saturday and Sunday  August 30-31, 2014
(Labor Day Weekend)
9:00 am to 4:00 pm

Windhover Center for the Performing Arts
Rockport, Massachusetts

Mary Ann Brehm and Nancy Lob teaching

And,

SOUL CLAP HANDS AND SING
Joan Green and Friends
2 workshops for dancers and other seekers
followed by a performance

When: Sunday, September 21, 2014
Where: Dance Complex, Studio 2 (am), Studio 1 (pm)
Cost: fee for the day (both workshops and performance) $85​, $80 BDA members
am workshop: $45, $40 BDA​ members
pm workshop: $45, $40 BDA​ members
performance: $10

Info: contact Joan Green 617-492-8994 or joangreen@gmail.com
Registration: send a check payable to Joan Green to her @ 30 Alewife Brook Pkwy, Cambridge, MA 02140 to arrive by 9/18/14 to reserve your space.

morning (10 – 12:30):
Longtime colleagues and improvisers Bonita Weisman and Joan Green will co-lead a dance improvisation playground that will provide a safe space to take risks, explore edges, practice anything goes. We grow as artists and people when we come up against our limitations and break through them. We will experience surprising ourselves in solos, duets and ensembles.

bag lunch 12:30 – 1:15

afternoon (1:15 – 4:15):
Improvisational master musicians Syd Smart (percussion) and Glynis Lomon (cello, aquasonic, voice) will lead a workshop on using voice, percussion and found instruments to create sound for dance and for adding right vibrations into the universe.

late afternoon performance (4:30 – 5:15):
Bonita, Joan, Syd and Glynis will explore what happens when the four of them combine forces.

bios of the presenters:

Bonita Weisman has been teaching, performing and choreographing in Hartford since 1983. Growing up in Manhattan enabled Bonita to study with such notables as Bonnie Bird, Mary Anthony, June Lewis, Louis Falco, James Truitt, Carol Fried and Simone Forti. In addition to dance technique, Bonita’s training includes studies in dance therapy, expressive therapy, Laban Movement work and folk and social dance styles. In the Hartford area, she has taught at Connecticut College, Trinity College, the Performing Arts Academy and the Hartford Conservatory. She is currently an adjunct professor at the Hartt School of the University of Hartford. Bonita’s main focus is improvisation and creative process. She has been facilitating a movement jam called, “Don’t Come Prepared” for 25 years. In recent years she has found herself playing freelance rubboard with several zydeco bands. When she is not dancing or playing she is busy helping others on their path to wellness as the owner of West Hartford Massage Therapy.

Joan Green is a dancer, choreographer and visual artist who currently directs Back Pocket Dancers, an inter-generational dance company performing at schools and elder venues. She has taught an on-going workshop in dance improvisation since 1992 called Dancing Outside the Lines. Joan's priorities in teaching dance are deepening connection with self, expanding creative responses to stimuli, building skills in group dance and creating community. Joan has created choreography for children, for adult professional and non-professional dancers and has brought dance to many different communities. Her choreography has been commissioned by Dance Across the Ages, Dance in the Fells, Cambridge Rindge and Latin Dance Company, Fashionless Dances, First Night Boston and others. She was chosen to teach for Lifetime Arts Creative Aging Libraries Project at the Grove Hall Library, Dorchester in spring 2013 and returned to teach there in spring 2014. Joan enjoys challenging the stereotypical notion of what kinds of dance are appropriate for elders, and expanding the horizons of her students in both music and dance. Joan paints in her studio in Somerville and on the south coast of Jamaica, where spends part of each winter.

Syd Smart – Syd began studying percussion with his father and majored in Music Education at Central State University; in 1973, he received a Black Music Fellowship to teach and study at Bennington College in Vermont, where he completed his B. A. Degree. He was the founder of "Friends of Great Black Music", a Boston based organization established in the early 1970's. Syd is co-founder of Boston's annual John Coltrane Memorial Concert, now in its thirty-fifth year and the world's oldest living tribute to this master.
 In 1992, Syd was a resident performing Artist at the World Exposition, "Expo 92", in Seville, Spain. Syd's performance experience includes: Art of Black Dance and Music, Rod Rodgers Dance Co., Boston Art Ensemble, Sam Rivers, Bill Dixon and many more.

