What is Dance Therapy? Helen Payne. Dance movement therapy

Dance movement therapy, by working with muscle patterns and focusing on the relationship between psychological and physiological processes, helps clients to experience, recognize and express their feelings and conflicts. Beginning at the kinesthetic level, therapy leads groups and individuals to further discover emotional material through symbolic representations, images, memories and personal meanings of their experiences and experiences. Through movement interaction, the dance-movement therapist helps clients develop their self-awareness, work through emotional clamps, explore alternative behaviors, gain a clearer perception of themselves and others, and induce behavioral changes that will lead to healthier functioning.
Dance therapists are involved in clinical work, research and education. Dance movement clinicians work with emotional disorders in children, adolescents and adults in hospitals, clinics and specialties. schools. Clients may also include mentally retarded, gerontological patients, persons with delays in psychoemotional development. The work of dance movement therapists is successfully used in the programs of educational institutions of various levels.

HISTORICAL PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

The roots of dance movement therapy go back to ancient civilizations in which dance was an important part of life. It is likely that people began to dance and use body movement as a means of communication long before the emergence of language. Dance was the expression of the most important aspects of culture. In their intercultural study of dance in various societies, Bartenieff, Pouley and Lomax found that the movements that people made during their daily work entered the dance style, the dance form of this culture. For example, the broad and stable Eskimo stance with the fast, arrow-like hand movements required for ice fishing and javelin throwing was incorporated into the dance. Social values ​​and norms have been passed down from generation to generation through dance, thus supporting the mechanism for the survival and transmission of cultural rituals. Other examples of the use of dance in cultures are preparations for something, celebrations, wars, hopes for a bountiful harvest. In many societies, dance continues to serve these important functions. It is this expressive and communicative aspect of dance, the direct expression of emotions at the pre-verbal and physical levels in joint movements to the general rhythm characteristic of primitive societies, and influenced the development of dance-movement therapy. The sensations and feelings of unity and harmony that arise in group dance rituals give people an empathic understanding of each other.
Dance allows a person to express without risk everything that can and cannot be expressed in words; it can both stimulate and shape deeply hidden fantasies, thus symbolically expressing human possibilities and conflicts. Since dance uses natural joy, energy and rhythm that are available to everyone, it contributes to the development of awareness, understanding of the "I". The movement itself changes the sensation. These changing physical sensations are often exacerbated in dance. They provide the basis on which feelings arise and are expressed. That which was at the pre-verbal and unconscious level often crystallizes into direct feeling and personal experience. It was the recognition of these inherent elements of dance that led to their use in dance movement therapy.
The revolutionary changes in the art of dance that took place in the first half of the 20th century determined the development of the TDT. Dance pioneers such as Isidora Duncan and Mary Wigman believed that emotional and individual expression was the most important thing for a dancer. Their experience and conviction show that through the body we directly experience and respond to life. Putting aside the rigorous and structured technique of ballet, they encouraged direct, direct expression of individuality through dance. Through dance, communication is built with oneself and the environment. These dancers-innovators believed that dance involves the whole personality - body, mind and soul - and is a means of expression and communication.
The transition of dance to a therapeutic modality is most often associated with the name of Mary Chase, who was originally a dance teacher and dancer. From her experience teaching dance to ordinary students, she discovered the psychological benefits that dance offered. Gradually, she shifted the emphasis from dance technique to expressing individual needs through movement. She started working with children and adolescents in specials. schools and clinics, as well as in his own studio. Her work made an impression on psychologists, psychiatrists and people of other professions in the field of health, and they began to send patients to her for help. This side of her work helped her understand the importance of the relationship between body and emotional problems. During this period, she began to formulate many ideas that later led her to work with emotional disorders. Dr. W. Overhosler, who later became director of St. Elizabeth's Hospital in Washington, DC, heard about Chase's work and invited her to try her methods with hospitalized psychiatric patients. Over the years, her successful work with regressive, non-speaking and psychotic patients at St. Elizabeth received national recognition. Patients who were considered hopeless were able to engage in group interaction and expression of feelings during dance therapy sessions. This establishment of a movement dialogue followed by discussion, verbalization of feelings, images, thoughts and memories in dance therapy sessions was often the first step for patients in their ability to move to more traditional verbal types of psychotherapy.

It should be noted that in the 1940s and 1950s, similar initiatives developed in other parts of the country. Other Art Nouveau dancers also began to explore the use of dance as a therapeutic tool for emotional distress. The writings of Schup and Mary Whitehouse on the West Coast and Francis Voas on the East Coast also influenced the development of dance as a therapy. Although each of them developed a different approach from the others, they all believed that the roots of their work lay in dance. And yet, in the work of each, you can find common features. They saw that psychological and physical processes are interconnected. All of them were deeply convinced that dance can be used to develop psycho-somatic awareness: to promote integration in the body, which leads each person to a sense of wholeness and vitality; use movement and dance as a means of experiencing and expressing the full range of feelings; to separate group and individual expression of feelings through rhythmic body movements; to clothe and express emotional material (e.g. dreams, fantasies, memories) through symbolic action.

THEORETICAL BASIS

Dance movement therapy is based on the recognition that the body and the psyche are interconnected: changes in the emotional, mental or behavioral areas cause changes in all of these areas. Body and mind are seen as equal forces in integrated functioning. Dance-movement therapist Berger divides psychosomatic relationships into 4 categories: muscle tension and relaxation, kinesthetics, body image and expressive movement.
Awareness of feelings and the corresponding emotional expression involves a person's muscle tone in the work. People are usually not aware of their feelings if there is a high degree of bodily tension. In the process of trying to cope with stress, a person can, defending himself from fear, lose control by suppressing, repressing his feelings that exist in the body. By allowing tension to arise and keeping it in the body, a person thus protects himself from direct experience and from meeting face to face with his conflict. For example, the degree of tension in the shoulders and arms can be unconsciously increased to the point where this part of the body becomes cut off from the senses: it becomes dissociated. With such a person, the dance therapist may choose to work with a swinging arm movement to relax the muscles associated with a particular emotional state that the patient denies. Starting to work with muscle patterns that correlate with emotions, a person experiences (through the muscles) feelings, heightened, become conscious in movement, and then recognized or clarified at the cognitive level. This connection, which develops between physical action and internal emotional state, is a consequence of muscle memory associated with feelings. With another client, the therapist can work with bodily sensations and translate their action in such a way that emotion and movement reinforce each other. So movement becomes a direct expression of inner feelings. For clients with a more integrated level, the therapist can help focus on a specific part of the body to identify what is being done on the body level, possibly unconsciously, and what is generating a particular emotional experience. In such a situation, the therapist can help the client verbally explore associations, images, fantasies, or memories that arise in consciousness during the process of connecting the motor response in the body with its emotional components.
Every thought, action, memory, fantasy or image causes some new muscle tension. People can be helped to discover how they change, redesign, redirect, destroy, or control these subtle muscle sensations that affect experience and expression. This process is similar to and consistent with the ego's defense mechanisms. In his work on character formation, Reich shows how an identical process becomes apparent in both physiological and psychological spheres. He's writing:
“In melancholic or depressed patients, speech and facial expressions are frozen, as if every movement overcomes resistance. In a manic state, on the contrary, impulses suddenly cover the whole body, the whole person. With a catotonic stupor, mental and muscle rigidity are identical, and only the end of this state returns both mental and muscle mobility. "

To become aware of your own feelings, you need some degree of body awareness. The kinesthetic process makes it possible to gain direct experience from muscular activity. Changes in body position and balance, motor coordination and movement planning involve both the perception of external objects or events and our motor response. This kinesthetic sensation, critical to the performance of everyday tasks, plays a leading role in shaping our own emotional awareness and responses. There are two ways to develop emotional awareness. The first is learning the correct label or word that matches a given emotional state. This learning begins in infancy and early childhood. To understand how such training takes place, it is enough to remember how the baby is taken in his arms and asked: "Why are you so sad?" or they say, "You're hungry, aren't you?" Our non-verbal behavior communicates, says something. Other people recognize our experiences and put them in appropriate words to identify and later talk about them.

The second way to develop emotional awareness is based on recognizing and interpreting other people's motor actions. In his study of how emotions communicate, Kline points out that each emotion has a certain psychological code and a characteristic brain pattern, controlled by the central nervous system and biologically coordinated, this process is the same for all people. In addition, the experience of different emotions and the corresponding muscle reactions is also universal, universal. Therefore, we are able to perceive and recognize the emotional states of others. Our emotional responses to other people usually come from our interpretations of bodily actions and the reactions of others, which we perceive, recognize, and experience on a kinesthetic level. Kinesthetic empathy, which is mostly unconscious, plays a role in verbal and non-verbal communication between people.

