Healing through the martial way: Incorporating karate training into counselling and psychotherapy

This research paper describes lived experiences in dance therapeutic processes in the case of a woman called Asta. Rather than claiming results from therapeutic processes, the paper enlightens change processes through narratives about both Asta's bodily movement expressions and inner experiences. The paper focuses furthermore on illustrating the possibilities of using body language, movement and an energetic approach to therapy in Asta's case with the dance therapy form Dansergia. Asta moves through a shell of anxiety and into the dance of a gypsy, from an inner experienced black ring and hedgehog to a woman accepting difficult experiences in the past and new possibilities in the present. Asta's processes are analysed and interpreted in an energy-based theoretical framework, and are then reflected upon in terms of impact possibilities in a broader dance therapeutic and research oriented context.     

Embodiment of a fictional character during Dance movement therapy with an adolescent ADD patient: Case study

In dance movement therapy, we may work with metaphors that originate from the movement itself, or with symbolic images and situations. What happens, though, if a patient is to choose to embody a random fictional character from their favourite book or film? This case study illustrates the potential of embodiment work with an image of a fictional character, even if this character is not one of the recurrent motifs in literature or mythology and does not bear generally recognised symbolism. The author uses the Emotorics movement analysis system to assess the patient’s body and motion profile transformation. The change of the patient’s movement and behaviour in the course of a year’s long therapy suggests a possibility of therapeutically effective application of the embodiment technique, provided that the choice of the character is based on the patient’s actual challenges and subjective experience.     

Treatment modalities and self-expectancy of therapists: Modes,self-efficacy and imagination of clients in dance movement therapy

Body movement is the primary medium in which dance/movement therapists help clients to connect with implicit experience, to tolerate and express emotion, and thereby to continuously re-work, re-weave and integrate embodied experiences of self. This article explores the role of non-verbal vocalisation within the overall movement ecology of the body, and suggests ways that it can support the aforementioned processes in clinical practice. Three existing frameworks for understanding the non-verbal voice are reviewed, from within and outside the realm of psychotherapy, as are several comprehensive theoretical studies of the ‘self’ in dance/movement therapy. The author emphasises that voice is an integral part of the body's cross-modal capacity for expressive movement, and suggests that the non-verbal voice prioritises and gives form to the emotional content of other bodily movement. This article aims to provide a theoretical starting place for integrating the non-verbal voice into dance/movement therapy scholarship and practice.     

Embodied attunement: a dance/movement therapy approach to working with couples

ABSTRACT

Attachment theory is well-recognised for understanding and treating adult love relationships. Neuroscientific research highlights the implicit process of attachment and the unconscious, nonverbal, bodily-based, and affect-regulating interactions of the right brain hemispheres in attachment development. Effective couple therapy ought to consider the implicit processes between infants and caregivers as a model to develop secure attachment in romantic partners, which makes dance/movement therapy (D/MT) a valuable treatment modality. Mirroring is a staple D/MT intervention that involves imitation of a client’s movement by the therapist to enhance attunement and empathy. In this paper, the author explores the overlap between attachment theory, neuroscience, dance/movement therapy, and couple therapy. A theoretical model is proposed for the use of mirroring with couples to foster secure attachment by means of attunement on a bodily-based level. Future research is suggested in order to measure the effectiveness of mirroring on couples’ attachment.     

Discourse: Trudi Schoop and Vaslav Nijinsky,and dance as healer

Conceived as an entrée to discourse, this paper explores the phenomenon of dance as healer, to evoke rather than to answer questions. The intention has been to examine dance in its capacity of healer, scrutinising it in the absence of a formal intermediary intervention such as dance/movement therapy or other somatic models. The early lives of two former luminaries of the dance world are profiled: the first, Trudi Schoop, famed comic mime and early pioneer in dance/movement therapy; the other, Vaslav Nijinsky, renowned dancer and choreographer in the world of ballet. Disparate heritages and life circumstances carried them along radically divergent paths, although both struggled to overcome serious psychiatric issues. Schoop overcame her difficulties vis-à-vis obsessive-compulsive behaviours; Nijinsky's accumulated problems led, ultimately, to chronic schizophrenia. They shared, in common, an overriding passion for and commitment to dance. The discourse focuses on the role of dance, as healer, in their existential journeys.     

Somatic soulmates

The author compares and contrasts a method of body-oriented psychotherapy, the Rubenfeld Synergy® method (RSM), with a method of dance/movement therapy, Authentic Movement (AM). She examines parallels in the development of authentic movement and body psychotherapy and discusses similarities in theory and practice. She makes a case for integration of dance/movement therapy and body-psychotherapy under the umbrella of somatic therapies. She uses her personal history, Ilana Rubenfeld's history, and case examples to illustrate her points.     

