Reflection Paper On Dance / Movement Therapy

Outside of medicine, I spend my leisure time dancing and choreographing. My love for dance and music stems from my early childhood. I recall listening to Disney songs and “choreographing” dance moves – moves that appeared as uncoordinated, but exquisite loose wiggles. As a result of my parents’ high expectations and strict upbringing, dance was an important activity because it served as a safe haven away from the stress and pressure I felt as a child. Dancing was, and is still, my source of joy and amusement.

Nonverbal communication or body language makes up 55% of effective communication. This plays the biggest part in communication, and it shows the client or colleague more information than words alone ever could. Nonverbal communication includes facial expressions, body movement and gestures, head movements, eye contact, posture, and the use of distances and space. Understanding and using nonverbal communication can enhance the connection between you and others, navigate challenging situations and well as expressing interest in the conversation. this can also established effective rapport between you and the client or colleague.

“What are you even doing here? I have never seen such flawed technique in all my years as a choreographer.” The words echoed throughout the medical college auditorium. Impelled by the admonishment in front of my peers, I persevered in my endeavor to improve upon my dancing prowess and by the final year of medical school was leading the college dance team. The above mentioned undertaking further spawned an interest for the discipline of Latin Ballroom which lead to participation at the national level. The unwavering focus and persistence even in the face of unfavorable odds is more broadly reflective of my approach towards learning, both academic and extracurricular. This has been instrumental in achieving stellar academic outcomes including being ranked nationally in the top 0.0004 percent in the premedical test and the top 0.6 percent in the common aptitude test for management training.

I believe that my personal and professional growth and behavior as a physical therapist is of utmost importance. I base this firstly on my strong connection to those in society who are disadvantaged when it comes to physical therapy, and also on the movement system, movement being “the key to optimal living and quality of life for all people that extends beyond health to every person’s ability to participate in and contribute to society” (American Physical Therapy Association, 2013). This perspective, I believe, is aligned perfectly with the vision statement for the physical therapy profession – to transform society through optimization of movement to improve the human experience (APTA, 2013). After reviewing the vision statement, I strongly believe it will act as my guide by strengthening compassion, reinforcing advocacy, improving quality of service, and strengthening cohesion.

Chapter  4  –  Nonverbal  Communication 1. What  are  the  functions  of  nonverbal  messages? ● Substitute ● complement  verbal  messages:  adds  to  verbal  message,  improves  clarity  and  understanding ● contradict:  non  verbal  behavior  not  reflecting  verbal  message 2. Know  the  different  codes  (i.e.,  kinesics,  haptics,  proxemics,  vocalics,  chronemics,  and  self-­ presentation  cues). Code  1  -­  Kinesics  /  Use  of  the  body ● Gestures ○ Emblems  -­  gestures  with  explicit  meaning  and  dictionary  definitions ○ Illustrator  -­  gestures  that  accompany  verbal  message ○ Adaptors  -­  Touching  behaviors  that  reveal  internal  states  such  as  anxiety ■ self  adaptors ■ object  adaptors  -­  handling  of  objects ■ other  adaptors  -­  touching  other  people ● Eye  contact  /  Oculesics ○ both  people  are  looking  directly  into  each  others  eyes ● Functions ○ regulates  interaction ○ monitors  interaction ○ signals  cognitive  activity ○ expresses  involvement

Reflecting from mistakes and practice are major key components of the learning process. This history taking experience with a patient has been truly effective for my future as a Doctor of Physical Therapy. This experience has helped me a lot on improving my communication and interpersonal skills with patients both verbally and non-verbally. Feedback and review were also truly beneficial aspects in the learning part of this experience.

As I have participated in dance class, I have been able to express my feelings. Additionally, after dance class I find that I am able to see the bright side of situations. With these great benefits of dance, I was not surprised to find that there is an occupation known as a Dance Therapist or Dance/ Movement Therapist (DMT) that helps people improve their overall well being through Dance/ Movement Therapy. To be more specific, Dance/ Movement Therapy is “an exciting field of health that provides emotional and physical support for clients and individuals,” according to the article “Career Profile Dance Movement Therapist” by About.com Careers. Dance therapists bring therapy and dance together and create a space where people can express themselves.

Students will improvise and adapt the skills and knowledge they learnt through the example dance to explore their own emotions and display of these.