The next concept is the body image, it refers to the relationship between the soul and the body, that is, to the psychosomatic relationship. In one of the early summarizing work on the study of body image, Schilder states: "The image of the body is the image of our own body, which we draw in our head, that is, this is how the body appears to us." He views the body image as something in a state of constant development or change. Movement causes changes in body image. The way body parts are connected, awareness of bodily sensations such as breathing, awareness of muscle activity are just a few examples of how kinesthetic sensations can contribute to awareness and development of body image. Machler's work on emotional development and “psychological birth” also supports the evidence that awareness of the self as a separate physical reality, entity, is necessary before the individuation process takes place.

The image of ourselves that we have influences us and is influenced by all our perceptions, experiences and actions. A person who perceives himself as weak and fragile is different from one who perceives himself as strong. Just like when a child is treated like stupid, his body image will absorb his reactions to the impressions of others and to his own. Schilder writes:

“The positional model of our own body is related to the positional model of the body of other people. Positional models of people are interconnected. We sense other people's body images. The experience, the experience of one's own body image and the experience, the experience of the body of other people are closely intertwined. Just as our emotions and actions are inseparable from the body image, so the emotions and actions of others are inseparable from their bodies. ”

By focusing in some way on the relationship between movement change and psychological change in dance therapy, Chase states: “Since movement affects body image and changes in mental attitude, if you work with the feeling of distorted body image in action, it will change your mental perception of oneself, attitude to oneself ”.

The fourth area that deals with the relationship of mind and body, and which most dance therapists emphasize, is expressive movement. Emotional expression manifests through the body. Body position, gestures, breathing patterns are a few examples of movement behavior that is studied within the framework of expressive movement. It is the qualitative aspect of movement, rather how it occurs than static positions, that reflects individual self-expression. Allport and Vernon write:

... no action can be defined as only expressive. Each action has both expressionless and expressive aspects. It has ... its adaptive ... character, as well as its individual character. Opening a door, for example, this task prescribes certain coordinated movements consistent with that goal, but also provides a certain amount of freedom for individual style in performing the prescribed movements. The confidence, pressure, precision, or patience with which a given task is carried out has its own characteristics. Only these individual characteristics are called expressive. "

Expressive behavior is a motor expression of emotions that are interconnected in a functional system. Clines views expressive movement as an emotional state that is being expressed. His exploration of how emotions are experienced and communicated helps explain how dance movement therapy works with feelings and their expressions in action. If we make an action or gesture that correlates with an emotion (eg, angrily kicking a stone), we begin to experience the corresponding visceral response generated. If this action is repeated several times, then the intensity of the emotional experience will increase. In order to encourage the experience and expression of emotions, the dance movement therapist works with movement patterns associated with emotions. For example, to work with anger, the therapist may suggest curling your hands into a fist, squeezing them tightly, and shaking them in front of another person. There may be other instructions: to stand firmly in place, straining the whole body. When shaking the fists, the movement generates a more specific bodily experience of an emotional state. It provides feedback and an interaction loop between expressive action and emotional experience.

Emotions can be caused by a real situation (for example, sadness when you lose a friend), the perception of h.-l. emotional state (for example, you become infected with fear, seeing the fear of another person), in an imaginary fantasy situation (for example, remembering or imagining that you are stuck in an elevator) or perceiving a fantasy state in another person (for example, an experience of pain or guilt is conveyed actor).

The therapist's use of imagination, action or emotion helps in this way to crystallize and integrate the physiological and the psychological.

GOALS

To formulate therapeutic goals, the TD therapist must rely on the developmental level of the individual or group. Some patients are unable to tolerate identification and direct expression of feelings. Others cannot build a cognitive connection with their movement behavior as a reflection of themselves.
It is important to remember that what is a reasonable and acceptable goal for one person may be too difficult for another. A developmental model that uses the continuum from dysfunctional to functional behavior provides greater scope for a holistic approach. The goals of TD therapy are divided into three areas - the body and its action, interpersonal relationships, and self-awareness.

THE BODY AND ITS EFFECTS

The dance therapist works with the client to help develop a healthier body, a body that is not squeezed by holding on to tension, conflicts, feelings. Objectives include helping the client to activate the body, cathartic release of tension and feelings, experience a sense of bodily integration and coordination, and build a realistic body image. These goals are achieved by leveraging the individual's pre-existing movement patterns and encouraging awareness of bodily sensations, developing a broader range of movement, exploring movement choices, and encouraging communication and expression through bodily actions. Movement associated with fearful events or feelings is often used in therapy sessions to help the client practice or learn more about it in order to overcome the fearful experience. This process helps to reduce fear when disturbing experiences or events emerge, since the body has already experienced this in symbolic form.

INTERPERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS

Research shows that TDT can help establish or re-establish interpersonal communication at the bodily level.
Kendon's research into synchronicity of movement is based on the premise that there is some kind of neurophysiological organization of speech and body movement in human communication. Self-synchronicity is the relationship between movement and someone's own speech, it is a rhythmic connection, a block of speech and body movement. Synchronicity of interaction is defined as the synchronous movement of the listener with the movement of the speaker. Kendon describes the synchronicity of interaction as “... a basic, dance-like separation of movement from those interacting in communication.” The increased synchronicity that occurs during communication is amplified by joint movement.
Self-synchronicity and synchronicity of interaction can be seen by all people, with the exception of those with neurological diseases (eg, Parkinson's disease, aphasia and schizophrenia).
TDT can help develop this basic level of communication as it directly uses rhythm and kinesthetic patterns. Re-affirmation of “I” and “I” in relation to others is included in the work in a natural way.
Kendon views body coordination with others as a necessary ingredient in achieving satisfying social interactions. He believes that in TDT, individuals with impairments in social interactions or communications can retrain the necessary behavior (rhythmic coordination with others), which can then be transferred to other social environments. As a result of TDT, most clients experience a deeper and richer level of intimacy, expressing feelings through bodily actions, while moving to a common rhythm.
The TD therapist can use specific types of movement to encourage interaction. Stretching the arms forward towards the other person, or reaching out to the side to touch a neighbor, or holding hands and leaning back to maintain balance are just a few examples of how movement can facilitate and encourage interaction.
The experience of group TDT allows you to expand your awareness of yourself through the visual feedback that you get from observing the movements of other people. Observing the expression of feelings in the body of others can induce new recognition (recognition and awareness of one's own feelings). The TDT group is a microcosm of various social situations. As a result, clients receive direct and obvious feedback about themselves and learn to develop a wider range of behavioral opportunities.

SELF-CONSCIOUSNESS

The TDT practice initially believes that a person must know his bodily experience and its meanings (sensory and kinesthetic sensations and emotional states) in order to understand himself. Gendlin suggests considering two levels of experience that must be present in personal growth. The first level of experience is bodily experience, or body sensation, or the experience of experiencing someone's experience. Gendlin states: "The bodily sensation, the meaning of a problem or situation is pre-verbal and pre-concentrated ... it is not equivalent to any verbal or conceptual pattern." The next level of experience is symbolic. It is here that one can conceptualize and verbalize sensory experience and attribute to it a specific meaning, meaning. First, the presence of sensory experience is necessary, after which it will become possible to adequately use the symbolic level.
The most direct and immediate experience of one's self available to a person occurs through the body. The physical experience of muscular action and kinesthetic sensation provide immediate, immediate knowledge and experience of the Self. Thus, self-awareness begins at the bodily level. TD therapist Kleinman believes that the first stage of therapy - the exploratory stage - should be addressed to the awakening of inner sensations and feelings. The patient needs to be helped to learn to be receptive to body messages and their expression in outward movement, Kleinman writes:
“He begins to recognize his body as an important aspect of himself. His experiences of internal movement and experimentation with external movement stimulate and facilitate identification with his body. The division between the bodily and the mental becomes weaker as conscious connections integrate the integrity of the individual. His words become the expression of his body as he explores himself in motion. ”

When the significance of words decreases, a more direct observation of ch.-l becomes available. non-verbal behavior. Especially for people with strong verbal defenses, movement gives a more reliable, true expression of feelings than words; direct information and knowledge of one's inner “I” can become conscious, understood as a result of an integrated connection between physical and mental processes. Movement naturally evokes memories, images, fantasies and associations. Since bodily experience tends to extract psychological context, the body can be used to further explore and crystallize this material, that is, to promote self-awareness.

