ARBN 679434649

In this volume


2014 Vol. 11 Nos. 3-4

The Writings of Naomi Audette: Part 2

Keywords
research, artistic inquiry, heuristic inquiry, somatic empathy, mapping, somatic counter-transference

This is an excerpt from the content:

The following articles focus on Naomi Audette‘s Masters work and her investigations into the nature of Somatic Empathy. Naomi sought to address a gap in current dance movement therapy (DMT) literature with her deepening research into the subjective experience of this phenomenon.

The first article: ‘Honouring the voice of the body; Dance Movement Therapy research from the inside out’, tackles an ongoing conundrum for researchers into DMT and describes her choice of research methodology. The second article: ‘Listening through our bodies’, describes in detail her subjective experience of Somatic Empathy as it relates to established frameworks in DMT and other literature. In the third article: ‘Dance Movement Therapy as Rites of Passage – Capturing the Unconscious Field of the DMT Group’, Naomi describes the psychodynamic themes (transference and counter transference) discovered and elucidated though this process. (pp 2-27)

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Ensemble Improvisation as a Developmental Tool

Keywords
contact improvisation, social therapeutics method, collectively creating, community building, group work, kinaesthetic listening

Sandra describes her personal and professional journey with dance and ensemble group improvisation, through reference to her teachers, her training at East Side Institute for Group and Short Term Psychotherapy (ESI) in New York and the formation of her own practice offering her work in performance and educational settings. The significant transforming and healing capacities that improvisation has given the author, as well as it’s scope for community building through the Social Therapeutic Method are explored. A collectively created moment shared with other dancers is amplified to exemplify how performers listen, respond, negotiate and make decisions leads into discussion of how the activity of building and creating the group is what is therapeutic. The expansion of the work through classes, performances and workshops internationally concludes the article, along with a final vignette reinforcing the importance of ‘kinaesthetic listening’ as experienced by one workshop participant. (pp 28-31)

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Evidence of Learning – how can we know about student progress in school-based dmt programs?

Keywords
children, disabilities, research, assessment framework, non-verbal/verbal communication, connection with others

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The following is a report on a study completed by Sue who was a recipient of the Hanny Exiner Memorial Foundation grant in 2011. Sue used the grant to investigate assessment strategies appropriate to the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development (DEECD) assessment framework and which suited her dmt program in a school with students with disabilities. The project included use of the movement assessment tool, ‘Framework for Dance Movement Assessment’, developed by Sue in collaboration with Kim Dunphy, to investigate summative as well as formative assessment processes. Sue’s report to HEMF has been modified for publication in this issue of Moving On. This research was the foundation of an iPad app developed by Sue and Kim: ‘Marking the Moves’: the world’s first iPad app for dance movement assessment, launched in 2015 and now commercially available. (pp 32-41)


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The Creative Embodied Experience: The role of the body and the arts in infant mental health

Keywords
intersubjectivity, parent-child dyad, Laban Movement Analysis, attachment, non-verbal communication, mirror neurons

This article was previously published in The Signal, Newsletter of the World Association for Infant Mental Health, Vol. 19, No. 3, July – September 2011, pp.1-8. We are grateful to Debbie Weatherston, the editor of The Signal, who kindly gave us permission to reprint it in the DTAA ‘Moving On Journal’.

This article gives an in-depth discussion of the DMT based program called ‘Ways of seeing’ developed by Suzi Tortora, in her work supporting parent-child relationships. “‘Ways of Seeing‘ utilises nonverbal movement observation, dance, movement, motor development and body awareness activities, music, and play for the assessment, intervention and educational programing of children and their families. These programs are based on the observational analysis principles of Laban Movement Analysis (LMA); Infancy and early childhood theory, and dance movement theory practice.” The program is described theoretically and with a case study of a mother and her 6 month old baby, exemplifying the processes and protocols of the program, including use of the observational tool: ‘Dyadic Atachement-based Nonverbal Communication Expressions (D.A.N.C.E.) also designed by Tortora. (pp 41-51)

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Collaboration through Movement: KMP Movement Patterns underlying Mutuality and Disconnection

Keywords
Kestenberg Movement Profile, interpersonal functioning, non-verbal relationship, developmental assessment, psychological assessment, therapeutic relationship

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The following article was prepared by Susan for the ADTA 46th Annual Conference, in 2011, in Minneapolis – Collaborations: Different Identities, Mutual Paths, and is a part of the conference proceedings. It is reprinted with Susan’s kind permission.

