« Creative dance and developmental movement. Fundamentals of movement and dance psychology

Year of publication and journal number:

Dance movement therapy (DMT) is a field of psychotherapy. As a separate direction, it took shape around the 50-70s of the twentieth century, first in the USA, and then in the 60-80s in Great Britain, Germany and Israel. In the 80-90s, TDT was developed in other countries of Europe, Asia, Australia and Russia. The official year of birth of TDT in Russia can be considered 1995, when the Association of Dance and Movement Therapy (ADMT) was created in Moscow. It is clear that unofficially everything began much earlier.

TDT is an interdisciplinary field; it exists at the intersection of psychotherapy and dance art. In addition, it is closely related to many other areas of knowledge. Among them: anatomy, physiology, psychophysiology, kinesiology, neuropsychology, a variety of theories of movement and dance, psychology, etc. - i.e. almost everything that can be attributed to the areas of knowledge about the body, movement, dance, psyche, the creative process and creative expression.

MAIN SOURCES OF TDT

It is impossible to understand the essence of SDT without referring to the main sources that feed it as a separate school of psychotherapy. In this regard, four historical aspects should be highlighted:

1. The first is the development of science, and primarily of psychoanalytic schools associated with the discovery Z. Freud mental reality and consideration of the psyche as the dynamics of conscious and unconscious processes in human ontogenesis. S. Freud gave impetus to the development of depth psychology, where three main schools can be distinguished:
- Psychoanalysis by Z. Freud;
- Individual psychology by A. Adler;
- Analytical psychology of K. G. Jung.

By the 40-50s, psychoanalytic trends had become quite strong in psychotherapy as an alternative to traditional hypnosis. Many other schools emerged that either refuted or developed these basic theories and practices - thus making invaluable contributions to the general understanding of psychological laws.

TDT was born, already relying on traditions and new psychotherapeutic schools and directions. Dance therapists (depending on their inclinations and general psychotherapeutic training and experience) could use the universal language of movement to relate and contrast their practice with any psychological concepts. TDT is a kind of meta-level that can draw parallels and combine knowledge, experience and concepts of various psychotherapeutic directions. At the same time, TDT develops its theory based on the idea of ​​psychosomatic unity.

2. The beginning of the century became the era of modernity in art: new forms, new principles were tried. The dance also went beyond the usual. Isadora Duncan is one of the most famous dance innovators in Russia. She was unique as a performer and expressed exactly those ideas that were the banner of modernist art. She did not create her own school. The foundation of new dance forms and dance pedagogy is associated with other names. And first of all, it is worth highlighting the Austrian dancer, choreographer and philosopher Rudolf von Laban. He was an outstanding teacher and theorist of movement and dance. It was R. Laban who put into practice the principle of the value of individual expression in dance. Having abandoned the usual ballet training, he developed his own approach to teaching and staging movement techniques, which made it possible to maximize the individual expression of each dancer. In addition, he created a system for recording and describing any human movement (like notes for recording music), which is currently the theoretical basis and method of analysis and diagnosis in TDT. His teachings in the 60-70s were developed by Irmgard Bartenieff, who developed a special system of exercises ("Basics of Bartenieff") harmonizing movement and teaching the correct and economical use of the body in movement. Currently, Laban analysis and Bartenieff Basics are an integral part of the TDT methodology, as well as its separate direction.

German dancer and choreographer Mary Wigman became the founder of dance expressionism. She was most interested in human affects. Emotional experience gave birth to bodily form and determined the quality of movement. In ballet, on the contrary, a set of certain forms serves to express different contents. Mary Wigman brought improvisation to dance pedagogy and choreography.

Dance improvisation is methods of spontaneous movement. When a person moves spontaneously, he expresses himself very accurately and honestly: in spontaneous movement, unconscious aspects of the personality can materialize. The unconscious can become visible, take shape, thus a person is able to reconnect with lost parts of himself, his psychological resources. And if you realize this, then the opportunity opens up for self-knowledge and gaining greater personal integrity and integration - and this is the main part and goal of the psychotherapeutic process. Those. it turned out that improvisation itself confronted dancers and teachers with the healing power of dance.

It is no coincidence that all the first dance therapists were students of R. Laban and M. Wigman or their followers.