THERAPEUTIC PROCESS

TDT works at different levels in a movement context that depends on the treatment goals and the level of development at which the clients function. According to Stark and Loin, in TDT there are two main ways, modes of action: (1) stimulation of bodily action, for the differentiation and individuation of the self and for the recognition and expression of feelings; (2) help clarify and provide insight into the emotional symbolic context of the movement.

In order to achieve therapeutic change, a process similar to verbal psychotherapy is used. Using an interactive approach to treating psychotic patients, Chase describes his dance therapy session as follows:
“Movement is used in establishing initial contact with the patient and can be qualitatively similar to the patient’s movements (imprecise copying and imitation, that is, it is often perceived by the patient as mockery, imitation), or they can express a completely different emotion with which the therapist responds to the patient’s actions ”.

The following example will perhaps clarify what has been said. On that day, the group TT patients were depressed and reluctant. Most of them sat bent over under their own weight, arms folded across their chests and either staring at the floor or staring into space. The therapist noticed that the body position of most of the patients was a posture of complete disdain, disobedience: clenched jaws and motionlessly folded hands, and she herself took a similar posture. She invited the group to strain their bodies and shrink into a ball, as if shutting themselves off from the world, and not move in this position. Asking to curl up more, she asked if anyone had an image or an association why he or she was closing. One woman said, "My psychiatrist." Another person replied, "My problems." Assuming that they were closing in or turning away from what was bothering them, the therapist began to direct movements on the chairs so that the group members began to turn away from each other. She noticed a strong quilting movement in one patient when turning the body and suggested that the others try to repeat it. She then expanded the quilting movement, suggesting that her shoulders and arms be moved in the same manner. When the movement crystallized into repulsion, she asked, "What do people want to repulse?" No one answered with words, but the movement intensified. Patients were shown how to repel with other parts of the body. After a few minutes, everyone pushed and whipped the air. She offered to accompany the movement with strong sounds. At first it was moaning and muttering, then the words appeared: "Get out, stop, leave me alone." Group members were asked to try different phrases and see if they could find one that best suited their mood. As the anger began to manifest itself more and more in the body, the quality of movement changed, it became slower, unsure. To help them experience and express aggression directly, the therapist suggested placing their hands out to the sides - palm to palm - and pushing away from themselves. There was more strength when the patients began to press with all their might. When they became tired, the therapist structured the movement in such a way that the pressure turned into a soft touch, leaning against each other and supporting. The group swayed from side to side, holding hands and leaning against each other.

In a short period of time, the therapist recognized the emotional context of the group, developed it into a more complete expression on the body level, facilitated the integration of feelings, thoughts and actions, and developed this material in such a way that it became possible for group interaction and activation of the Self. When these feelings of aggression and resistance were shaped through movement, the group was able to become more meaningful in the relationship.

With a variety of approaches, the essence of TDT remains the same. Emotional material (feelings, themes, symbolizations, etc.) is developed through the use of bodily representation to evoke and explore the material. The course of a session develops when the therapist promotes one spontaneous expression and connects it with another. This material connection is based on the current material being unwound.

In the group described above, the participants rubbed their hands to stimulate circulation, when one of them started clapping, the group picked up the movement. It turned into gratitude to each other as everyone spontaneously gathered in a circle and bowed. Soon one patient changed this movement - she began to spank her hands. The therapist noticed this and suggested that everyone else try the Jenny move. When they performed this movement, the therapist asked, "Have you ever been spanked on your hands?" One patient replied, "No, I was never spanked on my hands, but my father often beat me with a belt." Other participants began to recall incidents of punishment or physical abuse they were subjected to. When these stories of punishment were told, the movement died. Some froze. And one woman burst into tears, got up, asked permission to leave the group. The therapist said, "See if you can tell what your body just did to cut it off, sweep away those painful feelings and memories that you began to experience."

In this approach, the therapist structures movements in response to the patient's movements. Through kinesthetic empathy, an attempt is made to capture the feeling observed in the patient. By mirroring expressive behavior, through visual feedback, the therapist promotes the patient's self-awareness. The patient's movement behavior then expands and develops into a symbolic dance that reflects conflicts, desires, dreams and dreams.

The therapist can initiate movement, images, or content. How the movement is transformed and structured is based on the evolving therapeutic process and the patient's needs.

Dance therapist Mary Whitehouse describes a different approach. She does not focus on group interaction, but seeks meaning of movement for each individual through a process called Active Imagination. She used the Jungian system, in which the client is led to reveal the content of the unconscious, where he can see how it manifests itself in physical form and integrate this material for a more complete knowledge of himself. Since her clients were healthy and neurotic people, and not hospitalized patients, she did not need to be an active participant and role model of movement (as in the method developed by Chase). But she also acted as a catalyst, guiding the therapeutic process through suggestions of movement possibilities, asking questions, giving interpretations - all based on observable and often subtle movement behavior. Whitehouse writes:
“In one session, in a studio, a dancer wanted to work with an object: it was a square box, rigid and solid. Whatever she did, it was all in vain: no life began. She spent the entire session trying to find a working relationship with this box. Having experienced complete frustration, she gave up. In the ensuing discussion, she spontaneously uttered the phrase: “She is as damn tough, firm and unyielding as my relationship with R.….” And this was a discovery for her. She danced her relationship without even realizing it. ”

For those who are functioning at an early stage of development, such as the autistic child, motor goals take a different form. The goal of the therapist is to establish contact with the child at the primitive sensory-motor level at which he functions. At first, imitating the child's movement, rhythm, vocalizations, the therapist looks for how to build a mental structure, form a body image (the autistic child does not have a mental representation of his body and the body of others), and develop a therapeutic relationship. In the beginning, the therapist mirrors the child's movements - this is a way of speaking in the child's language and getting the opportunity to enter his world. When the child allows the therapist to enter his world, the imitation gradually disappears. The therapist modifies movement so that instead of using it as a mechanism to isolate others from others, it serves to build relationships and communication. Thus, the repetitive movement patterns that served as sensory stimulation for the child became the basis for the development of mutual interaction. The way the therapist mirrors, separates and develops the child's movement is most important in the work. Too much imitation or spatial proximity and the child is repulsive. And the lack of this also causes the therapist to lose contact. Once a relationship in movement is established, the therapist can introduce specific movement sequences to accomplish higher-level tasks. Kalish writes:
“After several months of 'getting to know her level' and long efforts to build a relationship with her, Laura began to show me signs of trust and her movement began to change. She ran up to me and held onto my waist as I moved her body, “poured” into mine. She sat on my lap by the mirror and watched attentively as I slowly move my hands, and then she carefully made movements with her hands, repeating the same movement phrase. At this stage, it seemed that she was not able to copy the movements on her own. As stated above, Laura did not have a body image. Learning to copy was just the beginning. After a long repetition, Laura was able to complete the movement sequence we started together. Subsequently, during the day, one could see her experimenting with the movement that was shown to her in the therapy session. ”

With people with developmental disabilities, the therapeutic process includes the acquisition of perceptual-motor skills, the development of expressive behavior and social interaction. Movements that facilitate the interaction of correct motor development are used within the context of the current psychotherapeutic process. Special emphasis is placed on helping a child or adult move with others on a reciprocal basis, express feelings and anxieties symbolically through movement, and provide alternatives to dysfunctional behaviors. Here, too, the therapist works in a process-oriented manner, developing expressive and affective components of movement and promoting higher levels of cognitive, social and motor development. Populations and individuals may require different types of goals, but nevertheless, the procedural orientation of dance therapy remains constant despite the differences.

DANCE MOTOR THERAPY TRAINING

The clinical and academic training of dance movement therapists is carried out in higher education institutions. Core courses in the study of human behavior (groups and individuals) include: observation of movement and motor behavior; dance therapy theory and skills. Clinical practice is an essential part of the program. Performing dance-movement therapy sessions requires an insightful sensitivity to the unfolding therapeutic process that manifests itself in movement, requires the skills to engage the full range of motor experiences to facilitate communication and expression, requires the ability to regulate and communicate someone's movement style in order to work with clients of different cultural backgrounds. and socioeconomic groups. The simple use of a variety of motor activities does not make this experience psychotherapeutic. Rather, the way in which the current movement process is accompanied and guided by the dance therapist to achieve therapeutic goals transforms creative movement and dance into psychotherapy.

