How to do the locomotion dance
Comments | locomotion
I cannot thank you enough for inviting and treating us to the performance last night. It was one of the most powerful, empowering child-centered, moving performance programs I have ever experienced. I've been wanting to see a Loco-Motion performance for a few years since I have been hearing such rave reviews from parents. You were right about the impact and importance of Measurements, the piece on standardized testing -- I think that needs to be posted on youtube. It will go viral! I think that it needs to be performed on the steps of City Hall or Albany or even the White House when the legislators are getting ready to vote about these sort of tests.
-- E. J.
This was our first Loco-Motion performance and we are so blown away by your work. What an amazing experience for all who were present. I was moved by every dance. I'm a youth worker by profession, and you have all of the best elements of what young people need in your classes. Thank you for giving Devan a high-quality experience where she can learn and demonstrate her skills. She is one of the young people who is chased by the acronym labels, so profoundly expressed in your dance, and at Loco-Motion she is free.
-- Susan H. and Debo
Another simply marvelous production--the usual impeccable choice of provocative music, ingenious costume design, and innovative choreography. And then there was the minor detail of the abilities you've managed to draw out of our kids and hone to performance level!! Thanks a million for the energy and love you pour into every production, every year. I couldn't at all absorb the claim that you'd been doing this for 20 years. Seems utterly impossible! Thank you so very much for ensuring our daughter has this safe and caring venue in which to explore her place in the physical world around her and revel in the impact she can have on it through the joy of dance.
--Simon and Ann
Loco-Motion is so much more than just an after-school program--it is this great, life-changing, life-enhancing experience.
And all the kids who are in it are so lucky.
--Susan B
I'm still at the show and everyone is hugging everyone and no one wants to leave because it was amazing. I loved every bit of it from opening to the cartoons to the singing angel to your beautiful talented daughter to the bows which is the most uplifting life affirming exclamation point to it all.
--Steven T
I want to thank you properly for the wonder in our family’s life that is Loco-Motion. Once again, we enjoyed the concert tremendously. I am assured by all of our party in the audience that they were regaled with the usual fare of stunning dance work and choreography, dazzling and innovative costume design, and challenging dance numbers backed by a thought-provoking musical selection. For my part, I was, for the first time, less in my seat than in the wings or backstage, and was privy, therefore, to quite a different dimension than I’d ever experienced—the underbelly of the performance. I was certainly swept away by the excitement, the stress, the anxieties, the bustle, the panic----all such a delicious distraction, as I struggled to stay on top of my mission—to be of some vague help! And then your pep talk in the aisle, as the whole school piled atop each other, huddled together in the trenches, readying for battle.
As you chided your charges for unruliness, I felt a huge collective calm settle, but that calm quickly gave way to a soaring of spirits, as you issued your battle-cry, and as your troops scrambled to their seats and their spots backstage, in readiness to burst upon the audience with all that they, under your capable stewardship, had struggled for months to achieve. Last moments---whispers in the wings---and then it’s time. Oh, to be a cog in that incredible machine! What a feeling for each player--every group knowing precisely when and from where to enter, when and how to leave; every group so perfectly poised to dance until their little hearts would burst; every heart in the audience bursting, too, with rightful pride. And the show certainly did go on, as large and mind-blowing as ever. No words to convey the chest-tightening, lump-in-throat feeling that makes it hard for me even to type right now. Lisa--I have always known what you put together is each is a phenomenal spectacle, but this year drove home to me anew what a precious, life-changing experience every step of the process is for our children.
How blessed we are that you invited our little girl, Anneka, into your glad company. How very blessed we are that our child will grow up with you. Thank you, thank you, thank you, from the bottom of our hearts.
--Anneka, Aidan, Simon and Ann
Just wanted to thank you both so much for encouraging Rae all these years and having the amazing Loco-Motion!! This has been the greatest thing for her and I know you were a HUGE part of the reason that she got accepted to Laguardia. And Lisa thank you for writing the recommendation letter for her and being the voice of reason and support during the extremely stressful auditioning process. It really helped her get through it all.
--Susan and Andy B
Just wanted to reach out & say how amazing the show was on Sunday evening, in every possible way — from the strength and confidence of your dancers to the wit and humanity and politics of the dances themselves. Bravo.
--Katherine D
Every year I think there is no way you can possibly top the performance from the year before and every year you prove me wrong.