Music,movement, and emotions: an inquiry with suggestions for the practice of dance/movement therapy

ABSTRACT

Emotions play a significant role in our lives. While the literature has shed some light on how emotions are evoked, not all aspects are well understood. Music and dance or movement have been shown to stimulate an aesthetic or emotional response and seem to affect each other. However, these cross-modal influences have only been studied in individuals who are passively engaged . Missing are accounts of how music affects dancers and moving affects making music, a gap which is especially salient considering the frequent application of music during dance/movement therapy sessions. In this paper, I present a vignette from a creative arts studio class and subsequently describe the use of a heuristic arts-informed methodology as a means of gaining greater understanding about the connection between music and movement and their influences on emotions. I connect extant literature to my own findings and derive suggestions for the field of dance/movement therapy.     

The cultural responsibility of dance movement therapy: philosophical considerations

This paper examines the cultural situation and special responsibility of dance movement therapy, delineating certain philosophical and cultural-theoretical interpretations of the ‘corporeal turn’ and ‘therapeutic turn’ of contemporary culture. It aims to show how dance movement therapy’s theoretical horizon is inseparable from the body-mind integration of contemporary philosophies, and how corporeal turn is present in consumer culture, including some of its destructive forms of idealisation and malign regression. The question of how DMT is able to turn malignant regression to the body into benign regression is addressed, and an analysis of the correlating postmodern idea of resilience is offered. Finally, DMT groups are interpreted as social microcosms, and the way Hungarian psychodynamic movement and dance therapists apply their group therapeutic method for the development of democratic culture in the Civil Group Project is described.     

The mothers: Life and death in dance therapeutic processes in Dansergia

This research paper is based on embodied, phenomenological and narrative methodologies and is a movement psychological narrative about Clara's and Asta's dance therapeutic processes in the dance therapy form Dansergia1 1.?The article includes a word that is or is asserted to be a proprietary term or trademark. Its inclusion does not imply it has acquired a non-proprietary or general significance for legal purposes, nor is any other judgment implied concerning its legal status. ,2 2.?Dansergia is an energy-based dance and body psychotherapeutic method developed during the past 30 years by Stèphano Sabetti and colleagues. Dansergia is accredited by the EABP (European Association of Body Psychotherapy). . As fate would have it, they are both currently preparing themselves to say goodbye to their mothers. Asta meets love behind the hard realities of life, while Clara, by accepting her mother's approaching death process, opens up for new life energy beyond stiffness in her own body which has lasted for years. The theme of the article is how birth and death, taking leave and new beginnings are woven together in rhythmic wave movements which affect all human movement processes. In a societal context, the article may be regarded as a critical voice. It points to the division between fast-paced, youth-fixated western society's often hidden death processes on the one hand, and Clara's and Asta's existential processes on the other. In the dance therapeutic space, there is room to look at both death and life.     

Opposites attract: holistic emotional regulation using dance/movement therapy and the doshas in Ayurveda

This model presents a collaborative and holistic perspective on dance/movement therapy (D/MT) and Ayurveda. This approach suggests that the dance/movement therapist takes into account all range and manner of an individual’s movement repertoire and uses these observations to construct therapeutic interventions that build upon body types and movement preferences represented in Ayurveda. Both D/MT and Ayurveda share the value of achieving a sense of regulation through the use of opposite qualities of movement, which will be explored in depth through the lenses of Laban Movement Analysis and the Kestenberg Movement Profile. Several examples of interventions the therapist might utilise are provided. Further considerations exploring the growth of this model in the future and limitations are also included in this article.     

Integrative dance/movement psychotherapy and the aging process

The objectives of the investigation was reasoning and developing a strategy of implementation of integrative dance/movement psychotherapy in order to improve the life quality and psychosomatic adaptation of an aging person. 25 males and 25 females with some age-related emotional and psychological problems but with no marked mental disorders were examined. Clinical-psychopathological and experimental-psychological methods were used. Target symptoms for integrative dance/movement psychotherapy were determined. A repeated investigation was carried out in three months. The investigation findings show common and distinctive features of female and male psychosomatic state at the climacteric and partial androgenic deficiency period. The model of integrated experiences described elucidates the notion of age-related dissociation, which is a source of the aging persons’ inner conflict leading to the development and/or aggravation of their psychosomatic and social disadaptation. The integrative dance/movement psychotherapy course described results in the considerable improvement of aging persons’ psychophysiological dynamics, social adaptation and life quality.     

Kinaesthetic narratives: Interpretations for children's dance movement therapy process

The present case study was aimed at producing research-based information on developmental dance movement therapy (DMT) in Finland. The hypothesis was that DMT enables non-verbal and verbal expression in children at risk of social displacement and long-term learning disabilities. A dance movement therapist and a preschool teacher co-led a year long, weekly DMT group for six preschool children of whom five had recently immigrated to Finland. The theory and practical methods were founded in DMT, attachment theory and solution focused therapy. The sessions used creative movement, movement observation, kinesthetic attunement and mirroring. The evaluation of the group process was based on participant observation, body memory and children's drawings. Bodily dialogue and supportive holding became integral parts of each session. The themes observed in children's drawings suggested developmental changes and externalisation of emotional experiences. The conclusion was that DMT supported the development of group dynamics and movement as a form of interaction.     