Although most mental health professionals do not have specific training and skills in dance movement therapists, there are several ways in which some of the approaches of this method are used. This is the provision of motor activity and the development of sensitivity to the use of non-verbal behavior. Paying attention to non-verbal aspects of behavior can shed light on the relationships between group members, couples, therapist, and client. Movement reflects social, cultural and personality traits, thus providing additional information that can be used in therapy.

DANCE MOTOR THERAPY TECHNIQUES

Kinesthetic empathy
As mentioned earlier, being in kinesthetic empathy with another serves two important functions:
this can provide essential information about how the other person is feeling and can contribute to the development of rapport. When using kinesthetic empathy to feel how the other is feeling, it is important to assume the same body posture, muscle tension, breathing pattern, and body movement. But you can only stay in empathy for a short time. Otherwise, the intensity of emotional experience is very difficult to shake off yourself if it is embodied in your body. Another layer of difficulty lies in the possible projection of your impressions, values ​​and judgments on another person instead of recognizing the fact that the material that arises can be your own.
Kinesthetic empathy is useful as a way to connect with highly regressive non-speaking clients. Sharing the same movement pattern while walking with them helps establish the onset of a relationship. As with autistic children, the therapist must consider the client's needs and spatial and emotional distance.
Awareness of the client's motor behavior makes it possible to use this information as part of more traditional verbal therapy. When mirroring a movement, the therapist can ask the client how he or she feels or thinks when he sees someone else moving in a similar way, or wonder if the movement is causing an image.

Exaggeration
Typically, our attention is drawn to a certain aspect of someone's motor behavior (eg, deliberate and controlled behavior, a quick and unexpected hand movement, or a sinking and heavy feeling). After the therapist has drawn the client's attention to this pattern, he may suggest exaggerating the movement in order to more clearly emphasize the characterizing quality. The client may be asked to research expressive or communicative aspects. At the motor level, the therapist can suggest to the client that he allows himself to experience more feelings and allows the movement to go where it goes. It is also possible to take a quality of movement, transfer it to another part of the body, and see if it elicits the same or a different emotional response. The client may be asked to verbalize what the given body part says or wants to do.

Transforming movement into communication
This technique works with movements that are dysfunctional in nature (eg, self-stimulating, repetitive, used to keep others at a distance) and uses them as the basis on which the client is involved in the interaction. Wiggling the fingers near the eyes, which is common in some autistic children, can be transformed into wiggling fingers against each other, as if waving in greeting. When using this technique, it is important not to copy the person. It is best when the movements are similar to those of the client or are a direct response to what they are doing.

Development of the theme into action
Despite the client's best efforts, words often overlap and get in the way of experiencing the full content of a feeling or situation. The development of this material and bodily expression often crystallizes and deepens awareness. In addition, sometimes there is a discrepancy between what the person says and what he does. Non-verbal behavior is difficult to hide or change. As a result, it shows very accurately what is happening.

For example, a client was working on emotional separation from her father. Although she said the right words about how she now feels free from this situation, her motor behavior showed the exact opposite. Using the stretch tape as a connecting link to illustrate this discrepancy, the therapist, taking on the role of father, asked the client to hold onto the other end. The client was asked to imagine that this ribbon symbolizes the strong emotional bond that exists between her and her father, in order to see how she can free herself from this situation. She didn't want to let go of the tape. For her, this movement assignment clearly demonstrated her true feelings.

Another useful topic that can be translated into movement is trust. Allowing yourself to fully lean on someone or physically support someone - this can very clearly show individual styles or patterns. Surrendering completely to someone else's groundedness and balancing on someone else's support is a different bodily emotion than incomplete surrender. Clients can become aware of which people they trust, whether they trust at all or only partially, and how this represents their life patterns.
Resistance, passivity, cooperation, leader or investigator are some of the other topics that can be developed on a motor level.

Attention to interaction
All of the techniques suggested require a discerning sensitivity to non-verbal communication. Subtle changes in body position often indicate a change or settlement in a relationship. Especially in verbal therapy sessions, it is worth paying attention when people assume similar positions or move in sync (rhythmically) with each other. People use their physics to unconsciously block another person, cut off or interrupt non-verbal sequences, or change positions to avoid motor interactions with others. The non-verbal level provides information about relative status, strength (energy) of a relationship, strength or tendency toward attachment, rapport, conflict, defenses, and emotional expression.
Another important area of ​​work for professionals is physical activity (eg exercises, games, creative dance). This allows you to expand or set the level of physical activity, develop self-esteem, socialization (sociability), help release tension and relaxation.

Using rhythm
Physical activities that use rhythmic body movements, such as folk dances or exercises, enhance the feeling of community, cohesion among the group members. Rhythmic action also helps to prolong engagement by promoting consistent use of the body.

Release from tension
For people who are pinched or tense, movement work helps to relax uncomfortable or pinched parts of the body. Sometimes strong shaking of body parts (as if shaking off water or dust) can lead to cathartic release.

Working with props
For some, direct relationships with others can be painful or frightening experiences. Then the connection of the group members can be helped by working with objects. Moreover, objects can contribute to the direct expression of feelings when the actual feelings are too frightening. Foam balls can be thrown, broken, crushed; pillows can be thrown and kicked; and the canvases - pull or shake with all their might. By holding onto a stretch of fabric, people can feel like they are part of a group, even if they lack social connectedness. Working with props evokes and stimulates the natural bodily response; someone usually tries to catch the ball, or at least dodge the kick. It can also evoke memories of those moments when there was a game, competition or participation in a group.

Translation: Irina Biryukova

Dance therapy is used when working with people with emotional disorders, communication disorders, and interpersonal interactions.

The use of this method requires a rather deep preparation from the psychologist, since this type of interaction can awaken strong emotions, which are not so easy to find resolution. Dance movements combined with physical contact and intense interpersonal interaction can evoke very deep and powerful feelings.

The goal of dance therapy is to develop body awareness, create a positive body image, develop communication skills, explore feelings and gain group experience. In the history of the development of dance therapy, K. Rudestam singles out a number of key events.

The first is connected with the need for physical and mental rehabilitation of veterans who returned from the fields of the Second World War. Dance therapy has become an auxiliary method of rehabilitation for people with disabilities, many of whom either could not speak at all or were not disposed to be verbalized. After dancing in the dance class, they noted that they experienced feelings of relief and peace of mind.

Another factor contributing to the growth in the popularity of dance therapy was the movement of training in human relations, which appeared in the 60s, which became the basis for the development of new experimental approaches to work with groups and to the development of the personality of their participants.

Finally, interest in new dance therapy programs has been fueled by research on non-verbal communication, especially the analysis of the communicative functions of the human body. Dance therapy is mainly used for group work.

The main task of dance therapy groups is the implementation of spontaneous movement. Dance therapy encourages freedom and expressiveness of movement, develops mobility and strengthens strength both on a physical and mental level. Body and mind are seen in it as a single whole.

The main attitude is formulated as follows: movements reflect personality traits. With any emotional shifts, the state of health changes, both mental and physical, and the nature of our movements changes accordingly.

Dance therapy is aimed at solving the following problems:
1. # Deepening group members' awareness of their own body and the possibilities of using it. This not only improves the physical, emotional state of the participants, but also serves as entertainment for many of them. At the beginning of the first lesson, the psychologist observes the participants, evaluates the strengths
and the flaws in each client's movement repertoire, then determines which movements will suit each client best.
2. Strengthening the self-esteem of group members by developing a more positive body image in them. Severely impaired clients may find it difficult to draw the line between their own bodies and the environment. In such groups, dance therapy aims to create an adequate body image for the participants. Dancing allows you to make your body image more attractive, which is directly related to a more positive self-image.
3. Development of social skills through the acquisition of appropriate pleasant experiences by the participants. Dance moves are a relatively safe means of connecting with others while learning socially acceptable behaviors. Dance therapy creates conditions for creative interaction, allows you to overcome barriers that arise during verbal communication.
4. Helping group members get in touch with their own feelings by connecting feelings with movements. With the client's creative attitude to movement to the music, the dance acquires an expressiveness that allows you to release repressed feelings and explore hidden conflicts that can be a source of mental stress. Here the psychodynamic concept of "catharsis" extends to dance, since its movements release latent feelings, and this has a direct corrective meaning. The dance moves are not only expressive but also have the ability to release physical tension, especially when they involve swinging and stretching.
5. Creation of a "magic ring". Group activities involve participants working together, playing and experimenting with gestures, postures, movements, and other non-verbal forms of communication. All this as a whole contributes to the acquisition of group experience by the participants, all the components of which at the unconscious level form a closed stable complex - a "magic ring"

Along with the above, the following tasks are also being solved:
increased physical activity; communication training and the organization of socio-therapeutic communication;
obtaining diagnostic material for the analysis of the patient's behavioral stereotypes and his self-knowledge;
liberation of the patient, search for authentic ways of development.