The show was everything I could have wanted for the audience and for the dancers. It was the perfect blend of unbelievable adorableness (cats), poignant social commentary (TV, your town, freedom, another brick in the wall) and beautiful dance (mosaica, passage, wade in the water). I had two pieces that really, really moved me-- for different reasons. I was thoroughly entertained by the completely original "A Dance about a Dance" because it captured so much of the dancers' personalities and interests. I loved the spoken parts that showed what the heck goes in a "tween's" brain when asked to contemplate a big question like: what is dance? It was funny and charming and dead on. And knowing so many of those kids, I know that you weren't putting words in their mouth-- those were their unique voices. And the whole thing rang true. The other number that just astonished me was "I was Meant for the Stage". Oh, to see those boys dancing! It was like I was watching a performance of all the reasons that Ezra is in your class-- right there on the stage.
As the dancers "grew" they became more and more poised and confident and proud. And then to have all the boys up there for the final dance was stunning. I counted 21 boys! All moving in different ways, all moving to their own music, but in some way together. It was really powerful for me, the mother of a boy. Whether all of them were actually meant for the stage wasn't the point. In that moment they all were.
--Rachel C
You are magic. Those kids shine so bright. All of them. Thank you. How many kids have you helped be better people over the last 20 years? It really is pretty staggering. You are truly an inspiration.
--becky h
Ward and I are still quite stunned by what an amazing spectrum of dance you inspire from the children and teens involved in LoCoMotion. Saturday night was why we choose to raise our children in the middle of NYC. We cannot imagine that kind of expression (and the myriad of issues being addressed) happening in many other places in this country -- at least not where we're from.
Thank you.
-- Sue & Ward (and Yineth and Tavio)
Thank you as always for the amazing show this past Saturday night! It was beautiful and I cried and cried and cried. So moving to see the old videos and to have the graduates come back and dance with their younger images. I loved the theme and the music and most esp of course all of the dances.
As always, I leave feeling amazed at how you guys can put on such a great show that the kids have so much ownership over. They are truly involved in creating their dances and you also teach them how to be skilled choreographers so what they create is beautiful and moving and real art. And I know that is no small feat. Also, you provide so much opportunity for them to be peer leaders and Rae and Lola have both benefitted from that over the years.
And I esp loved what you said at the end about the importance of creating art together as a community--you said it better of course, but I loved it. So I know I say it every year, but I am eternally grateful that my daughters have had the opportunity to not only be involved with your amazing dance program, but that we have you guys in our lives and that they get to have such great role models as you two: strong, talented smart women who are doing what they want to do and at such a high level of expertise and skill.-Step-18.jpg/aid1640374-v4-728px-Shuffle-(Dance-Move)-Step-18.jpg)
Thank you, thank you!
-- Susan B.
The first time I was called upon to pick up my 8 year old grandson from his after school dance program, I had no clue that a simple errand would rock my world. Two years later, with two grandsons enrolled in Loco-Motion Dance Theatre for Children, I am ever joyful to retrieve one or the other, for I know for a few brief moments on that day, I will be transported as I stand in the shadows witnessing the spirits and the bodies of the all the kids, soar. What is so extraordinary about this program that Matthew (now 10) and Max (7) NEVER want to miss for ANY reason, including strep infection, 102 fever and snow squalls? Lisa Pilato, Artistic Director, is pure magic. She is diminutive in stature – can be mistaken in a crowd of kids as being one of them. But then you realize that she is the source of that encouraging, guiding, cheerleading voice that cues the movement, infuses the enthusiasm, sparks the bursts of creativity that move or still the sea of arms and legs and torsos.
Whatever may have happened at school during the day, or whatever awaits or doesn’t wait for many of these kids at home, for this special time after school, the playing field is level and wide open to the possibilities and opportunities of self-expression and movement. The kids spring from a veritable rainbow of socio-economic and ethnic home bases. They are all sizes, shapes, ages and degrees of ‘talent.’ What a phenomenal showcase you provide for them at the year end extravaganza - highlighting all the kids, from the smallest to the oldest, including past alums who return every year, apparently for the ‘love’ of it all. For the past three years, the Miller Theatre at Columbia University has housed these stellar productions. I cannot begin to convey the pure joy and incredible artistry of these shows. I have a small idea of the herculean machinations that go on behind the scenes by you and Lisa and all the parent volunteers and contributors to sustain this program on such a high level.
