Dance therapy and Healing

 

Introduction

Movement and dance are inherent qualities, not only to humans, but to all of nature and the cosmos. From the creation of the universe, to the first heartbeat of the fetus in the womb, rhythm and dance have always existed.

 

For tens of thousands of years, humans have used dance as an integral part of ritual, prayer, and reaching other states of consciousness, for the purpose of healing, and to facilitate contact with the Divine.  It is believed that the soul of a people is woven into the steps of their dances. 

 

Sadly, the incredible power of dance as a sacred ritual has often been interpreted as a threat throughout history. The male-dominated Christian church put an end to women dancing and drumming in the church, as it represented power and worship of the Goddess.  The United States government outlawed Native Americans from gathering and performing their sacred and traditional dancing and drumming up until 1978 when that freedom was restored by the Religious Freedom Act. 

 

Fortunately, dance as ritual and healing is becoming popular once again, as people from many cultures and walks of life have been exposed to some of the many healing properties of dance. Throughout history, most cultures have used dance as a method of accessing the Divine.  Dance is often performed as a spiritual experience, either for the self, for others, for community, or for the planet.

 

Dancing is a popular method of socializing and creating and enhancing relationships. Movement and dance have been used for thousands of centuries around the world specifically for their many healing qualities.  The western world is just recently waking up to the understanding of the healing power of dance.

 

More recently dance is acknowledged for its physical exercise aspect, where the healing comes from the healthy body experience of increasing the heart rate and enhancing cardiovascular endurance, body strength, and flexibility. This is exemplified in the form of Dancercise, also known as Jazzercise, made popular in the 1980s. 

 

 

2.  History of dance In the beginning...

“Nothing happens until something moves.”  Albert Einstein

https://n.b5z.net/i/u/8000224/f/The_Healing_Power_of_Dance_by_Susan_Rueppel.pdf

 

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/9395627/ 

 

Dancing is more than fun — it's therapeutic 

https://www.aarp.org/health/fitness/info-03-2011/dance-for-health.html

 

 

 Why do we stop dancing when we grow up? Why do we disconnect and alienate ourselves from the body? It is surprising to me that dance/movement therapy (DMT) is not more popular within the fields of psychology and psychotherapy globally.

https://www.mic.com/life/the-healing-power-of-dance-19455675

 

Dance is your pulse, your heartbeat, your breathing. It’s the rhythm of your life. Jacques d’Amboise

Dance Movement Therapy

Dance/Movement Therapy is the psychotherapeutic use of dance and movement processes to bring about healing and recovery for individuals of all ages and cultural groups

DMT does not emphasize dance technique and it is not about the artistic product (a performance). Rather, it is very much about improvisation, the mobilization and exchange of energy, and the creative, expressive process. DMT clients learn to move in ways that are authentic to how they are feeling and experiencing life, in the context of a supportive therapeutic relationship.

Dance embodies one of our most primal relationships to the universe. It is pre-verbal, beginning before words can be formed. It is innate in children before they possess command over language and is evoked when thoughts or emotions are too powerful for words to contain. It is essential that education provide our children with the developmental benefits and unique learning opportunities that come from organizing movement into the aesthetic experience of dance.” — National Dance Education Organization

https://psychosocialsomatic.com/dance-therapy/

 

When a group of psychologists from the U.K. visited Rwandan villagers to help heal genocidal trauma through talk therapy, the psychologists were soon after asked to leave.

 

For Rwandan genocide survivors, rehashing their traumatic memories to a stranger while sitting in tiny rooms with no sunlight didn’t heal their wounds at all — it just poured salt on them, forcing them to relive the trauma over and over again.

 

That wasn’t their idea of healing.

 

They were used to singing and dancing beneath the sun in sync to spirited drumming while surrounded by friends. That’s how they healed from trauma and other mental ailments.

 

The Rwandans aren’t alone.

 

For thousands of years and in multiple cultures, dance has been used as a communal, ritualistic, healing force, from the Lakota Sun Dance (Wiwanke Wachipi) to the Sufi whirling dervishes (Sema) to the Vimbuza healing dance of the Tumbuka people in Northern Malawi.

 

The field of psychology codified the healing power of dance through an Expressive Therapy modality known as Dance/Movement Therapy (DMT). It was developed by American dancer and choreographer Marian Chace way back in 1942.

 

“The body doesn't lie,” says Dance/Movement and Creative Arts Therapist Nana Koch.

Please Do Try This At Home

If you’re in a cranky or mildly depressed mood and don’t have the wherewithal to get out of the house for a yoga class or gym workout, you can always just put on some upbeat music and start moving around in your house to get the blood and endorphins flowing.

 

This will elicit what Gray calls a “state shift” — you switch from a feeling malaise or lassitude to a more upbeat and energized mood within ten or so minutes of dancing. It’s not a treatment for trauma or clinical depression, but it certainly can boost your mood.

 

“I'd say that [people who want to dance at home] should choose the music that makes them feel good and begin to move their body to the music,” Koch says. “Get a good video to follow along with, anything that you can use to mobilize your body.”

 

https://www.shondaland.com/live/body/a30111576/psychological-benefits-of-dance-therapy/

 

 

While all forms of dance can help our heart, mental outlook and energy levels; only the free-form spontaneous types of dancing have been shown to help heal us of inner trauma.    

https://www.angelmessenger.net/learn-the-secret-to-the-amazing-healing-power-of-dance/

 

https://www.primalplay.com/blog/benefits-of-dance-for-physical-and-mental-health

 

 

 You Are How You Move: Healing Through Dance | Jessika Baral | TEDxWUSTL

Jessika is a dance activist who started the nonprofit organization Our Chance to Dance in 2015. She talks about how dance can transform people and draws from her experiences teaching dance to the blind, the deaf, orphans, senior citizens, female domestic abuse survivors, cancer patients, and the general public. She started the ‘Move to Heal’ movement worldwide which connects, heals, and empowers others through dance. Jessika Baral grew up in California. She has been dancing for the past 18 years and teaching dance for the past 7. She founded Our Chance to Dance, a nonprofit based in St. Louis focused on using movement to empower, heal, and connect.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vv3h0ifpB84