Cecila's workshop - number 2

Discussing the boundaries of Dance Movement Therapy:

• Supervision- comes as part of the practice
• Behaviour- making sure it's appropriate at all times. verbal. Confidentiality- making sure the clients know that it is confidential before they begin
• Property and space- considering personal space and environmental space. Keeping the space the same everytime so the client doesn't get confused or distracted by the space. keeping it clear and clean of objects etc to allow room for movement and feelings of safety 
• Energy- keeping the right amount of energy throughout the session. being engaged but not overly energetic
• Time keeping- Both client and therapist must be on time every session to gain the most out of the session
• Therapist must not reveal anything about themself to their client, so they cannot make assumptions etc  

Cecilia's workshop continued

Talking about Dance Movement Therapy and creative arts therapy we took part in tasks in groups where we took the four emotions, happy, sad, fear and anger and applied them to a group of people and came up with a task which would allow the people to use movement to express those emotions creatively.

We decided to tell a story about the weather and the group could join in with the sounds and movement...

• Thunder storm (Anger) - stomping feet and clapping hands and noises using the mouth.
•  Rain (sad) - finger tapping on a surface to create noise and finger actions 
• Wind storm (fear) - shivering/ rubbing the body to create warmth and whistling
• Sunshine (happy) - lifting the head, circular motions with the hands and arms, bird actions and noises

We also said that the session could then lead into a discussion about memories that have sparked to do with the weather, as the weather sparks different thoughts and feelings and stories.

Cecilia Macfarlane workshop

Defining the differences between Dance Movement Therapy (DMT) and Therapeutic...
This is particularly interesting to me as I am studying DMT for my dissertation currently.

 

Dance Movement Therapy

Therapeutic

·         Unity of mind and body ·         Connecting the physical to the psychological ·         Relationships and contact ·         Expression of inner emotions, feelings and memories through movement and dance ·         Body does the speaking ·         Helps with general well-being ·         Can be for people with mental illnesses, physical disabilities, blind or deaf people, the elderly, children, adults.

·         Relaxing ·         Inner connections ·         Doesn’t have to be therapy to be therapeutic ·         Talking to people ·         Touch/ contact ·         Senses- smell, music, colours etc ·         Colouring ·         Retail therapy