For example, Marian Chace had her own studio. And gradually her interest shifted more and more from performing arts to the process of exploring individuality in dance improvisation. She saw her students open up and change as individuals, becoming more whole, more themselves. There is a legend that among her students there were people who were simultaneously in psychotherapy. And psychotherapists paid attention to the improvement in the condition of their patients, which was associated with classes with M. Chase. Gradually, some psychotherapists began to refer their patients to dance improvisation classes at her studio. And in 1946, Marian Chase was officially invited to work at the psychiatric hospital. St. Elizabeth in Washington, DC, where her method was born in close collaboration with psychiatrists. Probably, this date can be considered the birthday of TDT. It should be mentioned that this clinic is one of the most advanced psychiatric hospitals in the United States. She is known for her humanistic approach to psychiatry and remains an innovator in the use of creative expression therapies in psychiatric treatment to this day. Other pioneers of TDT include Trudy Shoop, Mary Whitehouse, and Lilian Espenak.

3. It is worth mentioning separately about Wilhelm Reich and his teaching about muscular-emotional blocks and characteristic armor. He was one of the most talented students of S. Freud, who was the first among analysts to pay attention not only to What says the patient, but above all, How He says. Reich believed that unexpressed emotional experiences do not disappear, but remain in the muscles and are “stuck” there in the form of muscle blocks. Emotions in the form of muscle clamps, remaining unexpressed and unconscious in the body for years, form a muscular armor, or characteristic armor, which reflects the methods of psychological defenses (often pathogenic) and the character structure formed under their influence.

V. Reich, being an analyst, proposed not just verbal analysis, he directly influenced muscle blocks in order to release them and the emotions hidden in them and, on this basis, analyze situations, relationships with people who caused these feelings and experiences.

TDT refers to this understanding of psychosomatic mechanisms, formulated by W. Reich, but practically does not use his methods of work.

4. It is impossible not to mention the original purpose of dance, which has been completely lost in modern civilization, and the ancient healing practices where dance was an integral attribute.

Even before the advent of language, primitive people used movement and gestures as a means of communication. And in the first human communities, dance was one of the main components of community life: both an individual way of expression (fear, sadness, joy, etc.) and a way of transmitting cultural heritage. Until now, in Aboriginal tribes, instead of the question: “What tribe are you from?” They ask: “What dance are you doing?”

The dance accompanied all rituals (birth, wedding, death, etc.), all holidays and celebrations, events of everyday life (hunting, fishing, etc.), military campaigns. It was in dance that a person conveyed his attitude towards the unknown and unknown, towards nature, and expressed his connection with the Universe and with gods and spirits. Dance served as a means of spiritual and healing practice. And the basis of this is not an aesthetic form, but an expression of the Innermost in a person.

And TDT, after many, many centuries of treating dance as an elite art form, returns it to its original meaning: no matter How you move, it's important What you sense, feel and think, what matters is what you express with your dance. After all, the body is the only thing in a person that does not lie and can help him reveal and express himself in all his fullness and truth.

Abraham Maslow said that "...just as man has instinctual needs that are part of his biological nature, he also has higher needs, such as the need to be significant, the need for esteem and the need for freedom of expression." If we translate this into the language of dance therapy, this is a need be visible, which is only possible in motion.

So, to summarize the above, dance therapists turn to the healing power of dance, to the power of creative expression in movement, and also use the achievements of modern dance pedagogy and turn to movement research and the experience of various psychotherapeutic schools (primarily psychodynamic, existential, humanistic and transpersonal) .

BASIC PRINCIPLES AND OBJECTIVES OF TDT

1. The body and psyche are inseparably connected and have a constant mutual influence on each other. For a dance therapist, it is an axiom that the body is a mirror of the soul, and movement is an expression of the human “I”. By making the body more flexible, we make the soul more flexible, and vice versa.

Therefore, the goal of therapy is to achieve self-awareness by exploring the body's reactions and actions.

2. Dance is communication, which is carried out on three levels: with oneself, with other people and with the world.

Thus, the task will be to create a safe space, a therapeutic relationship, so that by analyzing the relationship with the therapist and/or with other people, if this is group work, the person can find more effective ways of interacting in his environment.