On Wednesday, November 18th, I had the pleasure to attend and watch the Dance Plus’s Fall show. The Dance Plus was performed at the Douglass Theatre, Victoria Mastrobuno Theater. When I entered the show the theatre seemed a little small for such big crowed. I immediately thought there would not be enough seats for all the audience, but somehow it fitted everyone. As everyone got settled down, the dance performance had started. I chose to write about the first performance that was choreographed by the amazing director, Jessica Lange her work was simply wonderful! I loved every little piece of the play. It put a smile on my face watching this amazing work of art. So with that said, I would now like to talk about the dance performance. There were

Since I have attempted to resolve my issue with nonverbal behavior before, the decision to improve that skill was easy, but developing an overall effective plan that had at least a moderate potential for success was an arduous process. I started by listing the common nonverbal behaviors I exhibit during these episodes that obstruct any interpersonal communications; sent or received. Next, I analyzed the list to determine how universal each behavior was in my daily interactions. Though, I thought there would have been more, I was surprised to find only a few of my nonverbal behaviors reappeared in different interactions. I continued to revise the list until the entries were mostly unique to the situation. As a result, the revised list is as follows: fidgeting, rubbing my lower back, itching one of my legs, squirming in my seat (excludes repositioning myself), erratic paralanguage

Non-verbal communication is used to give us cues about what is being communicated (Underman and Boggs, 2011) and involves listening, eye contact, body language, facial expressions and movements. Posture can be open or closed reflecting a person’s emotions and attitudes (skillsyouneed, 2014). Listening can create trust, act as an advocate and build a therapeutic rapport with the patient. Barriers to listening are a noisy environment, tone of voice, timing and tiredness. Kinesics (body language) is an important non-verbal skill that involves the conscious or unconscious body positioning or actions of the communicator (Underman and Boggs, 2011). Following the SOLER guideline is useful. S- Sit squarely to the person (face them). O- Maintain an open position, L- Lean slightly forward, E- Maintain comfortable eye contact and R- Relax and take your time (Egan, 2002).

Dance is said to have existed prior to the invention of written languages, and was perhaps an essential aspect of storytelling for the passing of knowledge and information from generation to generation. And it has been, since time immemorial, a part of every culture and religion as a means of self and collective expression.

The first group (ages 26+) were patients who suffered from intellectual disabilities like motor disorder as a consequence of cerebral palsy, speech impairment, auditory function, and difficulties with motor skills. The second group (ages 26-50) had individuals who suffered from a genetic disease and severe psychomotor retardation. The third group was older adults (ages 70+) who suffered from severe stages of mobility issues, Alzheimer disease, behavioral symptoms, temporal and spatial disorientation. Some forms of therapy included circle dance group, listening groups that listened to only music, and ergometer groups. A study by Thaut, McIntosh, Prassas, and Rice (1992) investigated the effect of auditory rhythm on temporal parameters. Data from this study showed that using principals of rhythmic cuing improved stride, upper limb movements, and enhanced gait. (Krampe, (2013) p. 40) Within these group sessions, therapists used props to stimulate sensory integration, interaction, and self-expression. This made the dance therapy session fun, more enjoyable, and helped with the “grounding” concept at a physical, emotional, and social level amongst everyone. The props that were used were balls varying in different sizes and colors, small percussion instruments, and

Dance therapy is a type of psychotherapy that uses movement to further the social, cognitive, emotional, and physical development of the individual. Dance therapists work with people who have many kinds of emotional problems, intellectual deficits, and life-threatening illnesses. They are employed in psychiatric hospitals, day care centers, mental health centers, prisons, special schools, and private practice. They work with people of all ages in both group and individual therapy. Some also engage in research.

On December 1, 2017, in the University Theatre at California State University, Dominguez Hills, I observed the fall dance concert Rise. It was choreographed by Amy Michelle Allen, Marco A, Carreon, Sarah Cashmore, Jeff Hendrix, Erin Landry, Doris Ressl Acosta, and Kenneth Walker, with the long cast of dancers. The production was pleasing, and would not have been believable without the work from production designers, Frederick Depontee and Cheryl Sheldon. Rise is played out in eight different dance routines, which were Xtra Xtra, Scar Tissue, Hart Broken, Things Are A Stirrin’, and the rest are intermissions such as Female Energy, Women, Exotica, Strength In Numbers, and Makina.