Dance therapy - when everything hurts except the soul. Who can benefit from dance therapy?

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

Dance- movement therapy(TDT) has found wide distribution in many parts of this planet, as it uses a universal language of movements in contact with various psychological concepts.

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Dance Movement Therapy

Stupnikova Svetlana Alexandrovna,

teacher in the class of choreographic disciplines

MBOUDO "Fedorov School of Arts"

GP Fedorovskiy, Surgut district, Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug-Yugra

Therapy with dance and movement

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 the dance helps to be liberated, to show sensuality. With the help of music and movements, a person has the opportunity to feel his body and learn to enjoy it. In dance, a person meets his true self.

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

Dance Movement Therapy (DMT) has become widespread in many places on this planet, as it uses a universal language of movement in contact with various psychological concepts.

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

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. Body and psyche have a constant mutual influence on each other. Dance Movement Therapy explores the reactions of the body and its actions and helps to find that inner integrity that has been 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 an opportunity to keep the flame of your life burning brightly and illuminating the lives of loved ones.

dance movement therapy(TDT) - directionpsychotherapy , wherein dance and traffic used as a process that promotes the emotional and physical integration of the individual

History of TDT development

The transition of dance into a therapeutic modality is most often associated with the name of an American dance teacher and dancer.Marion Chase . She noticed in her classes the personality changes of students who were more interested in the expression of 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 out his methods with hospitalized psychiatric patients.at St. Elizabeth's Hospital (Washington, DC). This date is considered the birthday of dance movement therapy. Chase has worked with regressive, non-speaking andpsychotic sick. Patients who were considered hopeless were able to engage in group interaction in 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, the work of M. Chase received national recognition.

In 1966, theAmerican Dance Psychotherapy Association (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 personal growth group for adults and creative development for kids. At the end of 1995, aAssociation for Dance Movement Therapy , which is actively supported by the American Dance Therapy Association (ADTA),European Association TDT and International Creative Expression Therapy Association (IEATA) .

Description of the method

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

1. body and psyche are 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, and not as an object, object or subject.
5. Appeal to human creative resources as an inexhaustible source life force and creative energy.

Goals

1. Expanding the scope of awareness of one's 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 the safe space of the therapeutic relationship.
4. Integration of internal experience - establishing a connection between feelings, thoughts and movement.
5. Creating a deep group experience.

Types of dance movement therapy

In dance therapy, three groups of approaches can be distinguished:

1. Clinical Dance Therapy - auxiliary view therapy, which is used in clinics along with drug treatment and may last for several years. It is especially effective for patients with speech disorders 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 needs of clients. Work can take place both in group and in individual forms, and it takes quite a lot of time to achieve a sustainable result. Most often, this approach uses the psychodynamic model of consciousness (psychoanalysis) or the approach analytical psychology C. G. Jung.
3. Dance movement therapy for personal development- these are classes for people who do not suffer from problems, but want something more in their lives. In this case, dance becomes a way of recognizing oneself and one's special individual qualities. It helps you uncover the hidden histories of the body, expand your understanding of yourself, 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 limitations of the use of techniques.

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

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

Basic principles of dance movement therapy.

Improvement of movements - The best way improvement. Why? There are the following grounds:

1. Nervous system busy mostly with traffic.

2. The quality of movement is easily discernible.

3. The experience of movement is the richest.

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

5. Any muscular activity is a 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 habit is movement.

The main task dance-movement therapy - gaining a sense and awareness of one's own "I". People turn to because they, being alienated from the body, do not feel integrated. AT contemporary culture we often treat the body as a thing, an object. In dance movement therapy, you are taught to treat the body as an evolving process. And the most important difference between dance-movement therapy and various approaches to working with the body is that here the client himself explores himself, his movements and develops according to own way. This therapy is more interested in how movement feels than how it looks.
Joan Smallwood, Jungian analyst and dance therapist, student of Mary Whitehouse and Trudy Shoop, highlightedthree components of the therapeutic process:

1. Awareness (body parts, breathing, feelings, images, non-verbal double messages, when there is a dissonance between the verbal and non-verbal messages of a person).
2. Increasing the expressiveness of movements (development of flexibility, spontaneity, diversity 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 experiences 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, due to which unexpressed emotions that were blocked in the body are opened.

Dance, psychotherapy and dance movement therapy:

differences and commonality

In the last few years, among many hobbies, there is one that cannot but rejoice - this is a passion for dance. As if permission had come to realize an old dream and a real need of many people - finally you can, you can dance, not having 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 dancing, an increase in the role of everyday dances in the structure of mass cult. Dance has become an integral part of our life. He is leisure and sport, he is entertainment and relaxation.

Increasingly, the combination of words is also used -dance movement therapy. Used in different options: dance therapy, dance therapy, dance therapy, etc.