Special dance therapy exercises are free swinging, movements that require composure and control over the body, alternating relaxation and composure associated with the breathing cycle, moving around the room in a strictly defined way.

In the first stage, which takes several minutes, dance therapy sessions are usually used as a warm-up, helping each participant prepare their bodies for work, much like a musician tunes his instrument before a performance. Warm-up exercises have physical ("warm-up"), mental (identification with feelings) and social (networking) aspects.

One of the options for starting classes is to perform spontaneous free-form movements with a medley of different melodies. There are exercises that include shaking, stretching, swinging, clapping, shaking, which, starting from the hands, extend to the elbow joints, shoulders, and chest. These exercises are repeated until the whole group is warmed up properly.
The second stage is the development of a general group topic. For example, the theme of "meetings and partings" is being developed. At the level of movements, separate parts of the body can "meet" and "part". The hands and elbows can "meet" to "part" immediately, or they can "meet" to "fight" or "hug" each other. Interaction between group members can be facilitated by the meeting of the palms of one with the elbows of the other, etc.

At the final stage of the lesson, the topic is developed using the entire space provided to the group, while the speed of movements and their sequence change. The leader either determines the nature of the movement of the participants, or repeats them himself.

For diagnostic analysis of movements and assistance to group members in expanding their motor repertoire, the "System of analysis of the form of efforts" developed by R. Loban is often used.

R. Loban (1960) developed a system for describing the analysis and diagnostics of movements, known as the "System of efforts", or "Form of efforts", based on the use of special symbols and designed to describe the dynamic and spatial aspects of movements.

In the "System of Efforts", according to Loban, the dynamics of movements is described by four parameters:
1. Space.
2. Strength.
3. Time.
4. Current.

Each parameter has two poles: space, which can be straight and multifocal; strength - powerful and light; time is fast and smooth; current is free and limited.

Each movement can be characterized by any of these dimensions, and their combinations constitute the eight basic efforts made in the movement. For example, the force of impact is fast, powerful, and direct, and the force of pressure is smooth, powerful and direct. Using the Loban system, it is possible to analyze movements in a group, which makes it possible to help group members in the study and expansion of their motor repertoire.

The group leader can be: a dance partner, a manager (organizer), a catalyst for the development of the participants' personality through movement.

It creates an environment of calm and trust in the group that allows participants to explore themselves and others, and also reflects and develops the spontaneous movements of the group members.

The group leader uses specially structured exercises that promote relaxation, correct breathing, change the body in space and enhance self-control.
Dance therapy is used to improve physical condition, release emotions, improve interpersonal interaction skills, to obtain positive emotions, and expand self-awareness. The usual duration of a lesson is 40-50 minutes. Classes can be daily, weekly (over several months or years).

For preventive purposes, it is possible to conduct one-time dance marathons. The optimal size of the group is 5-12 people.

Discussion is the question of the nature of the musical accompaniment of classes. Some leaders prefer standard tape recordings of folk and / or dance music, while others prefer their own (or their assistants') impromptu musical accompaniment. In all cases, it is emphasized that the individual and cultural significance of the music offered to the client should not overlap the significance and pleasure of one's own physical activity, therefore it is better to use melodies unfamiliar to the group, moderate sound volume and physiologically oriented rhythms that contribute to the formation of trance states of consciousness.

It can be used as an auxiliary or main method of correction in groups of children and adolescents, in sanatorium-resort conditions, in the correction of dysgamias in married couples, for socio-psychological and motor training of people with hearing and vision impairments or in the rehabilitation period (after cardio surgery, fractures limbs, etc.).

Dance therapy for children is so that the child can express his emotions through dance, show his mood, feelings. First of all, dance therapy promotes muscle development, allowing the child to spend energy, which he simply has in excess. Movements to music not only have a corrective effect on physical development, but also create a favorable basis for improving such mental functions as thinking, memory, attention, perception.

Download:

Preview:

Dance therapy

Dance therapy is a type of psychotherapy that uses movement to develop a person's social, cognitive, emotional and physical life. Dance therapy is a new form of treatment for a wide range of diseases. Treatment takes place on the principle that the body and mind are interconnected, and through the movement of the body, the most subtle areas of the psyche can be healed.Educators work with children who have various emotional problems, intellectual disabilities and serious illnesses. They work with children of all ages in group and individual therapy. Some also do research. Dance therapists try to help children develop communication skills, positive images and emotional stability. Obviously, dance as a method of treatment belongs to the field of body-oriented therapy, as well as psychology, physiotherapy exercises, art therapy and psychosomatic medicine. Dance has been used as a therapeutic tool for a long time. The origins of dance movement therapy go back to ancient civilizations in which dance was an important feature of life. It is possible that people started dancing and using body movement as a means of communication before the emergence of language. Experts prove that even traditional healers in Indian tribes used dance as a kind of healing art.In China, however, certain movements, such as Tai Chi, were added to medical treatment. As early as 19th century England, physicians were aware of the impact of movement on the treatment of both physical and mental illness. Diverse theories of dance therapy have been developed in the UK under the influence of contemporary American choreographers such as Martha Graham and Doris Humphrey. Dance therapy emerged as a profession in the 40s. 20th century thanks to the work of Marion Chase. She began teaching dance after finishing her career at Denishaun in 1930. She noticed in her classes that some students were more interested in the feelings that were expressed in dance and had little interest in the dance technique itself. And then she allowed them to appeal to freedom of movement, not the mechanics of the dance. Soon, local doctors began to send their patients to her. These were children with antisocial behavior, adults with movement problems, and psychiatric patients. She was the first dance therapist to work in the public service. Chase worked with patients with emotional problems and tried to help them reconnect with others through dance.

Dance therapy with preschool children is a very difficult and time-consuming process. The goal is to develop the creativity of children by means of dance art. The main objectives of dance therapy with children:

1. Not only improve the physical and emotional state of children, but also use your body correctly in dance
2. Develop social skills through creative interaction
3. Relieve physical stress, establish contact with your own feelings; connect feelings with movements
4. Teach children to work in a team
5. Increase physical activity
6. Liberate the child
7. Instill a love of dance
8. Develop a wide repertoire of children's dances and dance games

The rhythm in the teaching system introduces the teaching methodology and repertoire of children's dance. In childhood, at the initial stage of education, many important skills are laid, therefore, the development of a child is largely predetermined by the professionalism of the teacher. Rhythm helps to develop rhythm, the ability to hear and understand music, coordinate movements, develop and train muscle strength of the body and legs, plastic arms, grace and expressiveness. The rhythm creates a physical load for the child's body, equal to the load of several sports. The rhythmics of movements used in the lessons, which have passed a long selection, undoubtedly have a positive effect on the health of children. In such classes at an early age, posture, muscular skeleton are formed, the development of physical and natural data at an early age helps, like a sculptor, to sculpt a unique body from a simple material. In the teaching of young children, it is necessary to add a playful beginning, to make play the main component of the lesson, which should arise on the basis of the game, become its meaning and continuation. Dances-games, correctly selected and organized in the learning process, form the ability to work, arouse interest in the lesson, work. Therefore, it is important for the teacher to be attentive to the selection of the repertoire for students of primary school age, to constantly update it, making certain adjustments taking into account the time and characteristics of the children being taught, to learn independently, to create dance compositions and performances taking into account the age, psychological and physiological capabilities of children.

