Dance can help

By Dr swaroop Raval:

Most people don't nourish their body with movement, as much as they do their minds. Why is that? We're all born with movement in our bodies. Yet we tend to neglect or negate it.

Dancing goes back to primitive times, and magical powers have been attributed to it. When a witch doctor dances, it is to exorcise evil spirits from the sick person.

I read that during the Middle Ages people even danced to avoid the plague. The Tarantella of Italy is believed to have originated after a poisonous spider’s bite caused tarantism, and the cure for it was a jumping dance.

Today’s talk is evolved from the age-old idea that dancing has the power to cure. Dancing is a primal response to rhythm and music.

Dance practitioners believe that the body, mind, and emotions, are interrelated and that the state of the body has a positive or negative affect on our attitude and feelings. It is known that each one of our five senses sends messages to our brain through the nerves. And we react accordingly. In a nutshell, we jump for joy when we’re happy about something, we slump when we are sad. That is body language. When the body doesn’t react to the messages of the brain, we may blow an emotional fuse, and withdraw.

Illness, injury, emotional and physical trauma can cause us to become out of balance and our way of expression and functioning in the world changes as well. Dance seeks to open up these restrictions by allowing the students to uncover and express them in movement, integrating and accepting them as part of the whole. It also provides a means of communication beyond the self, enabling the individual to go beyond any isolation to connect, share and express common ground with others.

Dance can be helpful for a wide range of problems.

It is useful for those with restricted movement of movement, whether from arthritis, aging, degenerative disease, or other causes.

Children, who don’t have the patience or attention span for other forms of therapy, can benefit from the openness that comes with expressive dance.

Adults whose emotions have been buried or who are not in touch with their feelings, are otherwise unable to articulate their problem, may find insight and release through dance.

Even those confined to wheelchairs can move their upper body in response to musical rhythms.

Dancers and therapists engage in treatment with schizophrenic adults at Atmashakti, Bangalore,

Hearing-impaired children at Hamsadhwani Bangalore, and

Mobility training programs at the National Association of the Blind.

At the Baldwin Opportunity School in Bangalore, where a dance therapist worked with eight children who were moderately mentally challenged. They were very mobile, and full of energy.
"One day it was social skills, such as holding hands and moving them. Or placing their palms against each other's, and pushing playfully. Gradually, their coordination improved. We finally choreographed three dances incorporating mirroring, sculpting, and other exercises we'd done as therapy. Even their teacher got involved, correlating dance to their learning problems. When they had perceptual problems with drawing a circle, we'd walk in a circle, getting it into their bodies. My three years with them were very rewarding."

What made the experience valuable? "Each child had different problems. One had a short attention span, another could not coordinate with rhythm, and a third found relationships difficult. They could dance on their own, but not with the group. I took each problem and made it the goal of therapy," says the researcher

Although Dance Therapy is still a fairly new practice, it is known that it can provide an emotional release for pent-up, repressed feelings, and as a result, the patient may be sent on the road to improved mental health.

And for the average person, putting on some music and dancing around in the kitchen, is not only great therapy, it’s also fun!

 

Dance can assist in interpersonal relationship within the family and can serve as communicator for those with speech and learning disabilities and autism. It is also a means of relaxation and stress reduction. Dance’s expressive element may also add an aesthetic and spiritual dimension to the experience. An evolving area of dance therapy is in its disease prevention and health promotion programs.

1. to foster a physically and emotionally safe, non-judgmental    environment that is respectful of individual limitations and achievements

2. to facilitate individual expression and communication with other people

3. to increase body awareness, spontaneity, creativity and a healthy self-image

4. to promote and integrate emotional stability (including anger management and stress reduction)

5. to support personal growth through insight, energy, and an expanded movement repertoire

Body movement reflects inner emotional states and …changes in movement behavior can lead to changes in the psyche, thus promoting health and growth.”

Moving as part of a group overcomes isolation, encourages and reinforces social and emotional bonds, and generates positive feelings. Rhythmic movement lessens muscular rigidity, reduces anxiety, and increases energy. The ability to move without regimen, in a spontaneous way, reinforces self-confidence and trust in one’s actions. And the creative aspect of dance therapy encourages self-expression and allows the individual to think in new ways.

On a physical level, dance therapy provides exercise, which in turn improves health, well-being, coordination and muscle tone. The actual movement increases circulation, resulting in better oxygenation of tissues, including those in the brain. Dance affects the emotions, and may stimulate endorphin release, reducing stress and heightening positive feelings. The range of expression through motion can also lead to release of repressed emotions, anger, frustration and loss.

The mental acuity needed to perform postures and series of movements can result in better gait, balance and coordination as well as enhancing cognitive skills, motivation and memory. And the sheer pleasure of the expression may enable patients to focus away from pain to a pleasurable experience of the body.

We feel parents need dance as much as children as they're out of touch with their own bodies.  In India, we have so many classical and folk dance forms which were intrinsic to our community. Then, why are people so distanced from their bodies today? Except for disco bhangra or disco garba, it's no longer a part of our everyday lives. So, we have to use more structured exercises to get people moving here.