There are several different "understandings":

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

The likelihood of 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 intersect, but are not identical, and in some cases are 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.

response , catharsis through re-experiencing and awareness of emotionally significant moments of the past is a fairly common (and naturally contested) mechanism for deep and body-oriented therapy. In dance practice, there are two implementations of this mechanism:

Dance as a psycho-emotional release;

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

The first way reflects the ordinary and narrowly medical approaches, but, of course, adequately describes the processes of the standard social functioning of dance (discotheques, 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 rather simple and costly (in terms of deep changes) method, a typical example of which in the therapeutic field is trance dances. It draws on the orgiastic nature of the dance. self-expression - expressive arts area - expanded and sufficient difficult process, requiring "entry" into the material and mastering it. This may be work with a specific image in the dance, which has a special emotional significance for the dancer.

Another basic mechanism is retraining . If violations are caused by problems and skipped (dissociated) stages of development in the past or a halt in 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) getting new experience(for example, the development of new qualities of movement). Naturally, this division is conditional, and, in a real process, the mechanisms overlap and support each other. However, it makes sense to know, isolate and use these mechanisms in the real process - creative, educational or therapeutic.

It should also be taken into account that specific dance directions and styles present a certain set of qualities that are specific to them. Therefore, "not all dances are equally useful", rather, they are "useful" in different ways. And each direction has its own "reverse side" - what exactly this dance direction cannot teach, as well as a set of qualities that must be "rejected" in order for the dance to match 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 directions are associated with a personal, authorial, deeply individual expression in dance.

Dance and Dance Therapy: Borders

The fundamental difference between therapy and most dance directions lies in the absence of a predetermined result - an image, a style, a 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 can not pay attention to this at all. For dance therapy, it is more important WHAT a person feels when he moves. The way it looks is more of a diagnostic value.

The second difference is the presence of a dance therapist, i.e. a person who has 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 development 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", i.e. creative dance. It is a process of creative development through dance and movement, not directly related to learning any dance skills. Creative dance may be part of dance therapy, but the context of dance therapy is wider.

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-consciousness" system and, therefore, refers to different languages: both to the "languages" of the body, sensations, feelings, and to verbal and symbolic languages. In principle, the relationship between these two modalities may be different, but the "therapeutic" process largely depends on the creation of an adequate context, the possibility of understanding and integrating 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" requests and satisfy them, but these tasks are sometimes easier to solve directly, through dance therapy. It is possible that this discrepancy between unconscious goals and technical dance practices will lead to the opposite effect - the rejection of the dance itself; as often happens in childhood, when natural need in movement it is too structured, adjusted to alien standards, when the 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 varied world of modern psychotherapy. Some consider it part of art therapy, understanding "art" as art in the broadest sense of the word. But then we have terms for psychodrama, music therapy, dance therapy, but there is no special term left to refer directly to "art therapy", where "art" is fine art.

Dance therapy is stillseparate directionwhich requires specific training and education, although in the real therapeutic process, dance therapy techniques, body approach and any areas of expressive art therapy are perfectly combined and complement each other. One of current trends development of psychotherapy is precisely the development of a polymodal approach. And the boundaries that I spoke about need to be marked 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 certain 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 kind of dance do I need to dance for it to be therapy?" - they asked me on one talk show. The question itself is interesting. It reflects the typical "mythology" (according to R. Barth) of modern society, when therapy is the procedure for taking the "right pill". This "mythology" cannot deal with the real process of dance - alive, ambiguous, unfolding in time. A process in which subject and object, author and work, process and result, living and life are One. A process in which the focus shifts from result and goal toquality of livingthis particular moment, and, therefore, the whole life, which consists of “these moments”.

Dance has been used by people since ancient times as a tool for relationships. People danced during all significant events, in their anticipation and for the glory of what happened. This happened outside the door of the woman in labor and near the deathbed. With the development of civilization, dances have become a subject of art for a person. They were assigned a strict place, limited by the boundaries of decency reasons for dancing. But in human nature there is a love for dance, and then dance therapy was invented.

The foundations of this science were laid by famous psychologists. Among them are Freud, Adler, Jung. This science was promoted by A. Duncan, M. Wigman, Rudolf von Laban.

The first dance therapist in the world is considered to be the American dancer Marion Chase. She worked in the 30s of the last century. Her work was based on strict training in the rules different dances. However, the woman noticed that people dance more relaxed, and give themselves up to invented movements with great enthusiasm. Their body is liberated, and a smile plays on their faces. She began to build her lessons on the combination of spontaneous dance and traditional movements.

To help emotions get out, a person must dance.

In 1966, America's first dance association was founded. In the 90s, the movement, popular by that time in the West, came to us.

Dance Movement Therapy: Theory and Practice

Dance therapy has a positive effect on people who do not know how to express emotions and suffer from this. Classes with dance therapists are based on individual basis, as well as in groups. For a teacher of courses, a psychological and dance education is required. The principle of working in a group is simple - those present receive a task, complete it and share their impressions with each other.

