Dancing the Stress Away

“Dancing not only elicits joy, but it can heal pain too.”

In a time where healing and therapy are increasingly normalized, there are many conversations about which avenues of therapy may be of interest to most people. Traditional talk-therapy can be intimidating for those who have difficulty verbalizing their feelings, and may not be an effective option.

However, a lot of people aren’t aware that their therapy of choice, does not have to be talk-therapy.

A form of therapy that I was completely unaware of until I learned of it as part of my internship with danceability inc., was dance movement therapy.

As defined by the American Dance Therapy Association, dance therapy is “the psychotherapeutic use of movement to promote emotional, social, cognitive, and physical integration of the individual, for the purpose of improving health and well-being”. This definition sounded incredible, yet it still left me puzzled about how these therapy sessions are conducted, and what are the associated benefits of this practice. To develop a better understanding of dance therapy, I (virtually) sat down with Megan Rutkowski, a licensed dance therapist and a dance instructor at danceability.

 A Growing Field In Mental Health

One of the first things I wanted to ask Megan was where she got her start in dance therapy.

“I am a registered dance movement therapist, which is through the American Dance Therapy Association. I went to school, I've got my master's degree in dance movement therapy and counseling, which is in the mental health field. Under New York State, that would be a creative arts license. And then there's a separate registration with the American Dance Therapy Association. I started grad school in 2016. And it was a three-year program I entered,” Megan shared.

In Megan’s retelling of her educational journey, she mentioned the scarce number of dance therapy degree programs in the United States. Currently, there are only 6 graduate programs in the country that offer dance therapy as a concentration—an indication that the field is still growing.

Everybody Has Movement

When I asked Megan for her perspective on why dance therapy is an important service, she emphasized the human body’s reliance on movement for survival. She explained how as human beings, “movement is our first language” and that as infants before we have the ability to talk, we use our bodies to express ourselves. Dance therapy is something that anyone can participate in, because according to Megan “if you are breathing, you are moving.”

Furthermore, dance movement therapy is a natural vehicle for therapeutic expression, as the mind and body are deeply connected. This concept is key to understanding how the movement of our body can release mental and emotional tension.

“You know, when we’re kids, we know that our mind and our body are connected. But at some point, down the line, that disconnection happens, and we think mental health, physical health are two separate things. And they’re really not, they’re very tied together.”

This principle is the backbone of each dance therapy session, as the ultimate goal is for dance therapists to help their clients tap into their own mind-body connection for self-expression and release. Dance therapists want to figure out how you can use physical sensations to better understand your mental health.

How Dance Therapy Supports Your Body’s Functions

While the cognitive benefits of dance therapy are not the most intuitive, they are very impactful. For one, dance therapy helps people identify the issues they’re experiencing with their mental health that they might not have a name for. The process of using movement to connect with those feelings can allow one to make mental linkages to where those tensions are coming from and why. Sometimes, just knowing why you feel the way you do can help you take steps forward in your healing journey.

Dance movement therapy helps clue the therapist and yourself into your emotional state in several ways. Megan spoke about a common approach used by dance therapists that involves analyzing your movements and body language to gauge the state of your emotions. Megan explained, “For example, it's looking at whether your [body] is open or big. What is that telling me about your body? Does this mean you're ready to take stuff in? Or are you closed off?” From these observations, the therapist will adjust their session with you accordingly.

Here is Megan Rutkowski, with one of her dance therapy clients.

Intentional emotional expression is the other related process in dance therapy sessions. Using your own movement to convey what anxiety or depression feels like for you strengthen the mind-body connection. Dance therapy also has the ability to validate your emotions in group sessions where others who feel similarly to you, can express their movement in the same manner as you. Engaging in a shared emotion with others through dance therapy can help promote a sense of community and acceptance of your own emotional state.

The role of dance therapists in this session is to help you navigate your emotions, through your physical movements. “If you're showing that you're happy, how do you flip that and, you know, express sadness through movement? Or if you're, you know, in this proximal [near the body] space, how do we expand it to distal [away from the body] space? Megan explained.

As Megan spoke about the benefits of dance therapy for motor function, she shared with me a powerful story about a patient she once worked with within hospice that was missing the cross-lateral section of their brain. This part of the brain strengthens the right and left hemispheres of our brain when it expands past the midline, which would facilitate our ability to move. As this patient’s brain was unable to facilitate this process, movement therapy was critical to helping them replicate the feeling of movement. Megan shared,

“I helped give her the feeling of something as simple as, reaching across yourself. She didn’t have that ability. She physically couldn’t do it. And with dance therapy, I helped create that same sensation in her.”

In addition to the aforementioned benefits, dance therapy also provides many physical benefits for clients such as improved muscle coordination, tension, strength, and mobility. While dance therapy does not replace physical exercise, it can be an accessible source of movement and improve one’s bodily health.

 What does a Dance Therapy session look like?

After learning about the various benefits of dance therapy, I wanted to know what an average session looks like. For clarification, dance therapy is not a dance class. It is guided movement for emotional and mental release, as supported by a licensed dance therapist such as Megan.  

Each session is “very person-centered” and requires the dance therapist to be fully in tune with the emotional and physical cues that their client is demonstrating or indicating. There are also group sessions in dance therapy, that can assist in the social validation of your emotions as mentioned earlier. For Megan, the agenda of each session largely depends on the needs of the client and the structure that will best suit their needs.

These sessions in some ways are typical of talk-therapy sessions, however, the creative arts element of dance therapy centers the progression of the conversation into self-expression through movement. Dance therapists will usually converse with you about your feelings at the beginning of the session, and then you will further express yourself through movement that is guided by the therapist.

 Is Dance Therapy right for you?

To this point, we’ve addressed why dance therapy is important and what to expect in a typical session. Now, it is up to you to determine whether or not dance therapy is something that you would like to experience. One consideration is the lack of practicing licensed dance therapists available to take clients. With the field still growing, it can be a challenge to find dance therapists in your area.

Megan commented on the shortage of dance therapists in the field saying, “If you're going to look for a therapist, you're either not finding one, or it's taking you weeks or months to get in to see one because it is so overloaded. We need mental health therapists. There's just not enough.”

Despite challenges with locating a dance therapist in your area with the right specializations for your needs, it is worth the search. As times remain difficult during the COVID-19 pandemic, there is a need for self-expression and therapeutic assistance. Virtual dance movement therapy sessions are an incredible option to help during this time.

The services and programming at danceability Inc., offer similar benefits to those who would like to use organized movement and dance to channel their emotional and mental state in a way that feels therapeutic. As danceability’s dance services are accessible to members of the special needs community, signing up for classes at danceability allows dancers with special needs to share their experience with others in a fun, engaging way. If you would like to learn more about the danceability, check out their website!

If you would like to contact Megan Rutkowski for more questions about dance movement therapy or to book your virtual session, she can be reached at: mer81992@gmail.com