Glynis Lomon – Improvising cellist, vocalist and aquasonic player Glynis Lomon graduated from Bennington College in 1975 with a degree in Music/Black Music. At Bennington she studied with musician/composer Bill Dixon and continued to perform and record with his ensembles until his recent death. Glynis has also been privileged to play with Arthur Brooks, Jimmy Lyons, Cecil Taylor, Butch Morris, William Parker, Joe Morris, Greta Buck, Masashi Harada, Lowell Davidson, Raqib Hassan and many others. In the 90's she and multi reed player Dave Pek performed in the Boston area with their group Leap of Faith. Over the last decade she has been playing with pianist Eric Zinman and percussionist Syd Smart in New Language Collaborative. Their CD Unified Fields with Mario Rechtern on reeds is available on Ayler Records. Glynis began her collaboration with dancers at Bennington College where Judith Dunn, dancer, and Bill Dixon had brought their distinctive way of working together from NYC in 1970. That began a tradition of musicians and dancers exploring sound and movement together, dancers sometimes leading, musicians sometimes setting the structure, but always being intensely aware of each other, while still working from their own core. Glynis also began playing music with Syd Smart at Bennington in 1973 and for the last several years has been performing with Syd and dancers Joan Green and Bonita Weisman.

Sequencing a Musical Playlist for a Dance Group for People with Dementia

Come Dance with Me: Bringing Dance Programs to Older Adults & People with Dementia

Pioneer Network Conference

Kansas City, Missouri

August 6 2014

I am so looking forward to presenting at this conference. Can't stop singing, Kansas City here I come. After years of presenting on this topic, I continue to strive to break down what I do into smaller steps.

The most common question I get is "What music do you play?" That is a very difficult question for me to answer, as I create a new playlist for every group that I run. I attempt to tailor the music to the specific group, their likes, their cultural background, age, etc. I have well over 1,000 songs on my playlist for older adults. I have written in response to this question previously. But today, I created a new slide for my powerpoint:

Sequence Music on Playlist

• Social Awareness
• Names
• Warm-up
• Irresistible Rhythms
• Songs to Sing Along to
• Recuperation
• Group Focus
• Good-bye

I would love to hear back from you. Is this helpful? Do you have other things you take into consideration when you create your playlist?

Moving for Health & Healing July 22, 2 - 4

Next Tuesday, July 22, I will be leading Moving for Health and Healing, at the Lexington Senior Center, 1475 Mass. Avenue, Lexington MA for the Alzheimer's Association of Mass./NH for people with early stage Alzheimer's and their partners. Lots of fun and great music is planned. Contact Melody Bushmich for more info. mbushmich@alz.org .

Dance/Movement Therapy Integrates Body, Heart, Mind & Spirit

And yes, dance itself has the power inherent within it to heal, to be therapeutic. Yet we all know dance that has contributed to the dis-ease of those who dance. Perhaps it is the intention, or in some cases the specific culture from which it emanates that make it healing or not.

Dance/movement therapy can make use of any form of dance or expressive movement. What do I mean by dance? I consider dance to be any expressive movement which is perceived by either the mover or the viewer as dance. Watching children on a playground jumping, running, squealing, exploring with their bodies as they negotiate with their peers, I see an authentic dance. It is clear from the many book titles including the word dance that people use dance as a metaphor for withdrawing from or reaching toward life. Dance with Dementia: A daughters memoir about her father, The Last Dance: Facing Alzheimer's with Love & Laughter, and The Dementia Dance are examples. The last is described as

"Getting family members to help Managing the chaos of dementia is like being a partner in a dance of sorts-a dance that works only if you let dementia take the lead while you follow. Whether the dance is slow and graceful or fast and furious, you can learn to cope and even find enjoyment in life."

This is what I mean by dance, and yet I mean the actual aesthetics of dance itself as well. The more deeply I understand in my body, heart, mind and spirit what and how I can communicate through my body's movement, the more effective a dance/movement therapy practitioner I can be. That is why my lifelong learning takes me in diverse directions. Rudolf Laban said, "Movement is the outward expression of the living energy within."  Repeatedly I find Irmgard Bartenieff's concept of Inner connectivity and outer expressivity calls me to more deeply understand.

Recently, I had the honor of studying with Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen, pioneer of "Body-Mind Centering^®, (BMC) an integrated and embodied approach to movement, the body and consciousness".

BMC "is an experiential study based on the embodiment and application of anatomical, physiological, psychophysical  and developmental principles, utilizing movement, touch, voice and mind. Its uniqueness lies in the specificity with which each of the body systems can be personally embodied and integrated, the fundamental groundwork of developmental repatterning, and the utilization of a body-based language to describe movement and body-mind relationships."

