Dance and Movement Therapy

Dance is a rhythmic action that involves moving the body to flow with the beats from music. Dance is the body’s response to the vibrations released through music. It is usually sequential, and is a beautiful timed response to sound. The hands, feet, legs, the upper body, the head, and even the stomach are usually used to express the emotions invoked by sound and this helps the dancer to release energy and feel entertained by the movement of their body.

Dancing doesn’t only engage our body in the physical; it also engages the control systems of our brain namely the Cerebral Cortex and our mind’s seat. Dancing can transform lives and the most profound thing about dancing is the fact that dancing is free.

These definitions still fall short of capturing the full extent of dance. Dance is many things; it is similar to an interdisciplinary subject with several uses. One of the many ways dance is beneficial is regarding human health through dance and movement therapy. Unfortunately, many people today are unaware of the immense benefits that can be derived from engaging in dance. Dance can minimize pain and can in fact, heal illnesses, and what is more interesting is the fact that dance is as old as time.

This article is therefore intended to educate people and shed light on the importance of dance therapy which, was professionally developed into a form of therapy in the 90s. How did dance therapy become a thing?

Let us find out.

What is Dance/Movement Therapy?

The American Dance Therapy Association defines dance/movement therapy (DMT) as the combination of dance and movement for therapeutic purposes. Marian Chace is credited to be the pioneer of dance/movement therapy and she was the first president of the American Dance Therapy Association in 1966. Since 1966, dance/movement therapy has healed millions and helped them regain their best selves.

Dance therapy is proven to be effective for individuals or groups of people seeking improvement in their social, intellectual, emotional and physical integration, and in the improvement of their overall well-being. You cannot dance without movement and this is why movement is used to tap into the core of the therapeutic benefits of dance.

A dance/movement therapist works with our emotions and motion as a connected unit so they tap into this to help us build our self-esteem and body. Dance/Movement therapy is also used to treat social, physical, mental and psychological issues like obesity, chronic pain, cancer, arthritis, hypertension, mental health issues, anxiety, eating disorder, cardiovascular diseases, depression, dementia, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and it is also effective in the treatment of communication related problems like autism and healing from the aftereffects of domestic violence, aggression, family conflict, etc.

Benefits of Dance/Movement Therapy

The therapeutic benefits of dance are too numerous to mention. Already, several benefits of dance/movement therapy have been highlighted in the preceding section of this article, and more studies continue to confirm the benefits of dance/movement therapy. Apart from these known benefits, there are much more benefits of dance/movement therapy, some of which remain unknown. Some recent research findings show that dance and movement therapy has helped people to find better means to express their emotions. To several creatives, dance/movement therapy has proven to be very effective for stress relief especially since it improves and increases their creativity, imagination, their physical fitness, and in the development of their motor skills.

Understanding the Body Through Dance/Movement Therapy

Dance/movement therapy is not just about dancing. It employs the use of dance and movement to promote an individual's well-being. Unlike other forms of therapy, dance/movement therapy involves the entire human body and taps into it to improve an individual’s health through non-verbal means.

The first action a baby learns is movement and even though the baby may not be able to talk yet, they tend to communicate through their movement. So, movement may be considered as our first language and throughout our lives, we continue to master it until we die.

Dance/movement therapists recognize the importance of movement and they aggregate it in all of its different forms including expressive, developmental, communicative and functional forms.
Dance/movement therapists employ the use of verbal and nonverbal communication in the therapeutic process. A dance/movement therapist is trained to tap into the interconnection between our body, soul and mind, and through this interconnection, the energy levels of the individual will become raised to levels that will eliminate all of their pains and bring their bodies to a relaxed state. Dance/movement therapy recognizes the moving body as the center of the human experience, and that the body and mind remain in constant reciprocal interaction.

The body gives the movement and receives improved health in return during dance/movement therapy. Nothing is lost, but much more is gained. Like other traditional therapies, dance/movement therapy can be applied using different method ranging from the use of speech, use of different types of music, or no music at all. If you want to practice dance and movement therapy as a group, or as an individual, you can rest assured to have your body moving to the sweet sounds of the dance channels from Radio Art.

New possibilities for feeling and perceiving

It is clear that dance has a great effect on our body and psyche as humans. Dance/Movement Therapy thrives on the inseparable bond that our body shares with our mind. This explains why our emotions, thinking, perception and sensation are also affected by how we move our body. A dance and movement therapist will assess all of these things to determine the condition of someone's mental state.

Dance and movement therapy is not new, but its potentials are scarcely tapped. It remains one of the most brilliant forms of therapy as the individual involve will not have to rely on external influences to change their mental states, and to re-ignite the spark of their creativity.
Dance and movement therapy is exciting with amazing results.