THE THREE MOVEMENT ATTRIBUTES IN DANCE MOVEMENT THERAPY

The Aesthetic Aspect of Movement That Satisfies One’s Senses and Perception

To dance is to be out of yourself. Larger, more beautiful, more powerful. This is power, it is glory on earth and it is yours for the taking.

— Agnes De Mille

Research evidence in the past two decades has been rapidly accumulated to show the profound effects of DMT on the health and well-being of individuals in different populations and cultures. As an evolving health care profession, DMT has to demonstrate to other disciplines, as well as patients, its role in psychological, physical, and social outcomes. A lot of focus has been put on the effects of the DMT on changing individuals’ psychological and physical symptoms, range of motion, thinking patterns, and social relationships in addition to their self-awareness and personal growth. Nonetheless, the discussion and focus on the artistic or aesthetic aspect of dance movement during the therapeutic process have gained less attention. The artistic and aesthetic aspects in dance movement during the therapeutic process usually do not refer to perfect dancing skills or body lines or the beauty of movement in performing or attaining a professional standard. The word “aesthetic,” derived from Greek, has the meaning of “perceive,” “feel,” and “sense.” In DMT, the aesthetic experience refers more to the appreciation of the perception and feeling of bodily movement. To put it another way, these aesthetics center on the enjoyment and awareness of moving and sensing through the body and the movement during the process as well as the sense of being authentic, of being able to connect to the self with the movements. This is also a process of sublimation (Merriam-Webster, 2019), understood as the transition from physical movement to the feeling of satisfaction in mind and spirit. It becomes a transformative process, regardless of form and skills, that produces a healing effect.

Hagendoorn (2011) discussed the aesthetic experiences of dancing and how dancing related to the cognitive functions of the brain, including perception, attention, prediction, and emotion (Hagendoorn, 2011). For dancing, he suggested that “aesthetic experience consists in an inclination, a disposition and a readiness to engage with an object’s or event’s formal, aesthetic, symbolic or expressive properties and to disregard any other function, purpose, meaning or qualities it might have” (p. 366). This assertion echoes Calvo-Merino’s and her co-workers’ neuroscience investigation of the aesthetic perception of dancing (Calvo-Merino, Jola, Glaser, & Haggard, 2008). They found that the bilateral occipital cortex and the right premotor cortex are involved in individuals’ aesthetic response to dancing. Dancing might stimulate visual and sensorimotor responses, resulting in a feeling of beauty, pleasure, liking, or satisfaction. In DMT work with mothers and infants, Loughlin (2017) also observed how aesthetic experiences contributed to the pleasurable interactions, and thus the well-being, of the mothers and infants. In this sense, Hagendoorn (2011) suggested, not only does dancing have aesthetic properties but it also induces an observer’s aesthetic experiences; that is, creates resonance in the observers which could be therapeutic.

Another important finding in Calvo-Merino et al.’s (2008) study was the increased activation in the aesthetically relevant areas in the brain when viewing the whole body movement or movement that involved moving across the space in a way that necessitated the movement of the core of the body and most of the body parts. The involvement of the core of the body, or the integration of the posture and gestural movement, is usually referred to as the “connected movement” (Hackney, 2002). In DMT, facilitating the development of more connected movement is one of its important therapeutic purposes; as more connected movement relates to a more connected mind and body in an individual. Hackney further related connectedness with the ability to access the emotions and feelings and to express them dynamically through body movements (p. 203). More connected movement also relates to the authentic expression in movements. Therefore, Calvo-Merino et al.’s study provided neuroscientific support to the value of the work of DMT on mind-body connection through promoting movement connectedness; their research also endorsed the importance of gaining aesthetic experiences through dance/movements in DMT.