The benefits of dance therapy are threefold:

The state of health, blood supply and physical form are normalized;
A person, feeling himself in a new hypostasis, acquires a great;
Learns using body language.

Classes help:

Group dance therapy

The difference in teaching in group dance therapy is that the people who come to the group become one whole process. They look like a dance in a round dance or improvisation in a group. Special attention is paid to the synchronism of gestures and movements, the unity of the students' experiences. The groups are divided into pairs, where one of the partners plays the chosen role, and the second tries to force him to give up his position with the help of body movements. Many students complain that new faces appear in groups and familiar ones disappear. But it helps those who remain learn to quickly adapt to change and find common ground with new people.

Dance therapists try to teach people to understand a partner through his movements, to look for the true background of his actions and actions. Conversations in the group are replaced by a dance, where each of those who were listened to expresses their thoughts with the help of dance steps. If the group members are inclined to talk today, the classes are held in the form of a monologue followed by a discussion. If today they want to dance more than talk, the teacher follows the desires of the group.

Dance Therapy - Exercises

There are several exercises that all dance therapists use in their lessons. If you are unable to attend dance groups, use their experience in self-study. So, exercises for dance therapy:

Dance of individual parts of the body.

Turn on the music and dance. First with one hand, then with the other, then with each foot separately, and so on. Be sure to “dance” with your face - lips, eyes, forehead muscles. As you dance, remember what feelings you experienced at what moment. Write them down in a notebook.

We move as best we can.

Now, which one you like best, and dance to it as you see fit. Change the motive to the opposite, and move under it. Write down how your mood has changed depending on the change in dance and music.

Music style.

Select musical works in different styles. Try to eliminate the ones you don't like. Turn on in a row and dance, choosing movements spontaneously. Fix your attitude to each style, and write down your feelings.

In front of the mirror.

Looking at yourself in the mirror, dance. What feelings does the person who dances on the other side of the reflective surface evoke in you?

Get dressed.

Try putting on a costume show for yourself. According to each musical style, dress up and dance.

Are you a tiger or a rabbit?

Imagine that you are an animal and move like the character you are portraying. Now explain why you chose a tiger, a rabbit, or a kitten.

Try to move to the music the way you imagine any work. For example, washing or ironing clothes. Take as a template your regular activities - brushing your teeth, eating, shaving, etc. Change movements, experiment.

professional dance.

Turn on clips or TV shows that have a lot of music and professional dancing. Copy their movements and pas. What feelings do you experience?

Place a reproduction of the painting in front of you. Try to express her mood in dance.

We dance like others.

Remember how your friends dance. Reproduce their movements. What feelings did you have?

Sitting position.

Sit on the floor and move to the music in a sitting position.

Lying position.

Now stretch out on the bed or on the floor and keep dancing to the music.

Imagination.

Turn on the music, close your eyes, and try to imagine how you would like to move to it.

"Partner".

Take a toy, a chair, or an umbrella as a partner. Anything that comes to your mind and does not interfere with moving around is suitable as a “partner” for dancing.

And so on until you can hold objects in your arms, armpits and between your legs.

Who needs dance therapy?

People who feel disharmony between body and spirit turn to dance therapists. This feeling arises from an early age, when a child does not feel the love of parents and people around him, when he is haunted by a sense of guilt for his actions, when he has to learn to survive in the world around him on his own. Including, if in adolescence a person experienced a feeling of dissatisfaction with his body. This feeling does not disappear even with the years. A person seeks and finds in dance therapy awareness of himself, body and personality.

The whole process is based on the struggle of opposites or the achievement of what was considered unattainable. In addition, a person, discovering new opportunities in himself, learns to think creatively. He examines himself from different points of view, begins to really look at things, and correctly evaluate actions and misconduct.

Dance therapists give students the opportunity to feel the rhythm of the music and express inner feelings with the help of body movements. They evoke from the hidden corners of the soul of every person those experiences and problems that have not found solutions. They help to find answers to questions that a person has been looking for in vain for years.

Dance movement therapy (dance therapy) is a unique type of psychotherapy that originates in the art of dance. It is based on the connection between mind and body.

If you strengthen and develop this connection, then the state of mind and psyche will be more. During the dance, you can recognize, experience and express different feelings and emotions.

In the process of dance movement therapy, it is possible to improve your communication skills and improve communication. During the session, confidence is developed, the ability to recognize and express emotions, mindfulness is trained and a positive image of oneself is formed.

On the physical level in the course of therapy, such qualities as balance, coordination and a sense of rhythm improve. Increased range of motion and ability to improvise. TDT helps reduce tension and develop a caring, respectful attitude towards your body.