3. Holistic principle, i.e. the principle of integrity, where the triad of thoughts-feelings-behavior is considered as a single whole and changes in one aspect entail changes in the other two.

The task is to find a way to match thoughts, feelings and actions. Often a person thinks one thing, feels another, and does a third, which is a reflection of some kind of internal conflict. It explores how thought, feeling and movement can express one content, and also analyzes what in personal history led to such division within, i.e. to loss of internal integrity.

4. The body is perceived as a process, and not as an object, object or subject. The word “process” emphasizes that we are not dealing with something given, static, but with something constantly changing. The essence of such a process is best reflected by one of the principles of Tao: the ability to see statics in movement and movement in statics.

We have learned to control the body, give it certain forms, appearance, restrain it and think that it will remain unresponsive and will not give any feedback. And then inexplicable symptoms and pain arise, a constantly felt tension in the body appears, stiffness appears, and the range of movement becomes more and more limited.

Task: following a person’s process (one might say, his psychosomatic Tao), the dance therapist helps to release and reveal the information that underlies symptoms, pain, various kinds of bodily discomfort and restrictions in movement - a person learns to understand the language of his body and thus restores dialogue with yourself. This work also develops the ability to use movement and dance to express a full range of feelings and to find constructive ways of dealing with one's feelings without denial and suppression (which would be destructive to psychological health).

5. Appeal to human creative resources as an inexhaustible source of vitality and creative energy.

Objective: development of self-esteem, self-acceptance and deep trust in oneself and in the life process, development of constant contact with one’s life resources. Here TDT addresses creative dance directly: these are moments of exploration and expression of emotional material (dreams, fantasies, memories) through symbolic movement.

WHO SEEKS A DANCE THERAPIST?

These are primarily people (sometimes called kinesthetics), for whom movement is a way of processing information. To fully understand something, they need to feel it in the body and find expression for it in movement. For them, movement is a way of self-expression, self-knowledge and development.

These can also be people of a different type (you can distinguish the auditory or visual type), who at a certain stage of their lives began to understand that in order to solve their problem, they need to turn to their body, learn to understand its language and enter into communication with it. dialogue.

What they can all have in common is that at a certain moment these people may feel that they are not whole, that they have lost contact with themselves or would like to change the quality of this contact. Psychologically, loss of contact with oneself is identical to loss of contact with the body.

WHAT CAUSES LOSS OF CONTACT WITH THE BODY?

Stromstad answers this question as follows:

Any kind of physical, emotional and/or psychological abuse.

Early childhood illnesses, difficult childbirth, birth defects, body injuries received at a very early stage of life.

Other injuries to the body, including accidents and surgery.

Poor early object relations, where the “mirroring” by parents, so necessary for the child to develop a healthy sense of self, was inadequate.

Inappropriate or violated boundaries in interpersonal relationships of family members.

The feeling of shame and criticism that parents project onto the child (when adults are not at peace with their bodies). These feelings may also be caused by a rejecting or intruding parent.

Early abandonment or neglect of a child. The child's feeling that his body or the quality of his life does not correspond to the cultural ideal or family pattern-style.

Religious devaluation of sensuality, needs and the role of the body as the most important basis of our perception, point of view and access to the world of sensations.

Surviving disasters such as the Holocaust, natural disasters, wars. (see T.Stromsted "Re-inhabiting the female body" / Somatics(r). 1994-1995. V.10. N1. P.18-27.)

So, TDT is a huge area. There are no age or nosology restrictions for TDT. The only limitation is the limitations of the dance therapists themselves (depending on their specialization).

In Russia, TDT initially developed as a type of personal growth group for adults. Now the range of its application has expanded significantly. There is group and individual work with children and adults, with the help of which you can solve your personal problems related to relationships with other people, anxieties and fears, crisis life situations, loss of meaning in life, and misunderstanding of yourself. There is also family TDT, where family problems can be solved; There are children's groups for preschoolers and schoolchildren that develop the child's creative abilities and communication skills, helping them prepare and adapt to school. There are unique programs for children (child-parent groups) that correct the disharmonious development of the child (such as mental retardation, minimal brain dysfunction, etc.); We work in groups and individually with people suffering from eating disorders (anorexia, bulimia, compulsive overeating - classification according to DSM IV-R); with psychogenically caused bodily symptoms and other psychosomatic disorders. TDT is used as a way to prepare couples for parenthood before childbirth, as well as for postpartum support - special groups for babies from 0 to 3 years old and their mothers.