I don't recommend going to BMC work for answers, but rather to experience opening to the wonder, awe and amazement of the body systems and wisdom of the body and questions. I have already experienced significantly greater ease when I took one concept that I learned in her workshop into receiving a massage. The concept was to look without either withholding or reaching. I understood that to be something that I strive for when practicing Mindfulness Based Meditation. Yet my mind seems endlessly curious, sniffing about. Gently repeating to "neither withhold or reach" to myself while receiving the massage made a tremendous difference in the relaxation I was able to experience.

Of course, I can't live my life neither withholding nor reaching; that would be an entirely passive existence that would not honor the gifts that I bring as an individual. I learned through the practice of Authentic Movement with Janet Adler to perceive when I must act. In a day of workshops at Lesley University for expressive therapies faculty and supervisors last month, I had the delightful experience of learning from storyteller Alan O'Hare. He offered an image of our experience together being like a river, and that each of us would toss a pebble in as we were so moved. He was joined my musician and expressive therapist Mark Lipman.

Both Alan O'Hare and Mark Lipman have worked with people with dementia. I look forward to pooling our gifts to make an ever greater positive impact on their lives.

Recent conversations with Ethelle Lord of the recently formed International Caregivers Association (ICA) may result in collaborating by my leading a webinar on embodied relationships in dementia care. Right now I'm contemplating how to best teach such a topic with people in their own separate spaces on computers. I usually teach by having people practice actually relating to one another as a way of learning.

U.S. Network for Dance and Dementia

I have just sent out this email to what is still a small networkof dance and dementia practitioners in the U.S. Please contact me if you would like to be part of this network.

Dear Dance and Dementia Practitioner,

This is the first email of a network which I envision as a resource for keeping each other up-to-date on the latest happenings, resources, articles, links and events related to dance and dementia within the U.S. that any of us find most useful. It is my hope that we will use this network to inspire one another, thus improving the quality of life for people living with a dementia. The network is quite small at present.

I would like to better understand the state of the art of dancing with people with dementia in the U.S., whether done by dance/movement therapists, dance educators, or dancers. I would like to know how many strong we are and what we are actually doing. Again, my hope is that as we begin to share our resources, that we can also share our dreams for better advocacy and our dreams for greater support, i.e. through workshops, training, conferences and research opportunities.

Since I began to work with older adults with neurological impairments in the early 1980's, I have come to believe that ALL older adults and especially those with dementia in care facilities, are best served by being offered the opportunity to dance and/or move expressively on a regular basis, preferably daily. I also believe that best practice for people with advanced dementia who can no longer use verbal language would involve at least 1 person on care staff who comes from an embodied perspective.

My model for this network comes from Dr. Richard Coaten who has both a UK and international networks. Here is his contact info: Dr Richard Coaten <richardcoaten@hotmail.co.uk> .

What I need to know from you at this moment is:

1. Do you want your email addresses public to one another?
2. If not, do you know of another way, other than email, that we can create an interest group? LinkedIn would be one potential way.
3. Are you willing to send and receive emails directly from one another?

What do you need and want relative to your interest in dancing with people with dementia? What are you willing to share?

Thanks to all. May you have a most joyous July 4th celebration.

Best wishes,
Donna

Donna Newman-Bluestein, MEd, BC-DMT, CMA, LMHC
Dance/Movement Therapist
Octaband LLC
www.octaband.com
Dance for Connection
www.dancetherapymusings.com
Senior Lecturer, Lesley University

More Wonderful Sources of Inspiration for Working with People with Dementia

Resources for arts and dementia abound. If only the research kept pace. Below are some resources I have recently discovered.

I just found this article in Harvard Magazine's Sept./Oct. 2013 issue of New England's Regional Magazine, Coping with Alzheimer’s from the perspective of a daughter of a brilliant woman affected by Alzheimer's, with quotations from Paul Raia of Habilitation Therapy and Dr. Muriel Gillick. Dr. Raia offers,

“One thing we know is that if those with Alzheimer’s spend significant time doing nothing,” Raia explains, “they will have more challenging symptoms and the illness will most likely progress more quickly."

Dr. Gillick was the geriatrician responsible for my father's care many years ago; a wise woman with a common sense approach to caring for frail elderly and people with dementia. She has a blog where she asks:

Riddle: What test is easy, fast, reproducible, cheap, can be done in any physician’s office and is a good predictor of mortality?

 

Answer: Gait speed. 

... Detecting low gait speed should alert the clinician to think about possible causes: undiagnosed Parkinson’s disease, unrecognized heart failure, or other potentially treatable conditions. And monitoring gait speed may prove to be a good way to objectively assess the response to treatment.