In the process of dancing, the brain integrates information coming from the visual, auditory, vestibular and somatosensory systems. In order to process all incoming information during movement, different parts of the cerebral cortex and subcortical nuclei fire simultaneously.

Dance regulates the levels of serotonin and dopamine in the body. In turn, the level of concentration of these hormones is associated with fatigue, stress, insomnia and other factors. promotes cognitive processes, concentration levels, creativity and spontaneity and gets in touch with your inner resources.

Dance therapy can take place in a group, individually, as well as for couples.

Initially, in culture, dance was an expression of feelings. He conveyed what a person feels in this world. ancient man“danced” his fears, danced his grief and happiness. Not one ritual of transition or birth, the initiation of boys into men, girls into girls, weddings and deaths did not take place without dancing. Man expressed in dance his relationship with higher powers.

The mechanism of the impact of dance on a person by modern science was studied only in the twentieth century. However, our ancestors did not need these explanations, they knew how to use psychophysical practices aimed at expanding the boundaries of our consciousness.

American dancer Marion Chase is the first dance therapist. Initially, she was interested in the emotional side of the dance and the feelings that the dancer conveys. A little later, the technique of performance became less interesting for her and she gave her preference to the expression of feelings in free plasticity.

Back in 1946, she became convinced of the power of dance movements while working with hospitalized psychiatric patients. Marion worked with the most difficult patients, with whom verbal therapies simply did not work. They were too complicated and the main task, of course, in working with psychiatric patients is to improve their communication skills and bodily reintegration - the return of a person to awareness of his body.

During treatment, instinctively patients experienced involuntary joy, which began to bring a therapeutic effect. Marion worked successfully for many years and was able to identify a large number of favorably influencing the psychological components of the dance.

In the 1960s, research into nonverbal behavior and the role of the body in mental health issues also influenced the practice. In 1966, the American Dance Therapy Association (ADTA) was formed, which developed standards for training and certification in this area.

Wilhelm Reich is considered the founder of body therapy. It was he who was able to prove that many psychological and physical problems are formed in childhood:

All the fears that originated in a person in childhood and were suppressed over time lead to the fact that the muscles become stiff. The first cause of many mental and physical illnesses are various clamps and blocks that appear from the accumulation of negative experiences and thoughts. All muscle tension can be completely dissolved if natural breathing and spontaneous movements are restored.

This is what Wilhelm Reich sought, because he was sure that positive emotional outbursts had a good effect on the psyche.

Dance Therapy Methods

There are several methods and techniques for working with the body:

• Attention to bodily sensations;
• Emotional motor expression;
• Analysis;
• Re-accommodation.

Organized different groups dance therapy. Clinical is the main one. It may take several years, but the effect will be guaranteed. Clinical therapy helps such patients who have speech disorders in communication with other people.

There is a more difficult form, which is applied to people with psychological problems. The method is based on analytical psychology. Dance therapy is carried out both individually and in a group where other patients are present. This type helps to solve any specific psychological problems of a person.

Another method of dance therapy was created for those people who do not have problems, but something in their life does not suit them. This helps them find their hidden “I”, express themselves in a new way and interact with other people.

Treatment begins with light exercises, thanks to which the body is tuned to work. Exercises and tasks are structured so that a person can get to know himself and his body.

The dance therapist is also a participant in the event, fully involved in the process along with his patients. He creates direction, assigns assignments, and monitors the changes his methods bring to each patient.

Indications for use

People with psychological problems, as well as healthy people who want to find inner balance, find benefit in dance therapy. Problems that this therapy can solve:

1. Provides negative emotions and aggression a safe way out;
2. Helps to analyze and get rid of bad thoughts and feelings;
3. Changes the attitude towards his body to a more conscious one;
4. Helps to get rid of problems in communicating with strangers, thanks to the communicative experience gained in the group;
5. Increases self-esteem and develops creativity.

For those who often stay in bad mood or experiencing stress, dance therapy is essential. Therapy also helps to solve such psychological problems as jealousy, dissatisfaction family relationships, fears, phobias, feeling of loneliness, increased anxiety.

What problems can be treated with dance therapy?

Dance therapists work with people in therapy to help them improve mentally and physically. TDT is a universal form of therapy based on the idea that movement and emotion are interrelated. The creative expression of dance therapy can strengthen communication skills and inspire dynamic relationships. It is commonly used to treat physical, psychological, cognitive and social problems.

Physical problems:

• chronic pain
• childhood obesity
• Arthritis
• High blood pressure
• Cardiovascular diseases

Mental health issues:

• Anxiety
• Depression
• Disordered food
• Low self-esteem
• post traumatic stress

Cognitive problems:

• Dementia
• Communication problems, sociability

Social Issues:

• Autism
• Aggression / violence
• Complex social interaction
• family conflict

How effective is dance therapy?

