The idea behind the locomotion exercise is to have children see how many different movements they can make to get from one place to another (e.g., jumping, running, and skipping). They can then combine movements and even do the same movements with a partner. Afterward, the feelings involved with these movements are processed.
Robot. In robot, children pretend they can only move or talk as a robot does. They become stiff-limbed and monotone. Halfway into the exercise, they become human again. After the exercise, they work with their facilitators and talk about the robot-to-human experience.
Exercises for Children With Disabilities
Movement and dance can have a therapeutic effect on children who are born with disabilities as well as those who are fully functional. One of the most dramatic examples of this is the use of movement with children who are born blind. In such cases, “the dance and movement therapist’s highly developed communicative mode emphasizes sound, rhythm, and touch and helps the blind child find pleasure and safety in the natural expression of moving together” (Kalish-Weiss, 1988, p. 108). Such experiences, which must be tailored for each child, are truly the essence of art.
Dance therapy may be equally positive in outcome, as illustrated in the use of this process with a 12-year-old girl who had motor abnormalities, mild mental deficiencies, and emotional problems (Lasseter et al., 1989). One-hour, twice-a-week dance treatments over 18 weeks resulted in marked improved motor development as well as enhanced self-esteem.
Creative Reflection
Think of the environments you are in every week. How do you move in each? How does your energy and movement differ in places you enjoy versus places you do not like?
Adolescents
Dance and movement can be used preventively and therapeutically with a wide range of adolescents (Anderson et al., 2014; Block, 2001). Preventive dance and movement focus on helping adolescents explore “the radical changes in body image and awareness [they are undergoing] and the transient feelings of depersonalization this engenders” (Emunah, 1990, p. 103). DMT influences moods in adolescents regardless of gender, ethnicity, or diagnosis (Anderson et al., 2014). Dance and movement also lead to the expression of creativity within adolescents in healthy and actualizing ways. For example, they may help at-risk Black youth to develop socially appropriate skills and trust while having fun (Farr, 1997).
DMT enables adolescents to express their conflicts in an active, behavioral form, which is often easier for them than verbalizing what they are experiencing. Adolescents who are angry or confused can show their feelings in a safe and dynamic form by enacting them through dance and movement that can be accompanied by music. For clients with severe disorders, such as those with anorexia nervosa, body boundary exercises are used: Clients attend to the tactile differences “between their bodies and other objects in the environment” (Kaslow & Eicher, 1988, p. 180). Other movement- and dance-related exercises, such as muscle relaxation, deep breathing, and centering, are also helpful for this population regardless of the problems they present.
Creative Reflection
When have you let your negative emotions out through movement? What movements have you found constructive in such a process? Which ones have proved unhelpful? What do you do in letting your positive emotions out through movement?
Adults
Prevention
DMT is used in a number of therapeutic ways with adults. One of the most prominent is in prevention: Many adults participate in some form of dance or movement activity as a way to stay healthy and fit. Stress is reduced through DMT (Bräuninger, 2012a). Although not formally considered therapy, jazzercise and jogging are two movement trends that are therapeutic in their own right and have captured the attention of a large number of individuals. Jazzercise, which is valued for its group support dynamic and upbeat tempo, is a popular musically oriented way to exercise. Jogging is equally popular (Rosato, 2012). As a movement experience, jogging has been used in group counseling settings to help participants become psychologically as well as physically healthier (Childers & Burcky, 1984). In addition, many professional athletic teams hire dance specialists to help their players learn the agility and coordination essential to teamwork and individual performance.
Remediation
DMT may also be used in remedial ways, for instance, with women victims of child sexual abuse (Meekums, 2000; L. Mills & Daniluk, 2002). In such a case, dance therapy especially helps clients reconnect with their bodies, play, be spontaneous, struggle constructively, connect with others, and experience a new sense of freedom. Dance and movement have also been used with adults who have depression. In a pilot study with working-age adults, people with mild, moderate, or severe depressive episodes improved their level of depression as well as comorbid anxiety (Punkanen et al., 2014). DMT has been used as an intervention with trauma survivors as well. This therapy can help facilitate the reestablishment of trust, intimacy, social skills, and self-esteem, which are often destroyed in cases of relational trauma (Pierce, 2014). DMT has a positive impact on patients with breast cancer too, improving their quality of life and decreasing psychological distress.
Overall, DMT can improve the quality of life for many adults suffering from stress in the short and long term. Social relations, global value, and physical health seem to improve significantly in the short term, and spirituality and general health factors seem to improve in the long term (Bräuninger, 2012b). For example, DMT statistically decreased psychological distress and body image distress while increasing self-esteem when used with obese women with problems with emotional eating (Meekums et al., 2012).
More formalized DMT is helpful for those who have physical problems. For instance, ballroom dances such as tango improve balance and coordination in patients with Parkinson’s disease (Kiepe et al., 2012). Furthermore, DMT has been used in prison settings to enhance communication and interpersonal relationship skills (Seibel, 2008) and to treat violence.
This practice is based on the knowledge that engaging in the creative process is a deeply healing experience, one that can lead the individual toward new and profoundly different ways of expressing their innermost feelings of rage, frustration, confusion, and alienation. (Milliken, 2002, p. 203)
In addition, movement techniques may be therapeutic in other remedial ways. For instance, a client may address repressed anger and rage by hitting a pile of pillows or a foam rubber block with a tennis racket. To facilitate regression to an earlier age, a client may lie down on a mattress and kick. Likewise, in group settings, one group member may stand across from a client who is hitting or kicking (without actually touching or hurting anyone else) and role-play through various means the object of the negative intent (Wilner, 2001). In other words, DMT and related processes enable upset individuals to release their emotions in constructive, physical, and sometimes symbolic ways.
Bodywork
The use of bodywork with men and women has proved effective and is popular as well (Turner, 2019; Van der Kolk, 2015). Although many forms of bodywork exist, it is defined here as any nonverbal activity in which adults actively participate. It makes use of props
