It might sound as purely theoretical question, but no
matter how much academic the inquiry may sound, defining the strategic development
is meaning building a framework for our group spiritual growth and expansion.
Just several months ago, it started as traditional Dance Moving Therapy class,
but eventually it moved to the more leveraged Dace Therapy session, which is
commonly called as dance interventions approach in the scientific literature.
At this point, it would be beneficial to discuss the
differences between “Dance Movement Therapy” and the “Dance interventions”, as it is currently defined by
most researchers. According to the Institute of Dance Movement therapy, dance movement
therapy (DMT) is a “form of psychotherapy which uses creative movement and dance
as a process to further emotional, physical, cognitive and social integration
within a therapeutic relationship.” The institute goes on to say that DMT is
“based on the assumption that an individual's movement reflects his/her
individual way of thinking and emotional processes”. The institute also stresses that “DMT does
not focus on dance - dance steps and movement sequences are very rarely taught during
sessions” (IDMT website).
The American Dance Therapy Association also defines DMT
as “the psychotherapeutic use of movement to promote emotional, cognitive, physical, and
social integration of individuals,”
(ADTA website). Whist DMT is practiced in numerous
variations of the community settings, it became necessary to make certain meaningful
distinction between dance classes, or dance-based interventions, and specific
DMT programs and variations.
So, summarizing the DMT definition, it focuses on the
therapeutic benefits of the dance and movement, considering the dance and
movement as mere tools to enhance the students’ well-being and improve
physical, and mostly, emotional state.
At the opposite range of the dance related therapeutic activities
can be placed free-style dancing. It also has multiple shapes and variations,
like Ecstatic dance, 5 Rhythms dance, Elementals Dance, Biodanza, and many
others, but the main idea, and class development, comes from the same sacred
source. Frankly, the free form dancing has been around in the history of
humankind, in some form or another, for about 30,000 years. Shamans used it as
a tool for setting forth what is commonly called "dream change." The
primary notion being that by getting into a trance-like state, a shaman could
purposefully alter reality as we know it. Another belief was that each of us
has, within us, a vast knowledge about ourselves and our place within the
universe. This is frequently called the "True Self." Shamans believed
the only way to tap into the True Self or this vast knowledge is through
Ecstatic Dance.
When we dance, our movement activates its related network
territories, lighting up all of our associated memories, readying them to be
changed, to be updated to this new time and place. Of course, any dance is
good. The beauty of the Wave of 5 Rhythms, for example, is that it’s created to
take us through a series of different and distinct rhythms that elicit very
different kinds of movement and different associations, all on a path to an
experience of selflessness. The rhythms incorporate cycles of birth, death, and
rebirth and that she knows that’s true because she experienced the rhythms
during the birth of her child. From the standpoint of neuroscience, the
experience of rebirth is more than a metaphor.
Defining the place of the freeform dance, we can
highlight that it should be considered more as moving meditation, than dance
per se, letting the students to go deeper in subconscious through releasing the
emotions, letting the body to free up the accumulated tensions and blocks with
minimum to zero guidance from the class facilitators.
So, how we are positioning our Dance Therapy classes on
the revealed scale? Probably, somewhere in the middle, between the therapy
focused movement and self-healing moving meditation. We craft the program of
the classes, using the freeform dance as the background self-valuable therapeutic
activity to warm the bodies, help opening the souls, and activate the energy
flow through the human chakras, while crafting the thematic psychological
exercises to explore the particular activities topic, prepared for the class,
emotional, mental, behavioral, or somatic.
The classes in series do not require consecutive
participation in all the previous activities, and can be attended on the
drop-in basis. However, each following class tends to get a minor step forward,
extending the horizons and getting deeper in the process of the
self-improvement and self-healing.
Today, Conscious Dancer magazine lists almost 150
variations of ecstatic/freestyle dances offered throughout North America,
Europe, Latin America, and Australia. The dance now integrates Hula-Hoops,
hip-hop, and Acro yoga with Contact Improvisation and Authentic Movement. Music
varies from electronic mixes, kirtan chants, and tribal drums to tango and
classical ballet.
In our niche, we are preparing the music sets, not
commonly used for the dance therapy classes. It includes retro, Jazz, classic, Spanish
guitar, Klezmer, and popular hits of the previous century.
We are yet to get to the global map of Conscious Dancer.
But before we do, we need to shape up the approach, establish the direction for
development and commonly accepted boundaries, all with love and enthusiasm, of
what we are doing, and how we are moving forward. We cannot do that without
YOU! Join the interactive dialog and tell us what your vision is, and what can we
do to make the class better for YOU!