Studies have shown that dance therapy can be effective in treating mental health issues such as disordered eating, depression and anxiety. Some recent examples include:

• Journal Research The Arts in Psychotherapy(2007), showed that dance therapy had positive influence participants experiencing symptoms of depression.
• Research conducted American Journal of Dance Therapy(2004), which included 54 students in a dance therapy violence prevention program, found that aggression among the participants decreased and social behavior increased.
• Study from Alzheimer's Care Today(2009) suggests that TDT may directly improve memory recall in people with dementia.
• In a review of the literature from American Journal of Dance Therapy indicated that TDT can be good option treatment for children on the autism spectrum.
• Due to its social and physical components, dance movement therapy is also being considered as a treatment option for childhood obesity.

Key principles of TDT

1. Body and mind are interconnected, so changing one affects the other.
2. Movement can express aspects of personality.
3. Part of the therapeutic relationship is conveyed through non-verbal means.
4. Movements can be symbolic and represent an unconscious process.
5. Improvisation of movement, experimentation can lead to new sensations and perception of the surrounding reality.

Features of dance therapy for children

Dancing is one of the most enjoyable ways. dance classes is in everyone kindergarten. Healthy children simply jump to the music in the form of a game, and for children with disabilities are created dance programs with a curative focus. Doctors have created dance therapy complexes for children with visual, hearing and musculoskeletal disorders.

Improved Physical. Dancing is an active physical activity, and children who regularly participate in dance classes improve their physical health significantly. According to the Pro Dance Center, regular dance practice can increase your child's flexibility, range of motion, physical strength and endurance. The repetitive movements associated with dance can improve muscle tone, correct poor posture, increase balance and coordination, and improve overall health.

Dancing is an aerobic form of exercise. It could potentially help overweight children lose weight and improve their eating habits. .

Benefits of socialization. Apart from physical activity, dancing is also a social activity. According to FamilyTalk Magazine, dance lessons can help kids improve their social and communication skills: learn how to work in a team, develop a sense of trust and cooperation, and make new friends.

If your child is shy, dancing can encourage them to socialize with other children their own age and help reduce anxiety about new people or places. can also help alleviate fears associated with speaking in front of an audience.

Dance therapy for the elderly

The world's older population is projected to nearly double by 2050, and cases of dementia and depression are expected to increase in tandem. Therefore, there is a great need for integrated, non-pharmaceutical methods that enhance cognitive, psychosocial and motor functions and improve the overall quality of life of older people.

Studies show that dance movement therapy can significantly improve mood among the elderly, as well as improve cognitive function and sensorimotor performance (Kshtriya, Barnstaple, Rabinovich, DeSouza, American Journal of Dance Therapy, 2015) .

Dancing can also help prevent falls, improve gait and balance, and reduce the need for submission techniques. And many elders find it more enjoyable than other forms of physical activity.

Dance therapy improves and increases the range of motion, develops coordination. It has a profound positive impact on the lives of older people. It is much more than just pleasant entertainment - it is real medicine.

Dance Therapy - Exercises

Dance therapy uses special exercises, such as:

• Free swing;
• Movements that require concentration and control over the body;
• Alternating concentration and relaxation;
• Movement around the premises in a strictly defined way.

Classes or dance sessions consist of several stages:

On the first, the therapist will listen to you and find out what is important to you at the moment and what you expect from the process. At this point, all organizational issues are discussed.

Second phase begins with a warm-up, which takes a few minutes and consists of exercises that, in the form of a warm-up, prepare the body for work. Spontaneous free-form movements are performed under different music. Exercises include shaking, rocking, clapping.

The main part consists of tasks aimed at achieving therapeutic goals. The stage consists of developing a theme for the entire group, the members of which must interact with each other.

In the final stage class, a topic is developed that can use all the space that is provided to the group. The sequence of actions and the speed of the participants must change.

Third stage is the completion stage. The stage of reflection, which is necessary in order to formulate the experience in words and deepen the therapeutic process.

Whatever your story, you always have the choice to trust and take a step into the unknown. Let movement into your life.

Irina Gorbacheva dance therapy (video)

We also invite you to watch a video, a project using dance therapy "I'm dancing in Moscow":

And also the clip of Polina Gagarina "Dance with me" with the participation of Irina Gorbacheva, where she says: "Dance therapy works differently, it opens, protects and heals"!

Conclusion

Dance, which is based on the natural impulses of your body and born from the very depths of your soul, can destroy many barriers in your head, as well as help you find yourself. Spontaneously born movements are able to free us from disturbing thoughts. Man acquires new way thinking through your body. In the process of such treatment, a person acquires harmony and health.