I suspect (although, who knows?!) that the futures of Matthew and Max may not include professional dance careers, but there are life experiences which resonate in unfathomable ways. This time with Loco-Motion Dance Theatre for Children will stay with all of us without a doubt. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts, to the tips of our dancing shoes.
-- Susan H.
My appreciation for Loco-Motion’s many years of service to New York City children of all economic standing, races and ethnicities comes from two places in me. One is as a mother. The other is as a professional grant-maker at the MAP Fund. As a parent, what I witness in Loco-Motion’s process and performances is a singular commitment to honoring the individual mind, body and spirit of each child, and guiding that child to discover his or her deepest self through established and emerging forms of dance and movement theater. This is radical education in the best, most literal sense. It’s rooted in historical and contemporary forms of dance as communicated by Loco-Motion’s deeply knowledgeable staff, while at the same time creating an environment in which the child encounters and comes to own these forms on her own terms.
The result is not only remarkably good dance for the age level, but, more important, a degree of self-knowledge and self-ownership among students that’s fundamentally rooted in the body, well beyond language, and therefore nearly impossible to disrupt. As mother and a citizen this is precisely the method of arts education I hope for, and the kind I believe we need in this time of societal upheaval and seemingly infinite external stimuli. As a grantmaker, too, I appreciate Loco-Motion. I run a national funding program that provides over $1 million a year to new works in dance, theater, and music. I have reviewed many thousands of funding proposals from dance makers. It couldn’t be more evident to me that to tell our nation’s stories in any meaningful way, artists need to do more than inherit historical forms whole cloth. They must wrestle with them freshly, imbuing them with their own generational life experience and unique personal spirit. Otherwise what they make will speak to no one, and the very forms we seek to preserve die in the effort.
This “personal” piece of the artmaking puzzle is so often overlooked, even in even the most expensive training. At Loco-Motion, it’s the pillar of the program. In short, Loco-Motion is making better citizens and better artists. We urgently need both, and I hope you will support their effort.
-- Moira Brennan
I am the Movement teacher at P.S. 3 in Greenwich Village. I work closely with Loco-Motion Dance Theatre for Children. Lisa Pilato (Loco-Motion’s Artistic Director and teacher) has often helped me develop curriculum and is active in teaching unique workshops and staging performances for us. In my opinion, Loco-Motion performances rival the work of the best children's companies in the country but what makes the dances even more impressive is that they are choreographed and conceptualized by children. The work is political, intellegent and always inspiring. Over the past 15 years she has taught me so much about dance education. She is a child-centered teacher with an uncanny ability to bring out the artist in each child.
Lisa encourages creativity and joy in dance and it always starts with the child. Hundreds of children have been inspired and challenged by Loco-Motion’s innovative curriculum, a great number of them are students from P.S. 3. Many of them have been given full tuition scholarships and stay at Loco-Motion from kindergarten until they graduate from high school. Each class of kids becomes it's own artistic community and they spend their childhood and teenage years collaborating in a way that most artists never have a chance to do. 13 years of working and growing together is unusual and a unique aspect of the school's mission. Ms. Pilato has an amazing ability to use movement and acting to speak to the issues facing children and teenagers. She teaches them to express themselves and in the process creates thoughtful young artists. One of the graduates of Loco-Motion recently came to P.S. 3 to teach a workshop for me in my dance room. She is also a graduate of P.S. 3 and it was a pleasure to have her come and give back to the community so joyfully.
I cannot recommend Loco-Motion more highly. My respect for their work is heartfelt and deep.
-- Jennie Miller
Give The Gift of Dance
Builds Passion
One of the greatest joys of parenting comes from watching your child grow in their love for something. Whether it’s drawing, football, or tap dancing, there’s no better feeling than watching them become intrinsically motivated to practice something and to improve. Dance is such an easy thing for people to love — it’s practically inherent to our human nature. Nearly everyone does it because it feels good, and the ones who don’t are nearly always afraid of embarrassing themselves (to which we say, that’s impossible!).
Having things you’re passionate about isn’t just something that makes you feel inspired, it’s also healthy for you. Happiness, creativity, and passion are all linked to your mental and physical health.
Signing your child up for dance classes can help them build that passion!
Dance is good for us
As we mentioned, dance as a form of fitness is a great practice to have. But there are plenty of other benefits to taking dance classes as well. It can be a form of catharsis and mental calming for so many of us, serving as an excellent coping mechanism during stressful times. It’s also a way to get cardio exercise in, which improves heart health, and it also builds muscle strength and coordination. Plus, dance is unique in the fact that all you really need is yourself! Though we’d argue having a dance instructor, music, and choreography provides structure (and even added measures of safety, and it’s more fun, too!