But here's what's so surprising. Nobody measures gait speed."

Love, Loss & Laughter - Living with Dementia is a lovely video trying to change the way we think about people with dementia The video shows people with dementia living life, doing the things they can do."No one should live in shame because they have a medical diagnosis of dementia. It is unacceptable."

Cathy Greenblatt is helping to create "a society which acknowledges dementia as a condition, something that people live with, not something that should isolate them from every day activities that they have a right to enjoy." I believe that Cathy has photographed my friend and colleague dance/movement therapist Heather Hill dancing with people with dementia recently. Cathy says that she takes photographs of people around the world because "the things that work, work everywhere" - smiles, touch, hugging.

 

Sir Richard Eyre CBE on Arts 4 Dementia quotes a person with dementia who participated in an arts program, "I have dementia, but I also have a life." "You don't have to speak to express yourself." He urges us to train others "to relight the spark of imagination". Clearly, this is good not only for people with dementia, but for all people. 

Jasmine Pasch

I believe that the arts: dance, music, art and drama can help make us healthy and happy - can make us feel good.

This is no flippant statement.

I am keen to find out what factors enhance psychological and physical wellbeing, and foster resilience, and what destroys these.

I believe that the way we relate to one another makes a huge difference, and this is evident in the way that we move together, and play together in our artistic and everyday life.

I see human interaction as dynamic, and shifting constantly like patterns in the sand. It is not the sea, and it is not the sand that create these patterns, but the dynamic interaction between the two. So it is in human relationships.

Through engaging in arts activities with one another we may experience magic moments. It is these tiny moments of meaningful experience, no matter how fleeting they may be, that hold the key to human health and wellbeing.

And my contribution, if you have not seen it about the importance of dance and embodied caregiving for people with dementia, my ADTA Talk On Moving and Being Moved.

 

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The Arts and Dementia - Words to Inspire

"Engaging in activities involving the arts can override the symptoms of dementia and the stigma of the word. They help to restore confidence and a sense of purpose and fulfillment.... Imagination and emotion are qualities that oddly remain undamaged for years after diagnosis of Alzheimer's." Sir Richard Eyre, director of the film Iris speaks on Arts 4 Dementia.

 

I have just discovered the beautiful dance/movement therapy and Reiki work of Natasha Goldstein with older adults and people with dementia in the Philadelphia area.

Jenna Weiss is also a dance/movement therapist, Director of Humanities with the Alzheimers Resource Center of Connecticut. "The Alzheimer's Resource Center has been involved in challenging the systems of what keeps us from truly connecting with each other- including those with dementia- as their mission."

The Alzheimer's Resource Center is a lead support sponsor for Bill Thomas's Second Wind Tour in Hartford for June. June 4 the tour will be in Boston.

If you missed it, here's my ADTA Talk about the importance of dance and embodied caregiving for people with dementia.

 

Please contact me if you would like a monthly newsletter and be part of a US network of people bringing creative arts therapies to people with dementia.

Wondering What dance Movement Therapy Is?

If you have been wondering what dance/movement therapy is, this is your lucky day! The American Dance Therapy Association has recently created a Youtube channel where they are posting ADTA Talks, similar to TedTalks. These talks are given by dance/ movement therapists with expertise in specific populations.

Interested in dance/movement therapy with people with autism? Check out Christina Devereaux's Talk.

Dance/movement therapy and people with dementia? Check out yours truly, Donna Newman-Bluestein's Talk.

Emma Barton speaks about the importance of the therapist bringing mindfulness into the relationship in her talk on Dance/Movement Therapy, Mindfulness & Substance Abuse Recovery.

Ted Ehrhardt tells us that "[Dance/movement therapy] lifts the movement experience into the realm of the imagination where a patient can interpret for him/herself what the movement means" in his talk Dance/Movement Therapy & Mental Illness.

David Allan Harris talks about Embodying Empathy: Dance/Movement Therapy after Unthinkable Trauma.

Keep a watch for more videos from dance/ movement therapy experts as they are rolled out on the American Dance Therapy Association's Youtube site.

Dance/Movement Therapy & Dementia ~ an ADTA Talk

I'm excited to share my passion about the importance of dance and embodied caregiving for people with dementia.

 

This ADTA Talk in the manner of Ted-Talks was just released in honor of International Dance Day. It is the second in the series. The first was Christina Devereaux on Dance/Movement Therapy & Autism: Dances of Relationship