Read the article: 5 717

1. The emergence and development of dance movement therapy
2. Basic principles and goals
3. Emotions and movement
4. Working with interpersonal relationships in dance movement therapy
5. Dance-movement methods and personal growth trainings
6. Conclusion

The emergence and development of dance movement therapy

The roots of dance movement therapy go back to ancient civilizations. Perhaps people began to dance and use movement as a means of communication long before the emergence of language. Making an excursion into history, we see that dance was one of the ways of life, communication, harmonization of a person. Human history can be seen not only as a chronology of events, but also as a history of movement.

Over time, in Western cultures, dance turned from a form of social communication of self-expression into an art form, the purpose of which was to teach and amuse the public (K. Rudestam, 1998). One of the first who contributed to the revival of creative dance was the famous dancer Isadora Duncan (twentieth century). Traditionally, it is considered that mental life of a person is most directly connected with the body, with movements. A therapy that combines work with the body, movements and emotions is dance movement therapy.

Its development was influenced psychoanalytic theory(W. Reich, 1942; G. Sullivan, 1953), analytical psychology of C. Jung (1961). One of the main advantages of dance-movement therapy is its continuity with the traditions of ancient cultures, in terms of understanding the structure and role of movement in human life and a holistic approach to the bodily and mental health. K. Jung believed that the mutual penetration of bodily and mental characteristics is so deep that by the properties of the body we can not only draw far-reaching conclusions about the qualities of the soul, but also by mental characteristics we can judge the corresponding bodily forms. The literature highlights the following factors that contributed to the development of dance movement therapy:

After World War II, many people needed rehabilitation: physical and spiritual. Dance movement therapy contributed to this. The "first lady" in this type of therapy was considered Marian Chase (Chace M.), who worked at St. Elizabeth in Washington DC. She developed dance into a therapeutic modality. Working with non-verbal and mental patients, she has achieved great success. Patients who were considered hopeless became capable of group relationships and the expression of their own feelings.

Tranquilizers were discovered in the 1950s. Dance Movement Therapy acted as alternative program for the treatment of mental disorders.

60s: "training movement human relations", which contributed to working with groups and developing methods for developing self-awareness.

Research non-verbal communication, including analysis of communicative behavior human body(Birdwhistell, 1970).

The concept of dance as communication was developed by dancer Mary Wigman: "Dance is a living language that a person speaks ... Dance requires direct communication, because the person himself is its carrier and mediator, and the human body is the instrument of expression."

In the 1950s and 1960s, dance also began to be used as a therapeutic modality for the treatment of emotional disorders. They are Trudy Shupe and Mary Whitehouse, Francesco Bowes and Lillian Espinac. They worked in different directions, but their common therapeutic goals were: integration of the body leading to a sense of wholeness, separation of group and individual expression of feelings, expression of emotional material, including conflicts, memories and fantasies through symbolic actions.

The analytical psychology of K. Jung had a great influence on the development of dance-movement therapy. "The body without the soul does not tell us anything, just as - let us take the point of view of the soul - the soul cannot mean anything without the body ..." K. Jung believed that artistic experiences, which he called "active imagination" , expressed, for example, in dance, can extract unconscious drives and needs from the unconscious and make them available for cathartic release and analysis. "The soul and the body are not separate entities, but one and the same life."

Basic principles and goals of dance-movement therapy.

The main task of dance-movement therapy is to gain a sense and awareness of one's own "I". People turn to a dance therapist because they are alienated from the body and do not feel integrated. In our modern culture, we often treat the body as a thing, an object. Unlike the bodywork approaches (which we mentioned above), in dance movement therapy there is no ideal body model to achieve. The dance therapist treats the body as an evolving process. And the most important difference between dance-movement therapy and various approaches to working with the body is that here the client explores himself (the principle of client activity), his movements and develops along his own path, and the therapist follows him (i.e. non-directive style therapy). This therapy is more interested in how movement feels than how it looks.

Joan Smallwood, Jungian analyst and dance therapist, student of Mary Whitehouse and Trudy Shoop, identified three 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 messages).

2. Increasing the expressiveness of movements (development of flexibility, spontaneity, diversity 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 the inner sensation, including the experience of experiences 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. Authentic Movement as a method of dance-movement therapy, based on the analytical psychology of C. Jung, was created by Mary Whitehouse.

Dance movement therapy can serve as a bridge between the world of consciousness and the unconscious. With dance movement therapy, the patient can use movement to express themselves more fully and to maintain their authenticity in contact with others. Unlike other bodywork approaches, dance movement therapy uses dreams, images or symbols in bodywork. Dance movement therapy is the only type of therapy that uses a lot of free space. The dance therapist works constantly with his own body, using it as a tool to get to know the client's non-verbal world. Dance movement therapy, in addition to movement, also uses such concepts as weight, space, time to expand and enrich the client's creative and expressive world.

The dance therapist concentrates on the relationship between therapist and client, client and space, conscious movements and unconscious ones. Dance movement therapy comes in two forms: individual and group. In a group form, the process of dance movement therapy is based on the fact that the therapist directs the spontaneity of the participants' movements, develops them. A typical group session includes 3 parts: warm-up, its development and completion (this structure is also typical for other types of psychotherapeutic groups: psychodrama, gestalt, etc.).

