Creative Dance and Movement in Groupwork

Helen Payne

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2019
• ISBN:
  9780429861413
• Edition: 2
• Topic: Medizin
• Subtopic: Beschäftigungstherapie

This invaluable resource for teachers and therapists continues to explore the link between movement and emotions presented in the first edition of this innovative book. It provides 180 practical activities with a clear rationale for the use of creative dance and movement to enrich therapy or educational programmes.

This book features session plans divided into warm-ups, introductions to themes, development of themes and warm-downs and explores many areas, including developmental movement processes, non-verbal communication, and expression communication. In addition to thoroughly updating the content of the original edition, this timely sourcebook includes new material on creative dance and dance movement psychotherapy, added references throughout and updated resources to reflect the most current knowledge.

Creative Dance and Movement in Groupwork will be an invaluable asset for group leaders wishing to enhance their practice, as well as a starting point for those wishing to learn more about the field. It provides guidance and practical information that is suitable for working with clients of all ages and for those with a professional or practical interest in the educational, health, recreational or psychotherapeutic use of the arts, this book may act as one of many guiding lights on your journey.

SECTION 1

BACKGROUND

Introduction

Historical development

Dance as movement and dance as performance art

The role of the dance and movement practitioner in relation to the dance movement psychotherapist

Dance movement psychotherapy: the mode of working

Training in dance movement psychotherapy

Conclusion

BACKGROUND

Introduction

Dance has been part of human life throughout the ages, performed to celebrate, for example, births, marriages, harvests and wars (Sachs, 1937). People dance as naturally as they play, court, feed or fight and dance is often used to express those functions. Throughout the world dance is part of our rituals (see Glossary) and our heritage. In the UK The Gulbenkian Dance Report (1980) defined dance as part of the history of human movement, part of the history of human culture, and part of the history of human communication.

Growth, health and creativity are often seen to be interrelated, the potential for all being present in human beings. Improvisation and re-enactment, through dance, of earlier experience, can help to release tension and aid self-expression and integration. In our society, where there is perhaps a declining emphasis on physical work or action, energy is often repressed; hence the popular need for physical outlets such as the leisure pursuits of aerobics and jogging.

A recent study by Tarr, Launay and Dunbar (2016) demonstrated that the effects of dancing together in synchrony and with exertion reduced pain and increased a sense of belonging (social bonding). In a study on the perceived benefits of dancing on wellness from an ‘arts in health’ perspective, quantitative and qualitative analysis revealed that dancing has potential positive benefits on well-being. Benefits related to emotional as well as physical, social and spiritual dimensions. In addition, the positive benefits were also linked to self-esteem and coping strategies (Murcia, Kreutz, Clift and Bongard, 2010). Argentine tango and mixed-genre therapeutic dancing classes accompanied by home programmes are feasible and safe for people in the early to mid-stages of Parkinson’s disease, according to a study by Rocha, Aguiar, McClelland and Morris (2018). Gomes, Menezes and Oliveira (2014) found from their meta-analysis of dance therapy with patients with chronic heart failure that dance therapy should be considered for inclusion in cardiac rehabilitation as it improves exercise- and health-related quality of life.

Earlier research (for example, Doyne et al., 1987) has demonstrated that this action of physical doing helps to release tension and reduce depression. Dance and movement are active, dynamic, body-based, expressive and communicative media; the build-up of adrenalin can be dispersed and aggression, rigidity and apathy can be discharged in a socially acceptable manner. To dance out anger or joy, love or sadness enhances the individual’s ability to express these affects. Inaction and depression are often synonymous; the creative act of moving alone or with others can enable an integration of mind, body and spirit.

An early study by Puretz (1978) compared the effects of dance and physical education on the self-concept of disadvantaged girls. There was a significant increase in the dance subjects’ self-concept. In another study, May, Wexler, Falkin and Schoop (1978), schizophrenics were shown to benefit from group dance movement therapy, and later studies for this population have found dance movement therapy to reduce negative effects (Röhricht and Priebe, 2006). Leste and Rust (1984) studied the effects of modern dance on anxiety with subjects in further education. Their results indicated a statistically significant drop in scores for anxiety levels in the experimental group in comparison to the music therapy and physical education control groups.

The effects of dance movement psychotherapy (DMP) interventions and the therapeutic use of dance were studied in a meta-analysis of research conducted over the past 20 years by Koch, Kuntz, Lykou and Cruz (2014). This showed moderate effects for quality of life and clinical outcomes (depression, anxiety) and yielded small but consistent effects for improvement of well-being, mood, affect and body image. The analysis included the effects of 23 evidence-based primary studies for 15 populations (N = 1078).

There are significantly more studies demonstrating the positive outcomes of dance movement (psycho)therapy (DMP) on numerous populations (for details see Koch and Brauninger, 2006; Goodill, 2016; Buse, Sarikaya and Colucci, 2017). Cochrane reviews for DMP and dementia (Karkou and Meekums, 2014), and for depression (Meekums, Karkou and Nelson, 2012) have been conducted additionally (for further details on UK research please see www.admp.org.uk).

