Dance and Therapy: A Match Made in Heaven

During the Covid lockdown, with more time on my hands and less daily distractions, I created an online movement workshop for therapists who might be feeling lonely and isolated. The shift to offering online therapy sessions had made me relate more cognitively than I would normally; I missed the feeling of being in the room with a client and noticed that I couldn’t pick up important embodied signals (mine and the client’s) from head-to-head relating on the screen.

Dance of the Therapist

I wrote to most of the therapy schools in the country and asked them to pass on details of my online workshop, The Dance of the Therapist, to their students and alumni. The idea was to spend a few hours together moving and dancing to a specially selected soundtrack, whilst I facilitated some embodied presence and offered some movement exercises for working with themselves and clients. It seemed the perfect opportunity to catch up on some CPD whilst connecting and releasing through dancing and movement.

Not Dance Movement Therapy (DMT)

Let me say at this point, I am essentially from a ‘talking therapy’ background and not qualified in the very valuable modality of Dance Movement Therapy (DMT). DMT is a therapy method that became widely used in 1980s and 1990s, although it traces roots back to the 1940s in the USA. DMT is based on the idea that there is no separation between mind and body, and that movement expresses and reflects a person’s thoughts and feelings.

Dance Movement Therapy is widely evidenced and used in mental health contexts, for physical rehabilitation, personal growth, addiction recovery and is extensively used for those with Parkinson’s disease and dementia. Its primary mode of communication is non-verbal.

My Journey

I came to dancing through many years of going to nightclubs, parties, raves and festivals. This was the backdrop of my teens and twenties. I loved to dance and my passion led me to become a club/rave promoter in the 1990s. Being in a sea of people, all moving together was my first experience of feeling deeply connected to the mass of humanity around me, and myself, without any words being exchanged.

I trained as a transpersonal psychotherapist, and devised a therapeutic workshop, Spirit in the House, to explore the rave experience from a sober, more conscious place. I wanted to understand what I was experiencing on the dance floor and how other people experienced it.

Conscious Dance

A decade or so later I was still hungry for the dance floor, though less for the late nights and hangovers. I discovered conscious dance, which involved no drugs, alcohol or 5am finishes. It offered the sense of belonging and connection found in a club or rave, and at times when the music got going, even resembled the club experience. It also allowed time for rest and recouperation. A winning formular!

Therapy Journey

My journey as a psychotherapist spiked in interest when I discovered Arnold Mindell’s Process Work - a branch of Jungian psychotherapy - in the 1990s. The approach was fresh, different, and importantly included ‘kinesthetic’ experience [the sensory perception of movement] as a means of communication and exploration.  Finally I could explore the subjective world of feelings and thoughts through the movements of my body!

Dance Teacher

Having spent many years dancing 5Rhythms, a dance movement practice that became popular before the recent trend in Ecstatic Dance, I decided to become a conscious dance teacher myself. I completed Teacher Trainings in Ecstatic Awakening Dance and Open Floor International (an offshoot of 5Rhythms). I had no intention to give up my therapy practice, just to add movement to my skills and continue to allow each discipline - therapy and conscious movement - to inform each other.

The Dance Movement Therapy Path

I now run regular dance movement sessions, both online and in person, including monthly Dance of the Therapist workshops. I have written a book, Dance for Life, that looks at the history of dance, the role that dance plays in the modern world and the features (and explanations) of different conscious dance practices.

During one recent workshop, an attendee asked if I had thought of training in Dance Movement Therapy. My answer: I have been a registered psychotherapy practitioner for several decades with a special interest in movement and the wisdom of the body. I teach and educate in the conscious dance sphere. Movement and therapy are deeply etched in my DNA, and whilst I have greatest reverence for the world of DMT, I have carved my own way into being both a movement facilitator and a therapist. And that’s enough.

Come Along and Dance

You might want to try out Flomotion, my own flavour of conscious dance. It takes place on alternate Saturday evenings in Archway. It’s a bit clubby, a bit meditative, but mainly it has a super-inclusive and friendly crowd, and there’s always some fun to be had.

Alternatively you might want to attend my hybrid dance session, Sun-dance, either in person in Crouch End or online, or a Dance of the Therapist workshop. Check out www.Onlinevents.co.uk.

Book my dance sessions here www.flomotion.dance/bookings

Buy my book, Dance for Life, here