The aesthetic experience in DMT succors people when they are suffering or in adversity, as it gives a new dimension within which they can perceive and establish connectedness within themselves or even with others and the universe. Over the years, I have witnessed this many times when working with cancer patients. On one occasion in a DMT session with a group of women with different types of cancer, after the improvisational movement with a piece of nature music, a woman described her experience as flying by herself in the sky. Originally, I thought that she might be feeling lonely; however, she described that experience as excellent and beautiful, as she has never moved with such freedom in her life. She felt that she could do away with focusing on others and with taking care of anyone but herself at that moment. She felt she was totally free but at the same time felt more connected with herself, nature, and the universe. I had never seen such energetic movement in a middle-aged woman who had never danced before and was in the final stages of cancer. She could move so freely and quickly but she also knew when to stop and recuperate. She kept closing her eyes, but she was smiling all the time with her face so relaxed. Without doubt, witnessing her was a beautiful moment, as I could feel her sense of freedom in her movement and felt more connected with her. She also stated that although she realized that she could not live long, she treasured the moment of being able to stay alone by herself and enjoyed it. She also related this with her experience of having cancer. She said that it was her cancer that made her stronger, and now she had the courage to face the remaining time left in her life alone by thinking positively—alone but not lonely, that was the insight she got from the dance/ movement process in DMT.

In another DMT session, a childhood sexual abuse survivor described her experience: “I found that life and the body have their own rhythm. I need to slow down to experience, to sense and feel, and to listen to my own inner tempo” (Ho, 2015). For many sexual abuse survivors, losing contact with themselves and the bodily sensations is common, as such disassociation may help them cope with the overwhelming experiences and memories in the body (Young, 1992). However, long-term dissociation leads to difficulties in recognizing and expressing emotions even when they want to recapture them. After joining the DMT program, this lady regained the courage to reconnect with herself and her body. During the process, she was fully absorbed into the experience of dancing with her own rhythm. Her experience echoed the definition of aesthetics as she started to sense and perceive herself during the DMT process.

The Poetic Movement That Enables Expression

Dancing is very like poetry. It’s like poetic lyricism, sometimes, it’s like the rawness of dramatic poetry, it’s like the terror—or it can be like a terrible revelation of meaning. Because when you light on a word it strikes you to your heart.

—Martha Graham

Dancing, like other art forms, can express meanings and ideas in a symbolic and metaphoric way. In DMT, as described by Chaiklin and Schmais (1993), symbolic body action has been used since the time when Chace, the DMT pioneer, worked with patients in psychiatric hospitals. Symbolic movement can serve as a medium through which “the patient can recall, re-enact and re-experience”(Chaiklin & Schmais, 1993, p. 97). It is also a medium where the therapist can meet and understand the client. Samaritter (2009) described another use of dancing as a metaphor; that is, metaphors or symbols can be the source for dance improvisation which allows for working from outside towards the inner movement and feelings of the dancer. In addition, she also explained that some movement metaphors and symbols are archetypical, meaning that they can be understood regardless of cultural backgrounds (e.g., a woman cradling a child).

The poetic quality of movement in DMT not only refers to emotional expression and understanding (Wengrower, 2016) but it is also closely linked to the aesthetic experience, as “poetic” literally means imaginative or “very beautiful or expressing emotion” (Merriam-Webster, n.d.). Margariti et al. (2012) described such a process in a DMT study with psychiatric patients where the participants were encouraged to dance and “seek for a quest for personal beaut}' in their movements, independent from social or other dance conventions” (Margariti et al., 2012, p. 97). As a result, the participants experienced a sense of fulfilment and happiness. Their study indicated that after a brief DMT program—which emphasized the Primitive Expression (PE) model’s dance movements, rhythms, voice, and play—changes in psychological state, behavior, and brain physiology were observed. The authors regarded this as “a complex physical-cognitive-affective process of recollecting and releasing repressed emotions and tensions” (Margariti et al., 2012, p. 97), a state where the mind and the body are connected.

The poetic expression in dancing and moving in DMT can engender a new perception and understanding (Wengrower, 2016) as well as invoke the integration of an individual’s cognition and emotion. A participant in a DMT group for cancer patients described her insights and feelings after an exploring of space in a symbolic and embodied way as “a real joy like going back to childhood”. Through this experience, she “rediscovered her body self as well as her psychological self ” (Ho, 2019). In a study with patients diagnosed with anorexia nervosa, Padrao and Coimbra described how symbolism helped the participants to pursue a more embodied and rich experience of both the internal and the external aspects of the self (Padrao & Coimbra, 2011). They emphasized that “dance/movement therapy should aim to increase patients’ mastery of the symbolic system of dance so as to enable them to learn and make use of one more of the many “language” systems used to construct our world and make meaning” (p. 136).