Work with people suffering from post-traumatic disorders, disabled children, and refugees is beginning to develop.

TDT in Russia is still a very new specialization. The Association of Dance Therapy (ADT) is gradually taking steps to develop the profession with the support of the American Dance Therapy Association (ADTA), the European Working Group on the Professional Development of DDT (a board of directors of 12 training programs in DDT in Europe) and the International Association for Creative Expression Therapies (IEATA). ). Since 1995, there has been a 4-year training program in TDT in Moscow. In 1999, a TDT specialization was opened at the Institute of Practical Psychology and Psychoanalysis.

Notes

Bartenieff Fundamentals(tm)

A. Maslow. The reaches of human nature. N-Y., 1972.

T. Stromsted. Re-inhabiting the female body. /Somatics. 1994-1995. V.10. No. 1. p. 18-27.

Human life is filled with movements: often we don’t even realize how many of them we make in a day and that each has its own meaning. From birth, a person does not have the developed ability to speak, and therefore he can express his desires and feelings only through actions. But speech is not always able to accurately and quickly convey a person’s state: sudden joy makes you throw up your hands, sometimes it’s easier to nod in agreement, and sharp pain involuntarily forces you to shrink. In the animal world, all information is transmitted through the body: dissatisfied cats arch their backs, joyful dogs wag their tails, and an impatient horse kicks its hoof. That is, movements, in addition to the main function of maintaining physical condition, carry communicative function.

In addition to communicating with a visible interlocutor, movements were (and in some tribes are still used) to communicate with spirits, which developed into ritual dances. A certain set of movements, visualizing words, accompanied ceremonial events, made it possible to establish a connection with God and ask for favor, harvest, rain, etc. Over time, the dance from the intuitive acquired a standardized form and has the form that we know today. The dance industry is constantly evolving, new directions are emerging. However, they all have a single goal - to convey in movement their experiences, their state, and tell a story.

Dance in a broad sense consists of three aspects:

• emotional - those feelings that dance evokes in the performer and spectators;
• physical - human data;
• psychological - self-esteem, which affects openness in dance.

All three parameters are closely related to each other, and the degree of development of these aspects affects the quality of the dance. Psychologists use this feature in their work: a person’s personality traits are revealed through dance in informal conditions.

Communication abilities can be traced in a person’s involvement in dance: a sociable and confident person is more likely to become the “king of the dance floor” than an introverted and shy person. By the choice of musical accompaniment, by the nature of movements, one can determine the emotional state: happiness, sadness, love, anxiety. Sharp movements characterize brighter feelings, smooth ones – deeper ones. The richer the inner world of a person, the more filled it is, the more diverse the movements will be, the greater the number of styles will be available.

Dance can be used not only in diagnostics, but also in correctional activities. So, for example, by teaching a person to dance beautifully (i.e. developing the physical aspect), you can raise his self-esteem (psychological aspect) and thereby improve his overall emotional background. You can develop communication skills in pairs or group dances: there partners learn to feel each other, to successfully interact, which can later be transferred to other areas of life.

The ideas of holistic development of man and his movements underlie developmental dance. Body, emotions, consciousness and spirituality - everything in a person is interconnected, and when one aspect is influenced, all the others are affected. Developmental dance is based on 2 main directions:

• creative dance, using motor activity to reveal expressive and creative abilities;
• development movement, which reveals unused motor and psychological potential hidden behind gaps in the path of motor development of a person.

The result of work in this direction is development of body awareness, which makes it possible to express one’s state (physical, emotional, cognitive) through expressive movement and dance.

Dance is a unique phenomenon that allows us to express thoughts and feelings that are sometimes difficult to translate into words. Dancing is a great way to maintain physical fitness. By developing the sensitivity of one's own body, a person develops the ability to understand himself, which leads to a harmonious life.