Teaches Rhythm and Improves Memory
Did you know that dance can actually make a difference in your memory? It makes sense when you think about it — you have to memorize a unique and fast-paced set of movements in order to do well.
Dance also helps with rhythm and tempo, two things that are great for both your body and your brain.
Dance Classes are more Memorable
Do you remember what you got for Christmas as a 10-year-old? Even if you do, do you still use it now? Chances are you don’t — unless you, too, were given an opportunity to try a new activity. Gifts are usually just additional stuff that people don’t need, but experiences are things that last a lifetime. Your loved ones will truly be grateful for dance classes as a gift — not only on the day they receive the present, but for the rest of their life.
When you’re ready to sign your loved one up for dance classes, LocoMotion Dance Studio in Milwaukee is the place to make that happen! We have incredible options for dancers of all ages and abilities. Additionally, you can sign up your loved one for classes with us, then you have a gift certificate ready to go for their present! Just make sure you sign them up for classes first, or take them to sign up for classes later.
As a bonus, we have a dance apparel store if you want to include a swag bag for your budding dancer,
Thanks for choosing LocoMotion Dance Studio, and happy holidays!
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Dance Movement Therapy: How to Know and Change Yourself Through Movement
February 28, 2017 Health
Your plasticity and the way you move directly affect self-esteem and emotional reactions. You can learn and change your personality with the help of natural dance.
Iya Zorina
Author of Lifehacker, athlete, CCM
It is impossible not to be able to dance. It's the same as not being able to run or jump. Yes, you may not be able to dance rumba or salsa, but you can dance. It doesn't need to be learned. This is the natural activity of our body.
People danced around the fire long before the first dance styles were invented. One-year-olds dance to the music - they squat, spin around themselves, wave their arms. They never learned to dance, they already know how. Same as you.
Why is it important to dance
Dance can affect not only the body. It can change your thoughts, attitude towards yourself and others.
Have you ever noticed that all emotions are immediately reflected in the body, and the position of the body affects how you feel? Here is a great account by social psychologist Amy Cuddy about this.
Our body language determines what we think of ourselves. It depends not only on others, but also on ourselves. The body changes consciousness.
Amy Cuddy
Moreover, body behavior is directly related to thinking, feeling and feeling. Moshe Feldenkrais' book Awareness Through Movement: Twelve Practical Lessons mentions the inextricable link between muscle contractions and feelings.
Moshe Feldenkrais
engineer, psychologist, founder of the human development system through movement.
Behavior is the mobilization of muscles, sensations, feelings and thinking. Theoretically, each of the components can be used as the main one. But the muscles play such an important role that if their patterns in the motor cortex are excluded, the rest of the components of this action are disintegrated.
Feldenkrais notes that the motor part of the cerebral cortex, responsible for the contractions of the muscles of the body, is in close proximity to the structures that control thinking and feeling. Due to this arrangement, as well as the diffusion and spread of the process in the brain, changes in the motor part cause changes in thinking and feelings.
In addition, the body is able to remember the positions in which it spends most of its time. If you often experience negative emotions, they freeze in the body and turn into movement patterns. If you constantly experience fear, insecurity, embarrassment, you shrink, pull your head into your shoulders, stoop.
The muscles responsible for these positions get used to being constantly in tension. To relax them, you have to make a conscious effort.
It turns out a vicious circle - emotions form muscle clamps, constant tension feeds emotions, and you can no longer get rid of this situation so easily.
The good news is that in this way you can not only get a bad habit, but also correct it.
A fundamental change in the basis of the single integration pattern will destroy the connection of the whole. Under such conditions, it is easier to change thinking and feelings: the habit has lost its main support, change has become possible.
Moshe Feldenkrais
The body can't lie
We place so much emphasis on verbal communication when 60 to 80% of information is transmitted non-verbally. This means that all muscle clamps directly affect how other people perceive us. You can lie with words, but the body does not lie, and others read it.
It's much worse when you start lying to yourself without realizing it.
Social attitudes that interfere with you and fear learned in deep childhood - all this forms a picture of yourself, creates psychological blocks and limits your potential.
To understand what is preventing you from living and get rid of it, dance is useful - a real authentic movement, without memorized schemes and patterns.
