"If we are indifferent to the art of dancing, we have failed to understand, not merely the supreme manifestation of physical life, but also the supreme symbol of spiritual life."
(Havelock Ellis, 1923, p. 36, as cited in Sharon Chaiklin, We dance from the moment our feet touch the earth. The art and science of dance/movement therapy: Life is dance, p. 3.)
As a dance/movement therapist for 35 years I have long been interested in the concept of embodiment. My work with people with dementia, particularly those with diminished verbal abilities, intensified my interest in this topic as it became clear that in addition to the dance therapy groups I provided, my practical experience in embodiment and nonverbal communication allowed me to create relationships where others were often unsuccessful. Thus, I created and deliver a curriculum to train caregivers so that together we can provide safer, healthier, life-enhancing environments for people with dementia.
People with dementia or people living with dementia?
Some people prefer the term people living with dementia. Because people don’t want to be pigeon-holed, specific terms eventually fall into disrepute, so the descriptors are changed. However, the term people living with dementia seems redundant and absurd. What else would a person be, regardless of diagnosis or symptoms, other than living with? To say that a person has a particular diagnosis does not limit the person to the diagnosis. In addition to having dementia, the person also has a body, among other aspects. It is about the embodied aspect that I write today.
Lately, there has been an explosion of interest in embodiment and dementia. This past summer, Dementia: The International Journal of Social Research and Practice devoted an entire edition to this topic. There were some interesting and thought-provoking articles in the issue, but I was appalled that the voices of dance/movement therapists were missing.Thankfully, Dementia is publishing "Embodiment and Dementia – Dance Movement Psychotherapists Respond", an editorial co-authored by Dr. Richard Coaten and myself in their upcoming November issue.
On October 24, I will be presenting about embodiment and dementia during a talk for the American Dance Therapy Association’s (ADTA) 48th annual conference in Brooklyn NY on dance therapy and dementia. There are still seats available, free, if you would like to be a member of the studio audience.
My work as a dance therapist has taught me that the importance of our work lies not only in dancing with people with dementia, but also in our ability to change the culture of institutions in which people with dementia live. It is wonderful to change a person’s experience during a 1 hour group, but what happens at the end of that hour, as Dr. Richard Taylor wisely asks?
When we relate to people, with dementia or otherwise, in an embodied manner, we are more likely to be authentic, spontaneous, and open to sharing intersubjective space. We are in our humaneness, cognizant of our interdependence, our mutuality. Gone is the hierarchy that paradoxically imprisons us within our skins and renders us isolated.
We need to take back our bodies ~ all of us.
Let’s reclaim them, back from the media, back from repressive cultures, back from the hierarchical paradigm. Dancing celebrates humaneness and our bodies as vehicles to express that humaneness.
Today I had the undeniable pleasure of performing as a member of Back Pocket Dancers for 3rd, 4th and 5th graders at the Gardner Pilot Academy in Allston, MA. As we performed two pieces dancing to folk tales from different cultures, and a third honoring our 2 eldest dancers, Dorothy Elizabeth Tucker, turned 91 a week ago and Eleanor Duckworth, recently retired from teaching at Harvard University’s School of Education, the children’s enthusiasm was terrific AND contained. The dancers and all of us who saw the children’s responses recognized them as hopeful at what life could offer them; they too will be able to dance and contribute their gifts, hopefully into their 90’s.
Let’s take back our bodies - and truly honor ourselves and each other, and provide the very best care for people with dementia.
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