If you look at dancing from the point of view of social psychology, dance stores a lot of important and valuable information about a person, about his individual characteristics, about his interaction with the outside world. The individual characteristics of a person can be traced, first of all, in the manner of performance and in the presentation of the dance. This layer of information is perceived and evaluated at an unconscious level. For example, a dance can be, in its initial characteristics, moving, bewitching, dynamic and stunning. However, if it is performed sluggishly, lacking initiative and rather mediocre, then we think that this dancer is not suitable for such a dance, he does not have the characteristics that the situation requires. And vice versa, there are people who manage to “put on” any image that will fit them like a brand. This is the case of a cognitively complex person with a very rich inner world and ideas about it. Individual characteristics of a person, among other things, also include communication abilities. Psychologists identify several ways to study them in a particular person. This can be done with the help of tests aimed at studying the level of communication of an individual in the world around him, you can observe his behavior (for example, in a communication situation), you can conduct an experiment. Or you can just watch how a person dances, moves to music in an informal setting, in a relaxed state at a party or at a mother-in-law’s anniversary celebration, for example. The communication abilities of a beautiful and well-danced person will differ significantly from the communication abilities of someone who stands at the wall, hesitates and does not dare to invite a lady to a slow dance. Dance reveals openness to the outside world, extroverted attitudes in life, and a desire for novelty. But that's not all.
The mood and internal emotional background are also reflected in the dance.
All of the above can be used in assessing a person according to certain parameters, as well as in correction methods, based on the fact that the mental, physical and emotional are three sides of one whole, they are all interconnected. And through one side you can always influence the other two. For example, if you teach a person to dance beautifully and harmoniously (physical aspect), you can increase self-esteem (psychological aspect) and improve your mood (emotional aspect). Art therapy does this successfully. Psychologists are well aware that the emotional coloring of human experiences can be seen in dance as a manifestation of the unconscious. That is, a person expresses his state through dance. As a result, his physical condition changes, adrenaline is released into the blood, fatigue appears in the body and satisfaction and peace in the soul. He is no longer worried about the problematic situation, stress is relieved. The situation is played out on another level, after which the attitude towards it simply changes.
Now let's directly touch on how communication occurs through dance. Dance, as a work of art, consists of three parts. The first part is what we used to call the beginning or introduction. Here the tone for further action is set, and the viewer gradually begins to understand in what manner it will unfold. Already from the first seconds the emotional load of the action is captured. Gradually, the first part gives way to the second, the main one in terms of events and larger in volume. At this stage, the main meaning of the dance becomes clear, the idea “for what the whole idea is for.” The actions unfolding in the second part, as a rule, reach a peak of development, a climax. After which a decline in events or fading begins, which in turn can be smooth and slow, which creates a complete image in memory, or it can be swift and fast, and then it seems to us that the picture has not been brought to its logical conclusion and the last part is missing from it . This scheme of constructing a dance always takes place, be it an eventful action, or simply an outburst of emotions.
However, it is worth noting that dance implies not only the internal experiences of the individual. We can see something more in him. Traditions, attitudes, patterns of behavior, which have evolved over centuries from the collective unconscious, are always captured in folk dances. In modern dance performances, these traditions are not striking, they are somewhat veiled, but there is a huge amount of work, hard physical work and, of course, the spirit of the times. What we are shown on TV (from modern dances) reeks of aggressiveness, impulsiveness, pressure - all this against the backdrop of very fast, rhythmic music. But this does not mean that modern dance images lack plasticity, harmony and consistency. Both occur equally in contemporary art. But when the negativity becomes a little more than usual, it catches your eye. Therefore, we can assume that dance is a reflection of the era in which it is born. The language of dance, like sign language, is universal. Of course, there are certain gestures that are adequately perceived only in the environment where they come from. This can be either age or professional boundaries, as well as ethnic ones. However, there are also gestures that are understandable in any society. For example, a head and shoulders drooping down indicates depression or melancholy and sadness. In any case, a person will immediately understand that someone is feeling bad. Therefore, speaking about the perception of dance, we can talk about the universalism of its language.
In general, any dance image is very expressive and understandable, if not completely, then at least partially, to any person. And we are talking not only about the language of dance, but also about its internal dynamics. Dance is a kind of symbol that carries ideological meaning and important essential characteristics.