Natural dance for self-discovery
holistic-dance.atBody movements show who you are and what you think of yourself, while natural dance tells your story.
Why not just go to the dance? Any dance is great if it brings you pleasure. Moreover, through changing muscle patterns, you can change your character. You can choose any dance direction.
But all dance styles have one major drawback compared to authentic movement - they don't tell you anything about you.
We can observe how natural practice gradually gives way to acquired methods. Society generally denies the individual the right to use the natural method, forcing him to master the accepted mode of action, and only then allows him to work.
Moshe Feldenkrais
The natural method reveals your personality and allows you to get to the bottom of your problems. This is the moment when the movement turns into psychotherapy and a way of knowing yourself.
How to cognize and change yourself through movement
There is a special area of psychotherapy - dance movement therapy (TDT). And authentic (natural) movement is part of it.
If there are TDT or authentic movement courses in your city, study with professionals. If this is not possible, but you want to try, we will show you how to start.
Dance analysis
In authentic dance, it is important to monitor your emotional state, how movements are reflected in feelings. This is a kind of meditation that requires full concentration.
You can start with some kind of experience or focus on your feelings for a person, attitude to work, hobby, anything. Thought will generate movement.
The session can be divided into several steps:
- Concentration on internal sensations.
- Choice of vivid experience and movement.
- If a particular movement arises, you concentrate on it, repeat it, intensifying the emotion it evokes.
Let's look at an example. You begin to move with the thought of a relationship with a person, you notice a sharp chopping movement of your hands from top to bottom. You repeat this movement, watching what emotions it causes - rejection, rejection, anger.
You are pulling out hidden emotions from the subconscious. In addition, by experiencing emotions in dance, you release repressed experiences that can influence your life - give rise to fears, keep you from moving forward.
If you are not yet ready for a session with another person, you can record your dance on camera and then analyze it.
Couple Therapy
Even more interesting and effective is a couple session where one person dances and the other one watches. This is the basic structure of authentic movement, consisting of the mover and the witness.
The witness performs several functions:
- Provides security. During the dance, everything is allowed - you can look around, in the mirror, only up or down, move with your eyes closed. You can jump, crawl on the floor, move sharply in different directions. It is clear that in such conditions you can stumble on something, fall or crash into nearby objects. So one of the functions of a witness is to keep you safe from danger.
- Provides feedback. While moving, you can plunge into the unconscious, your emotions and sensations and not track any connections or side emotions. The witness must be sensitive and not lose concentration on your movement, so that after the session he can describe what happened, what feelings arose in response to your dance.
In this case, the witness should not make specific judgments about your movement or about any parts of the dance. After the session, you will be able to discuss the dance.
Let's say you say what you felt or imagined while slowly crawling across the floor, and ask the witness what associations or feelings this movement aroused in him. Together, you can create a more accurate picture of what is happening. Someone else's vision can lead you to interesting thoughts.
Just do not force a person who is not ready for this to be a witness. You may come across criticism, misunderstanding, lack of empathy and concentration.
Who is authentic movement for
This practice is not for everyone. On the one hand, this is not a dance in the general sense of the word, but rather a psychotherapy in motion. On the other hand, this is a dance in its original version - the expression of emotions through plasticity, revealing oneself in motion.
Authentic movement will suit:
- Those who have poor control over their body.
- People who want to know more about themselves, remove psychological blocks, live emotions driven deep into themselves.
- Dancers who want to express their own emotions in dance, and not live someone else's, discover new ways of plastic expression.
Dancing does not require the ability to sit on the splits, perfect sense of rhythm, athletic build, knowledge and skills. All you need is your body, emotions and music. Turn on music, drums, a metronome, or listen to silence. Make a few movements and let the emotions and sensations guide your body. Dance.
Dance Movement Therapy (TDT), as a way to happiness. The body never lies!
PSYCHOLOGY / February 18
A talk about the method, difficulties and possibilities of TDT, as well as about the simple happiness of living life with a teacher-choreographer, dance movement therapist Elizaveta Druzhinina.
Elizaveta Druzhinina
Teacher-choreographer, dance and movement therapist,
head of the dance school "Free plasticity"
— Elizaveta, tell us how your relationship with dance and movement therapy (trap movement) began and developed?
— Many years ago, I realized that dance should not limit a person, but on the contrary, it can heal and liberate.
