A conversation with Penelope Best in Melbourne’s Royal Botanic Garden
A recorded conversation between two dance therapists Penny Best and Elizabeth Mackenzie in Melbourne Australia in late 2018 is transcribed and presented. As the conversation unfolds, it reveals core elements of Penny’s perspectives based upon years of her practice as clinician, trainer and supervisor and now as a live artist. Core elements are highlighted such as: the essential nature and art of dance as a therapeutic relational factor; the importance of unpacking and exploring assumptions in shared language; the necessity of stimulating and maintaining the dance therapist’s connection to bodily and aesthetic dance practices and the challenges presented by dominant paradigms within current research and writing. Penny aims to balance the often accepted dichotomy of scientific vs. artistic research and offers a new way of bringing alive the moment to moment interactions within supervision by incorporating sounding as a method of exploration thereby staying close to the rhythmic, felt senses. Authentic Movement supports her focus on the relevance of minute details to interactive practices.
Keywords: Dance; dance therapy; artistic value; body as instrument; space in-between; research