The Contemplative Process of Moving That Allows for Transcendent Experience

Dance is meditation in movement, a walking into silence where every movement becomes prayer.

—Bernhard Wosicn

Dance is the movement of the universe concentrated in an individual.

—Isadora Duncan

Contemplative practice in the Buddhist tradition is called shamatha/vipashyana (mindfulness/ awareness) practice (Rockwell, 1989). In contemplative practice, the mind is trained to perceive the situations of each moment in a relaxed state and with a soft visual focus (yipashy-ana/awareness) (Trungpa, 1973). Since there is a synchronicity of the person’s mind, body, and speech in the mindful state, the person is completely present in every moment. The soft focus also allows for developing clear and in-depth insights (Rockwell, 1989). Spiritual practice, a process of communicating with the higher force, usually involves contemplative practice, as the individuals should be fully present and devoted to the process.

Contemplative practice is usually a quiet and calm process. However, this only refers to the state of the mind. The word “contemplation” originally means “religious musing” and only later came to refer to an “act of looking attentively at anything” (Harper, 2001). Thus the concept as defined includes no clear direction on what the body or movement should be. A quiet mind can also be achieved in motion. Modern contemplative practices also include practices in movement such as walking, yoga (Bryant, 2015), and dancing (Buehler, 2015). Whether or not moving is the presentation of the contemplative process in different bodily actions; it is not the focus of contemplation itself. In dancing, the body is moving and not quiet at all, yet the dancer is fully present in the moment; thus, the process can be referred to as contemplative. In Dance Movement Therapy, contemplative experience in movement is cardinally important. It is also one of the goals of the therapeutic process, as the movement totally becomes the embodied expression of the mind—either in a quiet or vigorously moving body—through which the conscious and unconscious thoughts and feelings can unite, resulting in a sense of wholeness.

Authentic movement is a form of contemplative practice that dance therapists may use. Stromsted (2009) described authentic movement as the dance with the divine in which spiritual experiences may emerge when the repressed emotions and primitive instincts merge, allowing for a sense of resonance in both the mover and the witness. In her article, she demonstrated the transcendent power of the movement process by describing how a woman became aware of her prenatal trauma when witnessing another woman dancing while pregnant. Through the DMT process, she finally developed a sense of safety and healing by establishing a connection with the Virgin Mother. Smallwood (1978) and Farah (2016) also explained the practice of authentic movement as the movement in active imagination that allows for the bridging between the conscious and the unconscious that leads to a transcendent function as a sense of inner peace and energy flow from the unconscious.

Another form, or contemplative practice, that DMT uses is cathartic movements. Although catharsis involves vigorous movements in releasing strong and intense emotions, it can be regarded as contemplative practice by being an alternative presentation of contemplation in dynamic bodily action. Individuals in catharsis should be fully present and focused, and this may lead to an altered state of consciousness. Many spiritual dances or ritual dances use cathartic movements and processes to facilitate the entrance into such a state. Egypt’s oldest trance dance, Zar, is one example (El Guindy & Schmais, 1994). DMT, or other expressive therapies, also use catharsis to facilitate emotional expression. As explained by El Guindy and Schmais (1994), the catharsis process is necessary in this context, as it will lead to an altered state of consciousness where conscious control of the mind and repressed emotions will loosen, self-criticism will be suspended, and new insights and observations may take place.

CONCLUSION

DMT utilizes the innate capacity of dance movement for healing. Across the time span and the history' of dancing in different cultures, the contemplative process of moving in ritual dances has demonstrated the transcendent power of movement that leads to inner peace and new insights; the symbolic expression in movement helps emotional relief and expression; and the aesthetic experiences generate resonance and a sense of satisfaction. These three important attributes arc, in fact, universal across arts modalities when arts serve a therapeutic purpose. Interestingly, these three important elements can coexist during the therapy process and arc presented in the most basic form: the body movement in DMT, which enables and amplifies the healing effect. Although “dance alone is not cnough”(Chacc, 1993), without the dance and without attending to the fundamental or basic dance movement attributes that heal, DMT will lose its essence of being an arts-based creative therapy. Thus, the aesthetic, poetic, and contemplative movements arc the most basic, but also the most cardinal, elements in DMT.

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