Initially, my relationship developed with stage and sports dance. For seventeen years I was professionally engaged in sports ballroom dancing, received the category of "candidate for master of sports", graduated from the choreographic department of Moscow State University of Cinematography, and later took part in the "Dancing on TNT" project. At some point, I began to be more concerned with myself, self-development and movement research. She began to study anatomy, entered a psychologist, began to practice yoga, took her first training course on "telesque" and got into dance and movement training with Alexander Girshon, later she took an introductory course of the Moscow Association of Dance and Movement Therapists.
After the project "Dancing on TNT", I opened the dance school "Free Plastic" and created the direction of the same name, in which I combined the methods of dance-movement therapy and modern dance techniques. Six months ago, I completed a dance-movement therapy course with Tatyana Yuryevna Oganesyan in St.
Petersburg, she is the only specialist in Russia who practices TDT methods in the clinical field and is a professional ballet dancer in the past.
— Tell me, what features characterize the TDT method, how does it differ from dance and how is it related to therapy?
“Dance movement therapy helps a person to integrate emotional and physical experience. This method allows you to learn to understand your emotions, to understand how they manifest bodily.
connect with the body, acquire more subtle bodily sensitivity and develop emotional intelligence.
Dance does not appear here as a stage art, but as an instrument with the help of which any movement is manifested. Therefore, it is important for a dance-movement therapist to have rich motor experience, to be familiar with various dance styles (it is important not so much to know them perfectly, but to understand, such emotions can be conveyed by the dance style and which muscle groups are involved in a particular movement).
A dance-movement therapist must have a rich media library, props, stationery and, of course, a desire to dance and perceive life through the structure of movements!
Dance-movement therapy also takes some rituality from dance, something that cannot be physically felt, because dance, or rather movement, for many is associated with prayer (for example, Sufi whirling). Also, therapy becomes dance therapy when we choose any direction in dance and teach the client a new motor experience, which in the future must necessarily contribute to his bodily liberation. Whether we are working with psychosomatic symptoms, with trauma, or teaching a person to dance, a dance-movement therapist is interested, first of all, in the quality of the client’s movement and his sense of self.
The Moscow school of TDT says that a dance-movement therapist is primarily a psychologist, while the St. Petersburg school says that it is more important to have initial experience in dance. I believe that a dance-movement therapist is a person who owns his body and can give the client a set of movements that will enrich the client's bodily experience.
In this sense, it is more realistic for a dancer to receive additional professional education in psychology, such as, for example, programs DPO of the Faculty of Psychology of the Higher School "Learning Environment", How can a psychologist acquire dance experience in 2 years.
- Can a dance movement therapist work individually or is it exclusively a group method?
The dance movement therapist can work with a group or individually. I like working with a group more, because in the group process you can get more multifaceted experience. In a group, you can not only “show yourself”, but also “look at others”.
“Dance itself is therapeutic, during movement a person turns on many physical, emotional and mental processes”
. And the group process provides more opportunities to learn from each other.
— Why does a dance movement therapist need a degree in psychology?
Psychological education is necessary in order to be able to analyze movements and give competent feedback to the client.
“In addition to psychology, a dance movement therapist needs to understand functional anatomy, physiology, biomechanics, be able to hear and listen to his body and the body of the client, the body of the group”
body to understand and reproduce the states, feelings and motor qualities of the client), work can lead to rapid professional burnout.
Therefore, professional skills in the psychological field, such as the ability to separate one's own and client's experience, adherence to ethics and psychological hygiene, are necessary for a dance-movement therapist and help to strengthen his personality.
— What inspires you to work as a dance movement therapist?
First, the opportunity to combine the pleasant with the useful. Two of my favorite areas are very harmoniously combined in TDT: dance and psychology; secondly, the constant acquisition of new bodily and motor experience through work practice, communication with different people, the opportunity to build deep and close relationships with oneself and the world, which is difficult in our technocratic era.
“Communicating with our body, observing the body of another, his movements, eyes, we touch the present moment. The body never lies. For me, this is like a path to happiness, freedom, harmonious relationships with myself and the world, allowing myself to live life to the fullest”
— Elizabeth, what can you wish our students and those who are just starting their psychological practice?
- It seems to me important not to forget to work with the body, to use it in some way, regardless of your approach.
Do not be afraid to go into practice and make mistakes! My experience shows that no matter what your practical base is (rich or not), a client will come to you to whom you will be useful.
Learn and grow. In this case, dance movement therapy is good because dance is movement, and movement is life! And indeed, one can understand life through dance, gaining experience here and now, and develop in the present moment.