Warming up helps to join the group, to better feel your state, to center. The emotional states of group members are expressed and developed more fully on the bodily level, integrating thoughts, feelings and actions. As a result of warming up, group members usually feel relaxed, coordinated and ready to move. Warming up also promotes the beginning of awareness of one's feelings and thoughts and their connection with the body and movements. (For example: stretching the shoulders and arms can develop into a pushing movement associated with the desire to push something away, unpleasant situation or the person with whom it is associated). By repeating and reinforcing the movements, the therapist helps each participant become aware of feelings through visual feedback. Movement behavior expands in the dance, helping the awareness of conflicts, desires, and can help to experience negative feelings and release them. Here the therapist must be very sensitive to what is happening in the group so that there is no emotional and physical overload that leads to resistance to work. The therapist helps to bring the process of movement to completion (3rd part of the group process) with the help of verbal feedback. This stage promotes the integration of the physical, emotional and cognitive components of the structure of the Self. psychological topics, correlating them with the personal history of each. One of the main themes of group work is "How to be yourself while in contact with other people."

In the past, dance movement therapy was almost always applied to people with severe disabilities. Today, it is increasingly focused on working with healthy people who have psychological difficulties in order to develop their self-acceptance, effective interpersonal and group interaction, self-actualization, integration of parts of the Self. Therefore, it is the socio-psychological aspects of dance movement therapy that are gaining more and more interest. There are three main areas of work for a dance therapist:

1. The body and its movements
2. Interpersonal relationships
3. self-awareness

The aims of therapy in the first area are: to activate the body in order to help the patient to fully discover tensions and conflicts, to develop more of the body's capacity to experience a sense of bodily integration and coordination.

In the second area, the dance therapist sets a basic level of communication through the use of rhythm and direct physical interaction. group experience allows you to increase the degree of self-awareness through the visual feedback that a person receives through observing the movements of other people. By observing how feelings are expressed through the body in others, a group member can begin to identify and discover their own feelings. The microcosm of the world, represented in the group, gives the group member the opportunity to receive and give feedback and expand the behavioral repertoire of socio-psychological roles.

In the third area, the goals are grouped around the idea that conscious bodily experience fosters and deepens self-awareness. The most direct expression of personality traits is possible through the body. This physical experience of the action of the muscles acts as a quick way to learn and gain experience about yourself, develops the self-concept and promotes self-esteem.

Dance-movement methods and personal growth trainings

In trainings for personal growth and transformation, TDT is used for various purposes, in various volumes and with various degrees of awareness. The purpose of this article is to clarify the place and possibilities of TDT in the context of other techniques and directions of the "new psychotherapy".

The main TDT techniques are woven into the fabric of the general dance session and are parallels, interpretations of well-known therapeutic techniques in the language of movement and dance. We can trace several such parallels: attachment by posture and breath in NLP, attachment by posture and movement ("mirror"); exaggeration, amplification of feeling and its expression in gestalt therapy - design, exaggeration of a certain movement in the process of a dance session, development of a theme into action; work with muscle blocks and sequences of complexly coordinated actions in body-oriented therapy, release from tension, expand the range of motion in TDT, etc. Thus, we can say that TDT, having approximately the same arsenal of techniques as other directions " new wave" psychotherapy, works with them in their own field in the body and movement.

In addition to techniques-receptions, many techniques-formats (exercises and formats) have been developed within TDT, which can be easily included in the context of many trainings. These are exercises such as "continuum" (in its diverse Russian variants), "authentic movement", contact improvisation, "pedestrian dance", Gabriela Roth's "body jazz" and many others.

For example, consider the Dancing Path process, also known as the Five Movement Dance. Its authorship belongs to the "urban shaman" Gabriela Roth. She identified five primary rhythms of movement, which, in her opinion, are present in all cultures and are representations of ontological qualities.

1. Flowing - smooth, soft, rounded and fluid movements; movement of "feminine" energy.
2. Stacatto - sharp, strong and clear movements, "male" movements.
3. Chaos - chaotic movements.
4. Lyrical - subtle, graceful movements, "butterfly flight" or "falling leaf".
5. Stillness - movement in stillness, observation of the primary impulses of movement, "pulsing statue" (5).

There is special music for this process, each stage lasts about five minutes. Before the start of the process, a briefing is carried out, after the process - a pronunciation. "Dance of Five Movements" is recommended to be performed with closed eyes, fully surrendering, including the whole body in each of the rhythms.