Methods of teaching rhythmics are closely related to constant physical activity and require perfect performing skills from the choreographer when demonstrating the dance repertoire. By itself, physical activity must necessarily be combined with creativity, memory development and emotional expression. The teacher-choreographer should bring up in children the desire for creative self-expression, competent mastering of emotions, and understanding of beauty. It is necessary to "wake up" in children an interest in classes and gaining new knowledge, to set clear goals for children's understanding. The choreographer must create conditions for a friendly, purposeful creative process, where both the teacher and the child work equally. In this respect, individual staging work brings great success. Children love her, take preparation with great interest, behave better in rehearsals than in class, get involved in the work process, fantasize, work with great enthusiasm and dedication. In the process of preparing for the performance, the teacher needs to form composure, creative activity and artistry, which are necessary in the future from future performers. They must be able to transform and possess the highest acting skills. Teachers-choreographers, rehearsing brightly and convincingly, achieve high positive results, their students differ in artistry, expressiveness in the performance of complex dance elements. When composing dance compositions for children, it is necessary to strive for the availability of the choreographic language. Movements should be simple and interesting at the same time. One should not get carried away by the abundance of various rhythmic figures, rearrangements, technical difficulties - inaccessibility extinguishes the child's desire to study. If he feels, understands the composition of the dance, then he will no longer give up in the face of difficulties and will work hard. A future specialist must skillfully select dance moves, combining them into interesting combinations, and build choreographic sketches. The technique of preliminary study work is useful in working with children precisely when staging plot dances and free programs. The most important factor in the work at the initial stage of training is the use of a minimum of dance elements with the maximum possible combination of them. Long-term study, repetition of a small number of movements make it possible to master it qualitatively, practicing is a solid foundation of knowledge. A different combination of dance movements opens up novelty and develops the creative imagination of children. Dance moves are taught through hands-on demonstrations and verbal explanations. It is necessary to clearly indicate the balance in the combination of these two methods. Detailed verbal explanation leads to loss of attention of students, loss of interest in classes. One cannot be limited only to practical demonstration, in this case the material is perceived imitatively and unconsciously. As you know, human motor skills are formed and developed from the first days of life: a child learns to walk, run, jump, etc. Any movement is a reflex, and it takes time to master it. Choreographic training is a long-term process of developing a large number of increasingly complex musical and motor skills. Future teachers should remember that teaching motor skills should always be accompanied by a specific emotional mood, it is impossible to teach only movements, it is necessary to reveal the emotional expressiveness of students. At the first stages of training, the teacher acquaints children with elementary concepts: the nature of music, tempo, rhythm, time signature, emotional expressiveness. There is an acquaintance with acting through game tasks for the transfer of emotional states. In the classroom, it is necessary to use improvisation. The improvisational creativity of children does not arise by itself, it relies on the perception of music, the child's ear for music and imagination, the ability to change, create something new based on existing experience. Children improvise expressive and pictorial movements in the nature of the music, which they listen to and perform, rhythmize, participate in games - improvisations based on Russian folk tales and fairy tales of other peoples. Creative tasks of an improvisational nature also include an independent choice of the most suitable names for the music you listen to. Movement to the music helps to better feel the general character of the piece, the tempo of the performance. Applying their movements in the course of music perception, children realize their involuntary desire for motor accompaniment of music. Children really like improvisation, they like to freeze in certain poses, spin, they like to dance in pairs. Also, in a playful way, you can acquaint students with anatomy: body parts - joints and muscles. This knowledge will help children learn dance elements more consciously and avoid possible injury. Thus, when training teachers-choreographers of sports ballroom dance, an important place is given to the subject "Rhythm", which lays the creative and professional foundations, teaches how to organize, plan concert-staging activities of the collective, be a leader and implement the tasks of developing spiritual and moral culture in a modern growing up generations.

Dance therapy for children is so that the child can express his emotions through dance, show his mood, feelings. First of all, dance therapy promotes muscle development, allowing the child to spend energy, which he simply has in excess. Movements to music not only have a corrective effect on physical development, but also create a favorable basis for improving such mental functions as thinking, memory, attention, perception. In addition, dancing contributes to the development of aesthetic taste in the child and the desire for beauty. This is revealed by the very set of dances and the clothes that are chosen for the dance the most beautiful. Also, the child develops an ear for music, which allows him to be in time with the music. The organizing principle of music, its rhythmic structure, dynamic coloration, tempo changes cause constant concentration of attention, memorization of the conditions for performing exercises, a quick reaction to a change in musical phrases. Dance can improve the psychodynamic functions of a child. In fact, rhythmic movements strengthen different muscle groups and improve joint function, as well as affect abilities such as speed, precision, and timing of movements. It is logical to give preference to motor methods at the beginning of the correctional process, thereby creating a basic prerequisite for the full participation of mental processes in mastering reading, writing, and mathematical knowledge. This proves the need for special dance classes. Lesson in a dance studio contributes to the fact that the child and the parents have common points of contact, and in the modern world, families have very few of them. Therefore, parents should motivate their child's interest in dance by their interest, pride in all his small victories, above all over themselves. The child will be much less sick with colds, will learn to proudly hold his back. All this in combination allows the child to become a full-fledged personality - morally and physically healthy.

For a person, creativity is one of the opportunities to penetrate into his inner world and get to know himself. It addresses the lightest and most sincere aspects of our soul. When we write, paint, dance or express ourselves in other forms of art, it allows us to relax, open up and at least be in harmony with ourselves for a little while. Creativity is an effective method for healing the psyche, which today has found wide application in practical psychology under the name art therapy.

Art therapy has a unique property to bring to the surface everything hidden, hidden, unconscious.

Art therapy allows people to see in their work a reflection of their true nature and understand who they really are. It contributes to the "breakthrough" of fears, complexes, clamps, extracting them from the subconscious into consciousness. The basic principle of art therapy is that creativity is healing in itself. We are healed already by the fact of creation, by the fact that we create and do something. And we do not have to understand all the principles and mechanisms of a particular method.

"Right-brain" creative activities are a kind of key to genuine experiences and to deep unconscious processes.

Art therapy has no contraindications. As a method of psychological assistance, art therapy has existed for a very long time. Among its many types, dance therapy stands out.

Dance therapy is a psychotherapeutic method based on creative self-expression and aimed at healing the psyche, self-knowledge and self-actualization. Self-actualization (from Latin actualis - real, real; self-expression) is a person's striving for the most complete identification and development of his personal capabilities.

Dance is one of the most ancient ways people use to express their feelings and emotions. Dance movements are a kind of communication tool. Dance is a living language, which is carried by a person. Thoughts and feelings are conveyed through images. In this case, music is not a required component. The origins of dance therapy can be found in ancient civilizations. Dance was used for communication even when languages ​​did not exist.

How does it work from a scientific point of view?

Wilhelm Reich, pioneer of body-oriented therapy. He said that if emotions (anger, resentment, joy, fear, etc.) are not given an outlet for a long time, they accumulate, forming a kind of muscle "shell". Any experience of a person, both positive and negative, is expressed in the tension of any muscle group. There is a bioenergetic theory of a strong connection between emotional experiences and muscle tension. Dance therapy can help relieve this tension.

The main essence of dance therapy is that all mental trauma of a person prevents him from freely expressing his emotions. Energy is expended to maintain this muscle tension. After reacting outwardly, it begins to circulate freely throughout all parts of the body.

Modern dance therapy is aimed at reducing muscle tension. It helps to increase human mobility.

Group dance therapy is most effective. This technique allows group members to become more aware of their own body and the possibilities of using it. This awareness leads to an improvement in the physical and emotional well-being of the participants.

Dance therapists combine the fields of dance and psychology. They have an unusual view of human development, which is based on the development of the whole body, not just the intellect or the motor abilities of the physical body.

How is patience dance different from dance lessons?

In dance therapy, we are interested in how movement is felt, felt, not how it looks. It cannot be considered as a dance direction. This is a branch of psychology. There are no standard dance forms here, so it is accessible to everyone. In this case, a wide variety of types of dance can be used. This method does not require special training, skills or talents. Sometimes they can even get in the way because they set standards. Therefore, if a person has previously studied or is engaged in dancing, he is offered to “forget” for a while everything that he knows, to abstract from his skills. Here spontaneity is important, allowing you to express yourself, understand your feelings, learn to trust and act with complete freedom. During dance therapy, it is very important to stop judging and criticizing yourself and your abilities.

In this case, dance is not an end in itself, but only a means that allows you to look into your inner world. Classes are aimed not at the result, but at the process, while in the course of special dance training all efforts are aimed at mastering the technique. The goal of dance therapy is to help people learn to express their emotions. And the movements have only an auxiliary meaning and are used to understand the experiences from which they have become.

For example, a person who is always in a hurry may unconsciously be afraid to slow down so as not to experience the emotion that bothers him. A person who unconsciously restricts his movements in space may have a number of restraining self-restrictions in life, not conscious, but causing discomfort. Internal stiffness is always expressed in stiffness of movements.

In dance therapy people are constantly experimenting, there is no right or wrong, beautiful or ugly. Everything has value, no matter what happens. Each member of the group shows himself as he can and wants. The sooner he can relax, open up, stop worrying about the opinions of others, the sooner he will feel that what he is creating is truly unique, beautiful and valuable.

