Cecelia MacFarlane...Workshop 1

What is Dance Movement Therapy?

• Using dance and movement as an outlet for emotion and expression
• More of an agenda, working towards helping a specific aspect of life 
• Tends to be a silent activity and body and movement used as expression
• Artist triangle Client/ Therapist/ Art Form
• Use of transitional objects (props)

What is therapeutic?

• Something calming and relaxing to soothe the body and mind
• A method or activity that promotes well-being
• Massage, candles, music, talking, sauna, spa, baking, touch, petting animals, sleeping, shopping

Looking at the four major emotions: Happiness, Sadness, Anger and Fear. How might they manifest?

Client Group: 5-8yrs with ADHD

Associate the emotions with an animal, the children are able to recognise

Happiness = Monkey

Sadness = Donkey

Anger = Tiger

Fear = Mouse

So if a child is acting up out of anger, we can communicate to that child to transition that anger into pretending to be a tiger. Through this method the child can get out their anger during this play and at the end they can potentially leave the tiger persona and the anger behind.

A class with Andrea Barzey...

Walking around the room, finding a way to the floor - memories of Charlie Morrissey's session, different easy ways to find the support of the floor. Once there connecting to the floor and massaging. Thoughts of the different movement patterns emerge, in particular the mouthing pattern, starfish and the image of yield and push.

Observations include losing unnecessary preparations into movements and allowing the head to flow more freely and relaxing into limbs

Homologus Pattern

The frog pattern...

Two upper limbs moving together - Two lower limbs moving together

Symmetry of body

Begins in later stage of utero, part of the birthing pattern

This pattern starts to take us moving through space, we can find support from the organ system. A sense of sight comes into play: not outwards but in my own hemisphere...attention.

I find this movement pattern familiar and easy to initiate but at the same time unfamiliar from lack of usage and frustrating in its limitation and simplicity. I recognise the pattern within different classes mainly during jumping but it isn't used for very long

Connections

Awareness of connections in my separate classes affect my movement?! Able to make more sense of what I am doing meaning I worry less and enjoy it more. Also I feel like it is allowing me to take on board more layers of processes in class.

Able to work with more things simultaneously without losing quality

Walking around the room, finding a way to the floor - Charlie Morrisey on Monday - and connecting to the floor massaging - mouthing pattern, starfish, yield and push

Class with Charlie eased me into this class. Although the classes weren't linked I felt that because earlier on in the week we had explored different ways of finding the ground. I felt more at ease doing it/ more natural

Once on the floor I felt very connected to specific BMC movement patterns spiralling (spinal), starfish/naval radiation (sinking into the support of the floor) and yield and push.

Soft Spine Pattern

Moving on from the mouthing pattern (sea squirt) to soft spine pattern. The Lancelet. Three tubes down the centre of the body.

Digestive - A long tube connected from mouth to anus.
Notochord - Soft tissue that eventually becomes the little discs in the spine
Neural tube - Eventually becomes the brain and spinal chord

All of these are what allow for sequential movement, fluidity and awareness of back, middle and front within the centre line.

Connected but loosely, soft and supple with inner tubes connecting head to tail. Using the soft spine imagery I am able to work closely with the head to tail connection with renewed ease.

Mouthing Pattern

Exploring the mouthing pattern. Taking imagery in the form of the sea squirt.

Sea Squirt - Marine mammal that lives in bottom of the sea. Tube like, or bell like in appearance but still no spine.

Brushing the cheek of my partner and her following the brushing with her mouth, similar to new born babies. When it comes to my turn feels oddly familiar. Memories from way back when. Feels more comfortable going one way rather than the other. It is this movement that starts the rolling motion through the body.

Navel Radiation Pattern

Imagery of starfish - no one part of starfish is more important than any other. Each limb is equal. The navel is the centre of being. In uterus, the life source is from the umbilical cord from navel. How can this pattern offer integration between core and distal movement?