The Kestenberg Movement Profile can provide a tool for enhancing the understanding of the subtle and intricate possibilities for nonverbal collaboration. An increased knowledge of the complexities involved in non-verbal communication serves to promote self and clinical understanding and intervention methods. Movement patterns that increase facility toward mutually conscious responses toward connection and disconnection will be presented. (pp 52-54)

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To Dance is a Radical Act

Keywords
interdependence, knowledge, joy, consciousness, relational bodily self, patterns of movement, creativity

This article was published in Psychology Today Online, on November 29, 2011, and is from What a Body Knows: Finding wisdom in Desire. It is reprinted with Kimerer’s kind permission.

Kimera commences this article by stating: “The practice of dancing is vital to our survival as humans on earth” – this sets the tone for a strong case as to why dancing matters, explaining that “if dancing makes a difference to how we humans think and feel and act – then dancing challenges the values that fund modern western cultures”. Her case is further supported by giving an explanation of the power of dance as a radical act for our bodily selves, our relational selves and our ways of knowing “that cannot be mediated to us in words” as well as the “primal joy” of moving our bodily selves. Further discussion explores the “span of the universe that you are”, the “play with movement that is making us”, our ranges of movement potentiality and healing opportunities, as well as our creativity. (pp 55-57)

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Dancing in Japan

Keywords
dementia, Sherbourne Development Movement, cross-cultural connection, disabilities, children, professional development

Heather provides a descriptive overview of her 2 week trip to Japan including giving a presentation on dance and dementia, supporting the launching of an educational DVD and visiting various organisations to promote and share DMT. Heather shares her perception of Japanese culture including their interpersonal qualities and aesthetics, along with a concluding reference to journal article published by the AJDT about touch in DMT in Japan. (pp 60-62)

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Dance Movement Therapy (DMT) Moves in Asia

Keywords
professional development, children, developmental movement, dementia, disabilities, Kesternberg Movement Profile

Lillian a DMT pioneer in Asia, describes the rapid growth of DMT across parts of Asia including Singapore, Korea, Malaysia and the Philippines. Commencing with her own training in Australia and the training she initiated with DMT training in Singapore, the development is outlined in each country across a wide array of settings. DMT sessions and workshops have been offered to both professionals and groups, with further scope for broadening and strengthening the awareness and presence of DMT in Asia. (pp 63-65)

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2014 Vol. 12 Nos. 1-2

Using Physical Storytelling to Investigate Youth Suicide in New Zealand

Keywords
youth suicide, dance improvisation, physical storytelling, arts-based inquiry, qualitative approach, metaphors

This article explores how an arts-based approach involving Physical Storytelling has been used by researchers in New Zealand as an intervention within the area of youth suicide. Harvey, Ndengeya and Kelly introduce the concepts behind Physical Storytelling and discuss how imagery, metaphor, improvisation and dance lead to creative connections which helps cultivate a safe space for strong emotions to be explored. The authors provide case studies to highlight how Physical Storytelling provides a framework for investigating themes arising out of the work such as Journey, Tragedy and Fairytale. Dramatic themes, often difficult to put into words, were identified by the authors as being important responses which were physically embodied through improvisation. This article gently explores the extreme vulnerability of suicidality and calls for professionals to enter into the “communicative aspect” of crisis intervention which involves moving beyond a mental health perspective. (pp. 2-10)

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Weaving Family Threads: Notes on Early Intervention Music-Movement Program Supporting Parent-Child Relations

Keywords
parent-child relationship, socio-emotional awareness, physical movement, aural receptivity, self-regulation, early intervention