The body as an instrument

In the modern world, we treat the body as a thing, feeling neither gratitude nor respect for it. We have learned to control the body, to give it certain forms and appearance, to restrain it, and we think that it will remain unresponsive. In high-performance sports (including pole dance), the attitude to the body is consumer-oriented. We constantly torment him, endure pain, fanatically mock ourselves for the sake of getting a result. And what does it get from us in return? We are even proud of this, elevating ourselves to the rank of great martyrdom of sports: “Look, I am in great pain, but I still train, I feel bad, but I compete! What a fine fellow I am! " But we do not understand until a certain moment that there are no winners in the struggle with our own body! By declaring war on the body, we are declaring war on ourselves... To our patient “house”, to our “ship”, which we have one for the whole journey called life. We demand all the time, tell him: "Give!" And we very rarely say, "Take it." All this can become a topic for a separate conversation.

Dance therapy perceives the body as an evolving process - it invites to a conversation, gives it the opportunity to express itself and be heard.

Why do we choose dance therapy?

In most cases, people come to dance therapy because they do not feel their body. Loss of body contact occurs when a person:

• seeks the approval and love of his parents (while developing the “should - should not” system);
• tries to avoid or escapes punishment (by developing basic clamps, blocks in the body and its movements);
• learns to survive in the world around him (thus developing different degrees of depersonalization - rejection, non-acceptance of significant parts of his personality).

The essence of the dance therapy process is to restore feeling and awareness.Just like other creative art therapies, dance therapy pays great attention to the creative process, the surprise of meeting the unconscious directly. Dance therapists paint in space and work with the music of the body's inner rhythm.

It helps to make the invisible visible, the unclear clear. This is a common dance that we perform together, and this is a unique dance that everyone must perform himself. Our bodies reflect our relationship with life.

Could the pole be a dance therapy tool?

I know of cases when pole dance really pulled people out of years of sluggish depression and from the very first lesson returned them the joy of life. This means that pylon art can be used in an unfamiliar way - as a new means of dance therapy. With the right approach, this can be a very interesting pole dance trend. The goals of professional sports, such as the ideal mastering of technical elements and the development of motor qualities, should not be pursued here. This direction is most suitable for people who are not associated with pole dance and other dances. As discussed above, professionals can be seriously hindered by their experience.

Our attention should be focused on our own body. It is not his form and parameters that are meant, but his feelings, desires and needs. With the help of the pylon, you can acquire the ability to hear and understand yourself. Pole dance therapy is suitable for girls as a means of developing femininity.

In pole dance therapy, as in other types of art therapy, the most important thing is the process itself, which should be led by a qualified dance therapist. In order to obtain such a specialty, it is necessary to have a higher psychological or medical education, or pedagogical with retraining in psychology / psychotherapy, as well as dance and movement experience. In this case, you need experience in pole dance. For dance therapy, for obvious reasons, knowledge of psychology is a priority, not choreography or sports.

Pylon art gives an incomparable feeling of flight, height, breadth of movement, and also helps to acquire smoothness and softness. Also, the pylon can be considered as a fulcrum. With the help of pole dance, you can discover not only the endless possibilities of your body, but also give healing to your soul, getting rid of everyday city stress, complexes and clamps.

Learn to hear and respect your body. Enjoy your workouts 🙂

Dance, as such, went beyond the usual framework and found a new life in the second half of the 20th century as an element of psychotherapy.

Dance movement therapy (TDT) has become widespread in many parts of this planet, as it uses the universal language of movement in contact with various psychological concepts.

Download:

Preview:

Dance movement therapy

Stupnikova Svetlana Alexandrovna,

teacher in the class of choreographic disciplines

MBOUDO "Fedorovskaya School of Arts"

gp Fedorovskiy, Surgutskiy district, KhMAO-Yugra

Dance and movement therapy

What is dance for you?

The ability to keep yourself in good physical shape? Good posture? Good mood? New acquaintances? Or maybe a search for yourself? Meeting with yourself, with your body?

Traditionally, a person is restrained in the manifestation of his emotions, and dance helps to relax, to show sensuality. With the help of music and movements, a person has the opportunity to feel his body and learn how to enjoy it. In dance, a person meets the present himself.

Dance, as such, went beyond the usual framework and found a new life in the second half of the 20th century as an element of psychotherapy.

Dance movement therapy (TDT) has become widespread in many parts of this planet, as it uses the universal language of movement in contact with various psychological concepts.

Dance is a unique act, improvisation. In spontaneous movements, a person's unconscious takes on a visible form. Dance helps to play the roles that we put on ourselves in life and begin to really relate to the situation. Dance movement therapy helps to feel and understand the cause of symptoms, pain of various kinds.

Even Wilhelm Reich, the founder of body therapy, believed that all emotional experiences that a person does not express for weeks, months, years, do not disappear anywhere, but "get stuck" in the muscles in the form of muscle blocks. The body and the psyche have a constant mutual influence on each other. Dance movement therapy examines the body's reactions and actions and helps to find that inner integrity that was lost as a result of the mismatch of feelings and actions.

Dance improvisation is the restoration of a certain dialogue with oneself, with one's body. This is an exploration of yourself. It is a way of expressing emotions, and even memories.

Dance movement therapy is the ability to keep the flame of your life burning brightly and illuminating the lives of loved ones.

Dance movement therapy(TDT) - directionpsychotherapy , in which dance and motion used as a process that contributes to the emotional and physical integration of the individual

History of development of TDT

The transition of dance to a therapeutic modality is most often associated with the name of the American dance teacher and dancer.Marion Chase ... She noticed in her classes the personality changes of students who were more interested in expressing feelings in dance than in the dance technique itself. And then Chase began to turn more to freedom of movement, thereby discovering the psychological benefits that dance offered. At first she worked with children and teenagers in her own studio and in special schools. Then her work made an impression on psychologists and psychiatrists, and patients began to be sent to her.

In 1946, Chase was invited to try his methods with hospitalized psychiatric patients.at St. Elizabeth Hospital (Washington, DC). This date is considered the birthday of dance movement therapy. Chase worked with regressive, non-verbal andpsychotic sick. Patients who were considered hopeless were able to engage in group interaction during dance therapy sessions and learned to express their feelings, which further allowed them to move on to more traditional verbal types of psychotherapy. Thanks to this, M. Chase's work received national recognition.

In 1966, theAmerican Association for Dance Psychotherapy (ADTA) , and this date is considered to be the beginning of the development of TDT as an independent discipline.

In Russia, dance movement therapy appeared in the 1990s and initially developed as a type of groups for personal growth for adults and creative development for children. At the end of 1995, aDance Movement Therapy Association which is actively supported by the American Dance Therapy Association (ADTA),European Association of TDT and International Creative Expression Therapy Association (IEATA) .

Method description

In their work, dance movement therapists rely on a number of principles:

1. Body and psyche inseparable and have a constant mutual influence on each other.
2. Dance is a communication that takes place on three levels: with oneself, with other people and with the world.
3. Triad thoughts - the senses - behavior - a single whole and changes in one aspect entail changes in the other two (the principle of integrity).
4. The body is perceived as a process, not as an object, object or subject.
5. Appeal to the creative resources of a person as an inexhaustible source of vitality and creative energy.

Goals

1. Expanding the scope of awareness of your own body, its features and capabilities.
2. Developing deep self-confidence and self-esteem by developing a more positive body image.
3. Improving social skills in a safe space of therapeutic relationships.
4. Integration of inner experience - establishing a connection between feelings, thoughts and movement.
5. Creation of deep group experience.

Types of dance movement therapy

In dance therapy, there are three groups of approaches:

1. Clinical dance therapy is an adjunct therapy that is used in clinics along with medication and can last for several years. It is especially effective for patients with speech impairments and interpersonal communication problems. Dance therapy has existed in this form since the 1940s.
2. Dance therapy for people with psychological problems (dance psychotherapy) - focused on solving specific client needs. The work can take place both in a group and in an individual form, and it takes a lot of time to achieve a sustainable result. Most often, this approach uses the psychodynamic model of consciousness (psychoanalysis) or the approach of CG Jung's analytical psychology.
3. Dance movement therapy for personal development is an activity for people who do not suffer from problems, but want something more in their life. In this case, dance becomes a way of recognizing oneself and one's special individual qualities. It helps you understand the hidden stories of the body, expand your self-image, and find new ways to express yourself and interact with others.

This division into groups is rather arbitrary, but it reflects the requirements for the education of a dance therapist and the real restrictions on the use of techniques.

TDT is always based on direct experience, therefore dance psychotherapy techniques can be used within different areas of psychotherapy:

• emotional response therapy;
• psychoanalytic (depth) therapy;
• scenario and role therapy;
• existentially - humanistic therapy;
• transpersonal therapy.