Dance/movement therapy and shamanic healing ritual: natural intelligence of body and spirit

This paper offers a model for integrating a dance/movement therapy practice with some of the themes that show up in literature on shamanic healing ritual. The proposed model is based on literature on shamanism and within the field of dance/movement therapy. It is intended as a first step in an exploration between intersections of the two fields. The model proposes cultivating a sacred container as a holding environment for the therapeutic process, within which the themes of natural intelligence, surrender, and nervous system regulation will be woven together, and the potential for sequencing greater healing energy will be discussed. Applications, limitations, and suggestions for further research will also be considered.     

Orientating myself: A gay dance movement psychotherapist’s gender experience in training and practice

ABSTRACT

This paper offers a subjective account of the struggles and pleasures of being a gay dance movement psychotherapy (DMP) lecturer and therapist. The author shares stories of how this individual reality is informed by his life experience as a gay child and man. This gay intersubjective perspective of embodied therapeutic relationships posits a queer theory outlook that deviates from other DMP and embodied perspectives. The intention is to invite more critical reflection on diverse sexual and gender experience and relationships in the training and therapy space, in the hope of opening the door to more transparency with sexual orientation and gender diversity in the body, movement and dance in psychotherapy professions.     

The dance/movement therapy group in a psychiatric outpatient clinic: explorations in body image and interaction

The clinical experiences gained in the practice of dance/movement therapy group at the Psychiatric Clinic of Tampere are discussed. The clinical work was built on the tradition of DMT and it has been informed by the practice of mindfulness and the recent findings in interpersonal neurobiology. The experiences of the bodily, true self are dominantly processed in right hemisphere of the brain. Neurobiology also informs us that the right hemisphere is essentially involved in emotional processes, nonverbal communications, attachment, subjectivity and intersubjectivity, in empathy, in the processing of non-conscious self images, threat detection, bodily-based stress regulation and survival. Intersubjective relationships are essentially dependent upon the information processing in the right hemisphere. The quality of interpersonal interactions and relationships is influenced by nonverbal, kinesthetic behaviour and the sensitivity to it. DMT work, promoting movement experiences, internal attunement and enhancing the body-self, allows a creative method to explore and integrate the contents of the right hemisphere.     

A psychoanalytic perspective of endings in therapy: A dance movement psychotherapy case study

This paper is an account of time-limited dance movement psychotherapy in an inner-city London school during my final year of training for an MA in Dance Movement Psychotherapy. I describe the treatment of a traumatised 9-year-old boy using psychoanalytic theories, in particular Winnicott's ideas. This patient suffered at an early age from the drastic separation of his father and, when he was 6 years of age, various dramatic events led to the hospitalisation of his mother due to psychiatric problems. The impending ending of the therapy and the trainee's repetition of a ‘neglectful transference’ triggered powerful memories of traumatic past separations, which aroused deep-seated anxieties in the patient and trainee alike. The work towards a ‘good enough’ ending in the new therapeutic relationship was of great value to the patient's recovery. Parallels are drawn with the trainee's feelings of ending her dance movement psychotherapy course.     

Dance as a treatment for neurological disorders

Dance has been explored as a therapeutic intervention because of its unique combination of exercise, music and cognitive engagement. Dance therapy is a specific form of dance-based treatment that focuses on how movement correlates with psychological aspects such as self-awareness, expression and coordination, which culminate in a mind–body treatment. In recent years, dance-based programmes have been used as an intervention to improve symptoms of neurological diseases/disorders. Positive results have been shown for patients suffering from Parkinson’s disease, dementia and depression. The neurological adaptations such as improved neural activity and neurogenesis are induced by the combination of coordinated movement strategies, exercise, musical arrangements and social interactions (partnering). With the continued growth of dance therapy, the purpose of this review is to explain the recently proposed theories of how neural changes are mediated through dance, and discuss the positive effects on those suffering from neurological disorders.     

Widening our lens: The implications of resilience for the professional identity and practice of dance movement therapists

The construct of resilience in psychology has an optimistic character that has been attracting interest due to the paradigmatic change proposed by positive psychology. On the other hand, resilience has different meanings or nuances attributed to it, mainly due to the different focus of researchers and/or their frame of reference: there are scholars who concentrate on developmental issues, others on clinical questions. It is a relatively new construct for dance movement therapists, and due to its subtleties, resilience deserves a theoretical introduction and presentation of its complexities. A discussion of the relevance of this construct for DMT follows after the theoretical outline. This section presents the taxonomy of levels of prevention that expands the possibilities of professional interventions focusing on mental health. It implies widening our lens. Finally, some interventions reported and tested by dance movement therapists will be presented and others will be suggested.