Other areas of considerable research have been in the fields of body image, movement in space and proximetrics (the body in space and in relationships), for example, early studies of the proximity-seeking behaviour of infants and children towards their mother after a period of separation (Heinicke and Westheimer, 1966). More recently there has been research relevant to the practice of creative dance and movement, from fields such as neuroscience (Gallese, Keysers and Rizzolatti, 2004; Damasio, 2010), psychiatry and psychotherapy (Siegel, 2012), infant research (Trevarthen, 2003), anthropology (Cozolino, 2006) and in attunement in early attachment and interpersonal neurobiology (Schore, 2012; Trevarthen and Delafield-Butt, 2013). Siegel (2012) states:

Parents attune to the subtle changes in the baby’s state of arousal, revealed as the vitality affect, not merely the categorical affect that the infant may be expressing. In fact, this expression of internal state through vitality affects the primary mode of communication between an infant and a caregiver during the early years of life. (p. 154)

Physiological motor developmental patterns need examining alongside affective, cognitive and social development. Reaching out, for example, will enable the infant to grasp an object and pull it towards themselves. This experience will also give the infant a sense of control, mastery and capacity to affect their environment (agency). The movements become ‘more purposeful’ as noted by Sherborne (2001, p. 64). Movement meets functional needs, such as grasping a cup of water, as well as the expression of thoughts and feelings, linking the self with others/the environment. Shared movement enables communication of shared social meaning. The infant opens their arms to their caregiver who reaches down to pick them up.

Touch and rhythm can provide a holding container, as can music and vocal sounds. Scholgler and Trevarthen (2007) found connections between singing, dancing and attunement reflecting interpersonal communications. Self-regulation through empathic attunement can be enhanced when clients express rhythmic sound and movement in the psychotherapeutic context. This shared dance (Samaritter and Payne, 2017) does not need to be contained verbally, although verbal reflection towards the end of sessions is encouraged for those able to make use of it. Meaning-making arising from embodied presence in the movement moment is created whenever there is synchrony and/or empathic attunement. Rhythm in movement, for example, provides a safe, non-verbal platform for structuring the interaction between participants, the safety of the rhythm supporting the process of separation and differentiation versus unity and connectedness. The predictability of rhythm forms the basis for a trusting relationship. It is connected to attunement and the baby’s safety in the womb from synchronicity with the mother, e.g. regular pulse, heartbeat and mother’s breathing patterns, walking and speaking. Life in the mother’s womb is shaped by auditory, vibratory, tactile, proprioceptive and kinaesthetic stimuli to provide early attunement. The tone of voice, pitch and variation make a connection with the infant that is important for the attachment process. The rhythm of nursery rhymes reflects the heartbeat.

Touch, via the physical holding of the primary caregiver, and the quality and ways in which the infant is handled, can continue the previous shared rhythms. Physical holding gives sensory input, which in turn gives a sense of self as separate, as the infant becomes more differentiated from the other through the act of being held (Winnicott, 1971). Confidence, sensitivity, tentativeness, fearfulness etc. are communicated through touch. The physical contact experienced by someone physically in need of care tends to be functional, hence a more formal relationship with any carer will develop. Appropriate touch within movement groupwork can be introduced safely to promote a sensitive, reciprocal relationship. Touch can emerge spontaneously between people in the group during creative movement practices as well, so it is important to monitor this systematically to ensure it is safe and appropriate. Additionally, it is important to acknowledge that touch can stimulate previous unwanted experiences (such as physical or sexual abuse) for some people as well as their previous background of being held.

The mirror neuron system, next to the motor area in the brain, has a role in the development of empathic attunement (Gallese, Keysers and Rizzolatti, 2004). By seeing and mirroring ‘as if’ experiencing other people’s physical actions, attunement and empathy in interpersonal relationships are developed. Embodied simulation (Gallese and Sinigaglia, 2011a, 2011b) is where we can simulate the intentions behind the action/s of another (see Payne, 2017a for details of how this can apply to the processes in Laban movement analysis (LMA) and authentic movement). This attunement then ‘creates emotional resonance’ with the other (Siegel, 2007, p. 167). Furthermore, the bridge between bodily sensation (employed frequently in creative dance and movement practices) and empathy are the mirror neurons. Emotional responses are elicited in the observer from postures, gestures, facial expressions and socially meaningful movements, which is the bottom-up neurological basis for the social nature of humans. Healthy attachment grounded in interpersonal connection with a significant other is the basis for cognition (Trevarthen, 2003; Siegel, 2012).