These modalities or rhythms of movement in the context of therapy and personality research are representations of personality characteristics. The client or participant in the training may have aversion to certain movements. So, quite often, middle-aged women do not accept "male", sharp and strong movements. "I'm not like that, I don't like it," they say. At the same time, they complain about the lack of attention in the family, the inability to express their feelings, the position of the victim. In the process of work, it turns out that it is a clear, vivid and clear expression of one's desires that helps to change the situation. The source of strength is often located where we are afraid and unusual to go.

Thus, this technique can perform several functions:

Diagnostic - a person discovers "mastered and unmastered" qualities and how this picture is connected with his life. He can make a conscious choice - to master a certain area of ​​his life, previously unfamiliar or even "forbidden".

Test - if this technique is carried out at the beginning and at the end of the training, then many people clearly perceive the degree and quality of the personal changes that have come.

Therapeutic - in combination with other techniques of awareness and transformation, the "Path of Dance" allows a person to find ways to express himself, expand the range of reactions and forms of interaction. In addition, the movement itself, which is also filled with personal and meanings, has a positive psychophysiological effect.

Conclusion

Dance movement therapy allows you to work out the dynamic aspect of muscle tension patterns. The dynamic aspect of muscle tension is sometimes difficult to respond to in any other way, even deep bodywork does not cover this series of tensions. By being aware of the dance, by dancing freely and consciously, one takes a step towards accepting freedom and creativity in everyday life.

The dance therapist must have great sensitivity to what is happening in order to enable people to experience emotions, express them and transform them.

Through work in a dance movement therapy group with problems of trust, awareness of personal boundaries, and other personal problems, as well as with the help of feedback: verbal and non-verbal, favorable interpersonal relationships are established. The dance movement therapy group is a microcosm of various social situations, whereby clients learn to perceive themselves and others more adequately and expand the range of behavioral possibilities.

Dance therapy is a non-verbal method of psychotherapy. The purpose of this psychotherapeutic technique is the expression of emotions with body language. Through movements and their analysis, the process of recovery of the patient begins.

In dance therapy there are no strict rules and certain dance movements. The patient is given complete freedom of expression. Such movement therapy is used to help sick people. Dance therapy can also be used as a preventive measure.

Since ancient times, dance has been a means of expressing feelings. AT wild tribes and to this day, ritual dances accompany the main events of a person's life - the birth of a child, wedding and death, as well as recovery. Many nations recognize the miraculous power of dance, which helps to gain new strength or relax. For many people, the opportunity to dance is an opportunity to relieve stress, relax, recharge and cheer up.

AT late XIX At the beginning of the 20th century, characteristic dance became very popular. Its foundation was laid by the famous American dancer Isadora Duncan, one of the founders of modern dance. She denied the classical school of dance, used ancient Greek plastique, replaced her ballet costume with a tunic, danced without shoes, expressively and emotionally revealing her personality. Character dance as a method of treatment began to be practiced in America. Some of the big names in the field are Mary Whitehouse, Trudy Scoop, Merian Chase, and Lillian Espenak. In 1966, the American Dance Therapy Association was established, and in 1967, a treatment center in New York.

Fundamentals of Therapy

The theories of Carl Gustav Jung influenced the development of dance therapy. Jung's works have helped many dancers through dance to try to penetrate into the depths of the human subconscious and overcome certain psychological problems, as well as get rid of many diseases. Some psychoanalysts have applied Jung's theories to dance therapy and even developed them further. Exist various styles and areas of dance therapy. The theoretical principles of each individual direction are associated with the corresponding psychological school and therapeutic methods. However, at the heart of all styles of dance therapy is psychology.

Dance therapy is understood as a therapy of impressions and sensations, aimed at the patient's feelings at a particular moment. By dancing, the patient must express what he has experienced. By analyzing the patient's movements, the therapist tries to describe as accurately as possible his behavior during the dance and understand the person's problems. The patient and the therapist together try to expand the usually rather limited potential of movements and thus contribute to the emancipation of the person and overcoming his complexes and psychological problems. The therapist helps the patient to become aware of his movements, and through the movements to know himself. In the last stage of therapy, called integration time, the patient expresses his feelings with movement. He must feel himself and his body as a whole and express it with movements.

Indications for the use of dance therapy

At first, the founders of dance therapy successfully applied this method in psychiatric hospitals. They managed to help many patients undergoing long-term treatment in the hospital. However, this form of therapy can be used successfully in all forms of neurosis, childhood autism, learning disabilities, mental disability or senile dementia. Dance therapy is usually used as a group therapy, but can also be used individually.

Dances are treated by therapists who have received special education. In Europe they are trained by senior colleagues. In the USA there are special courses where dance therapy specialists are trained.

Dance is closely connected with the joy of life, with the holiday, good mood and pleasant communication. Dancing is always uplifting, so it is recommended for all people, regardless of their ability to dance.

Dance therapy is especially widespread in the United States, where it was created. In order to become a dance therapist, you need to graduate from a university that trains specialists in this field.