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Weaving Family Threads was a program designed and facilitated for pre-school aged children and their parents/carers, within an early intervention program in 2011. Children with additional needs such as Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD), cerebral palsy, auditory comprehension and communication developmental delay participated through movement, imaginative play, singing and art- making. The sessions aimed to support the development of the children‟s socio-emotional awareness, physical movement, aural receptivity and comprehension, self-regulating and soothing strategies and positive parent-child interaction. The stages within the sessions are described in this paper, along with how the approach dovetailed with the existing specialist perspectives of the intervention program. Challenges of behavioural dynamics and pre- program/post-program rating scales and comments made by parents are presented and discussed. (pp 11-19)

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An Expat in India: Exploring movement with marginalized children

Keywords
marginalized children, India, boundaries, sense-of-self, emotions, empathy

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This article is about an American Dance Movement Therapist who lived in Bangalore, India for eighteen months and practiced Dance Movement Therapy with marginalized children in an under privileged school. The article describes the program and the results after being implemented for a year. The program focused on building a positive sense of self and a decrease in aggressive behavior through empathy and positive interpersonal relationship skills. The article also describes the dance movement therapist’s experiences while working with the marginalized Indian children. (pp 20-24)

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Still Dancing with Barbara

Keywords
laban/bartenieff, kinesthetic sense, power, transformation, creative potential, sensitivity

In this personal reflection Lucy recalls her time studying with Barbara Mettler at a Winter Intensive during the 1980’s. Lucy reflects on some of the movement practices which she experienced during this week and articulates how these ideas continue to inform her dance practice by deepening her sensitivity to her “moving, dancing self.” Lucy calls to mind a particular experiential facilitated by Mettler (an exploration of the state of paralysis into mobility) and discusses how she still, to this day, draws upon the bodily learning which took place many years ago by calling upon the wisdom of the body help to navigate through life’s “rough patch(es)” with ever fresh creative potential. (pp 25-26)

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Part Two: To Dance Is (More than Just) a Radical Act

Keywords
sensory awareness, knowledge, relationships, pleasure, desire, play

Part Two – follows on from Part One, printed in our last issue of Moving On, Vol, 11, 3 and 4, pp. 55-57.

LaMothe describes a dynamic process of learning which takes place through the body. The cultivation of sensory awareness, new bodily movements and greater awareness of natural bodily rhythms are primary resources for the generation of knowledge, according to LaMothe. In this article LaMothe asks the reader to consider the ways in which the act of dancing might yield alternative kinds of knowledge, or ways of knowing which create “mutually enabling relationships with the nature at work in us, through us, and around us.” The kind of knowledge that movement generates, argues LaMothe, leads to a rediscovery of our bodies as agents of play, desire and pleasure, which ultimately lead us toward greater freedom and enjoyment of our embodied existence as a whole. (pp 27-29)

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Dance Movement Therapy in the Philippines: The Journey From ‘DMT’ To ‘DME’

Keywords
relaxation, social recreation, physical education, leisure education, de-stressing, supporting community

Dimarucut provides a short brief on the role of Dance-Movement Therapy in the Philippines and highlights the various programs and initiatives in which DMT is being incorporated. (p. 32).

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Professional Development Reflections. Becoming Human – workshops run by Penelope Best

February 14-16th 2014 at Abbotsford Convent, Melbourne.

Presenter: Penelope Best.

Reflections: Michelle Royal, Sally Denning, Judith Adcock, Virginia Woods (pp 55-61)

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World News

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We announced the sad news of the loss of two great influences in DMT, Dr Valerie Hunt and Warren Lamb, in our last issue. Just prior to publishing the last issue, we also received the news of the loss of another great influence in the movement world, Emilie Conrad. We invited other tributes to these great people who dedicated their lives to their work, and were pleased to receive for publication in Moving On, the memorial Address Dr Marcia Leventhal gave for Dr Hunt and a tribute to Emilie Conrad forwarded to us by Amber Gray.

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Book Review: Body memory, metaphor and movement

Editors: Sabine C. Koch, Thomas Fuchs, Michaela Summa & Cornelia Müller (pp 50-51).

 

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