Basic principles of dance movement therapy.

Improving movement is the best way to improve. Why? There are the following reasons:

1. The nervous system is predominantly occupied with movement.

2. The quality of the movement is easily discernible.

3. The experience of the movement is the richest.

4. The ability to move is essential for self-esteem.

5. All muscular activity is movement.

6. Movements reflect the state of the nervous system.

7. Movement is the basis of consciousness.

8. Breathing is movement.

9. The basis of the habit is movement.

The main task dance movement therapy - gaining feeling and awareness of one's own "I". People turn to because they, being alienated from the body, do not feel integrated. In modern culture, we often treat the body as a thing, an object. Dance movement therapy teaches to treat the body as an evolving process. And another important difference between dance-movement therapy and various approaches to working with the body is that here the client examines himself, his movements and develops along his own path. This therapy is more interested in how movement feels than in how it looks.
Joan Smallwood, Jungian analyst and dance therapist and student of Mary Whitehouse and Trudy Shoop, singled outthree components of the therapeutic process:

1. Awareness (of body parts, breathing, feelings, images, non-verbal double messages, when there is a dissonance between a person's verbal and non-verbal message).
2. Increase in expressiveness of movements (development of flexibility, spontaneity, variety of movement elements, including factors of time, space and strength of movement, determination of the boundaries of one's movement and their expansion).
3. Authentic movement (spontaneous, dance-motor improvisation, coming from an inner sensation, including the experience of feelings and feelings and leading to the integration of the personality). Authentic movement activates those parts of the psyche that K. Jung described as parts of the unconscious, thereby opening up unexpressed emotions that were blocked in the body.

Dance, psychotherapy and dance movement therapy:

differences and commonality

In the past few years, among many hobbies, there is one that cannot but rejoice - this is a hobby for dancing. As if permission had come to realize an old dream and a real need of many people - finally, you can, you can dance, without having in mind a professional career in art or sports, you can, just because you want to.
And in general, our time is characterized by an explosion of mass dance, the increasing role of everyday dances in the structure of the mass cult. Dance has become an organic part of our life. He is leisure and sport, he is entertainment and relaxation.

The combination of words is increasingly used -dance movement therapy... It is used in different ways: dance therapy, dance therapy, dance therapy, etc.

Several different "understandings" can be distinguished:

1.medical - Dance therapy as a kind of physical education, remedial gymnastics or shaping. Dance professionals include such techniques as Pilates, Alexander and Feldenkrais techniques, or BMC (body-mind centering), which is still little known in our country.
2. new age - ecstatic dance, dance-meditation, etc. 3.psychological- dance techniques in the context of personal development trainings or individual therapy.

The potential for a therapeutic effect of dance is very high, but it is not the goal. Uniquenessprofessional dance movement psychotherapyis that it is a conscious, purposeful and structured process.

How dance and dance therapy "treat"

The therapeutic mechanisms themselves in dance and dance therapy naturally overlap, but are not identical, and in some cases opposite. Two basic therapeutic mechanisms that exist in dance (and not only in dance) are its ability to be an expression of various human feelings and changes in the bodily, motor character of a person when learning new movements.

Reacting , catharsis through re-living and awareness of emotionally significant moments of the past is a fairly general (and naturally disputed) mechanism of depth and body-oriented therapy. In dance practice, two implementations of this mechanism are distinguished:

Dance as a psycho-emotional release;

Dance as a creative (symbolic and holistic) self-expression.

The first method more reflects the ordinary and narrowly medical approaches, but, of course, it adequately describes the processes of the standard social functioning of dance (discos, etc.). The second is more related to dance-as-art and its potential to combine physical, emotional, intellectual and spiritual processes into a single action.

Psycho-emotional dischargea fairly simple and costly (in the sense of profound changes) method, a typical example of which in the therapeutic field are trance dances. He relies on the orgiastic nature of the dance. Self-expression - the area of ​​expressive arts is a detailed and rather complex process that requires “entering” the material and mastering it. It can be work with a specific image in the dance, which has a special emotional significance for the dancer.

Another basic mechanism is retraining ... If the violations are caused by problems and missed (dissociated) stages of development in the past or a cessation of development in the present, then retraining is an adequate mechanism for restoring the continuity and integrity of development. It can act as:

a) rebuilding and transformation of dysfunctional patterns (work with posture, focus of attention in movement, etc.);

b) gaining new experience(for example, mastering new qualities of movement). Naturally, this division is conditional, and, in a real process, the mechanisms overlap and support each other. Nevertheless, it makes sense to know, isolate and use these mechanisms in a real process - creative, educational or therapeutic.

It should also be borne in mind that specific dance directions and styles present a certain set of qualities that are characteristic of them. Therefore, "not all dances are created equal," rather, they are "useful" in different ways. And each direction has its own "downside" - what exactly this dance direction cannot teach, as well as a set of qualities that must be "rejected" in order for the dance to correspond to the style.

Many dance therapists combine a therapeutic approach and a certain direction of dance (for example, flamenco or belly dance), but much more often in TDT, the style of modern or contemporary dance is used, since these areas are associated with personal, author's, deeply individual expression in the dance.

Dance and Dance therapy: boundaries

The fundamental difference between therapy and most dance directions lies in the absence of a pre-established result - image, style, vocabulary of movement. So even in dance improvisation, the laws of composition (or their violation) are important, and in the context of a dance therapy session, we may not pay attention to this at all. For dance therapy, it is more important WHAT a person feels when he is moving. HOW it looks is, rather, of diagnostic value.

The second difference is the presence of a dance therapist, i.e. a person with a special (not purely dance, and not only psychotherapeutic) education. At the current level of development, even the presence of choreographic experience and psychological education can only be a starting point in the formation of a dance therapist. One of the illusions is that Dance therapy is an "easy" kind of psychological work. In fact, this is a superficial view that can only lead to superficial results and profanity.

Some knowledge of psychology and dance, at best, can lead to what is called "creative dance", ie. creative dance. It is a process of creative development through dance and movement, not directly related to the teaching of any dance skills. Creative dance can be part of dance therapy, but the context of dance therapy is broader.

The third difference is the ratio of verbal and dance modality. Dance therapy is always associated with the establishment, deepening of connections in the "body-mind" system and, therefore, refers to different languages: both to the "languages" of the body, sensations, feelings, and to the verbal and symbolic languages. In principle, the relationship between these two modalities can be different, but the "therapeutic" of the process largely depends on the creation of an adequate context, the ability to comprehend and integrate the experience.

The very context of dance therapy, its positioning is another difference. In other words, people can come to dance classes with not too conscious "therapeutic" needs and satisfy them, but these tasks are sometimes easier to solve in a direct way, through dance therapy. It is possible that this discrepancy between unconscious goals and technical dance pursuits will lead to the opposite effect - the rejection of the dance itself; as often happens in childhood, when the natural need for movement is too structured, adjusted to alien standards, when dance becomes only a technique and its ability to deal with the integrity and development of the integrity of the human being is forgotten. And when this is forgotten, the dance remains an unfulfilled and even frightening, pipe dream.

Dance therapy and psychotherapy: position

There are different ideas about the place of dance movement therapy in the rich and diverse world of modern psychotherapy. Some consider it to be part of art therapy, understanding "art" as art in the broadest sense of the word. But then we have terms to denote psychodrama, music therapy, dance therapy, but there is no special term to designate directly "art therapy", where "art" is a fine art.

Dance therapy is stillseparate direction, requiring specific training and education, although in a real therapeutic process, dance therapy techniques, bodily approach and any areas of expressive art therapy are perfectly combined and complement each other. One of the modern trends in the development of psychotherapy is precisely the development of a polymodal approach. And the boundaries that I spoke about need to be designated only so that the unity of these approaches does not become an indiscriminate confusion.

Dance therapy techniques can be used within different areas of psychotherapy, since they are not an expression of a specific view of the nature of human consciousness, but rather create the possibility of access to various structures and layers of the "body-consciousness" system and their integration.

"So what dance do I need to dance for this to be therapy?" - asked me on one talk show. The very formulation of the question is interesting. It reflects the typical “mythology” (according to R. Bart) of modern society, when therapy is a procedure for taking the “right pill”. This "mythology" cannot deal with the real process of dance - live, ambiguous, unfolding in time. A process in which the subject and the object, the author and the work, the process and the result, the living and the life - are One. A process in which the focus shifts from the result and the goal toquality of accommodationprecisely of this moment, and, therefore, of the whole life, which consists of "these moments."