Neuroscience shows us that cognitions and emotions are embodied and modal (Shapiro, 2011), and that concepts partially originate in the subjective experience anchored in the body and simulated by the activation of corresponding aspects of such experiences. Schore (2012) supports the idea that emotional content of interpersonal communication can be reframed by stimulating the pre-linguistic pathways in the right brain and limbic system, which can be triggered by intentional movement as in dance. The immediacy of this spontaneous movement improvisation can mirror the earliest relationship. Damasio (2010) concurs that feelings are held in the body and brain networks rather than solely cerebrally. The arts, he says, are rooted in biology and the human body yet can elevate humans to heights in thought and feelings, compensating for emotional imbalances such as grief, anger, fear or desire. Consequently, the argument has been made that the arts can offer transformation to mental health and well-being (for further discussion on the application to DMP of this research please see Payne, 2017b).

creative dance and movement do not rely so heavily, as do verbal methods, on linguistic or intellectual capacities for inter- and intrapersonal exploration. Since dance can derive from an inner, spontaneous stimulus without the aid of music, as well as evolving from learning steps and ‘dancing to music’, it provides an ideal vehicle for change, being expressive and communicative in its performance. creative dance and movement in this context can thus be viewed as embodied interpersonal intentionality and non-functional, ideal for groups! This dynamic between people moving in a group can support recreational and educational objectives as well as psychotherapeutic change.

Historical development

The systematic use of dance and movement in treatment of mental/emotional health and well-being with various populations, both in the UK and the USA, dates back over three quarters of a century. To some extent this development in the UK has been separate from that in the USA, although these two strands have become more closely connected over time.

The UK has long had a tradition of including creative dance as a core educational discipline, especially at primary school level. Recognition of the potential for rehabilitation and therapy through dance and movement experiences began in the UK in the 1940s, although very little was written about the work at that time.

A significant figure in the development of modern dance in Europe and creative dance in the UK educational system was Rudolf von Laban (1879–1958) due to his presence in Manchester. His contribution included the systematic categorisation of movement both for writing down dances (Labanotation) (Hutchinson, 1970) and a taxonomy of human movement for movement observation (LMA) (North, 1972; Moore, 2009). Adrian (2008) and Newlove (1993) show how Laban’s movement analysis was applied to the training of actors for character development, helping them to move their bodies in a way that reflects feelings (Laban, 1971, 1975). His theory is core to the Sesame approach to drama and movement, which integrates touch, sound, story-telling, play and Jungian psychology to explore metaphor supporting transformation in therapy. The author completed part of the Sesame programme where she worked with Audrey Wethered (1973), a Jungian analyst who studied individually with Laban. Later she trained with another of Laban’s students, Marion North (1972) and with Laban’s partner, Lisa Ullman.

In DMP, LMA enables the therapist to use movement observations as both a diagnostic and an assessment element in the work. Laban’s analysis and categorisation of movement has added to the other bodies of literature on non-verbal communication. His early thinking on movement therapy is described in an article (1983) written in 1949 when he was working with patients in Exeter. One of Laban’s students, Warren Lamb, added to the analysis a category focusing on shape (Lamb and Watson, 1979), which evolved out of his work in management training.

Following Laban’s analysis of movement and contribution to dance in education, his students and others began to promote the use of dance and movement in treatment and therapeutic contexts. For example, Laban students Veronica Sherborne (1974, 2001) and Wethered (and Gardner) (1986) used Laban’s contribution as far back as the 1940s for children with severe learning difficulties and adults hospitalised for mental health conditions respectively. Theorists such as North (1972) later added to his ideas, correlating movement with personality traits. Others such as Bainbridge, Duddington, Collingdon and Gardner (1953) used creative dance in psychiatry and Oliver (1968, 1975) had success employing dance in hospitals and schools for people with a cognitive impairment.

In the 1950s education authorities such as the then West Riding authority and Manchester authority pioneered the use of Laban’s work in their education of teachers and in their primary and secondary schools. They trained primary and specialist secondary teachers of physical education in the application of his ideas to movement and dance education, which stressed creativity and groupwork approaches.

Soon all education authorities were using Laban’s principles in their dance and movement education programmes. The child-centred educational philosophy in England at that time helped in the fostering of the work, which was endorsed by the Department of Education and Science (Foster, 1977) and called ‘modern educational dance’ (Laban, 1971).

Although Laban was a gifted thinker and teacher and had a profound effect on the history and development of creative dance in the UK, the status of his theories has been criticised by, for example, Gordon Curl as early as 1967, and by others later. One major source of contention is that some of Laban’s writings speak of movement in formal geometrical and arbitrary cosmological terms and do not acknowledge that movement takes place in phenomenal space, within a context. Thus, there is scepticism about ascribing expressive meanings to movement, which is not contextualised or qualitatively based, by reference to a preconceived cosmological theory.

The USA saw the earlier development of a specific therapy using dance and movement, together with the formation of a professional association, the American Dance Therapy Association (ADTA), in 1966. The American literature of the 1960s and 1970s relates the pioneering dance movement therapists’ perceptions of the therapeutic process (Chace, 1975). Dance and movement experiences were found to help groups of mentally ill and ‘handicapped’ people in a variety of ways; however, the practice in general stemmed from modern dance as a performance art as opposed to Laban dance.

In the UK since the 1960s, in isolated pockets, physical educators, special e...