experiences to help individuals become more aware of their bodies and emotions. Many individuals—in particular, men— are able to release repressed feelings such as fear, anger, hurt, or joy. Women benefit from bodywork too. Through this method, they come to a clearer understanding of their own boundaries and are thus able to be more caring of themselves. Self and nonself distinctions gained through bodywork facilitate better intra- and interpersonal relationships. Likewise, dance therapy can help women reconcile the gap between inner experiences and external self-image and thereby facilitate a fuller integration of self (S. Meyer, 1985).
Older Adults
The use of creative movement and dance with older persons is unexpected but pragmatic. Movement and dance activities have been associated with a number of improvements in this population (Pratt, 2004). For example, dance lessons involve becoming active, learning a new activity, and interacting with another person through movement and friendly conversation (Haboush et al., 2006). Dance and movement may improve social interaction, communication, and cognitive functioning in older adults (Jiménez et al., 2019). They may also aid or help improve memory, alertness, reality orientation, judgment, personal insight, and acceptance (Ashley & Crenan, 1993). Furthermore, dance and movement help older adults become more tolerant, empathic, and open to one another and enrich the quality of their lives overall (von Rossberg-Gempton et al., 1999). In other words, dance and movement seem to have a positive effect on older adults.
Many older adults have the ability and willingness to engage in a number of movement activities, including simple dances that benefit them physically and mentally. The exact nature of exercises chosen for members of aging populations depends on the physical well-being of participants as well as on the space and time available. Movement can include a number of activities that focus on such things as breathing (e.g., blowing soap bubbles), hand dances, nonlocomotor actions (e.g., bending a body part), enactment with props (e.g., moving a scarf to the flow of music), and exercises on the floor or in a chair (Fisher, 1989).
Even though older adults are not as flexible in their movements, the main limitation to working with this population is the creative ability of the dance and movement therapist or counselor. Dances, including aerobics, have proved useful to people in this age range (Atterburg et al., 1983; Lindner, 1982). The main emphasis of any movement or dance, however, should be improving participants’ self-esteem, physical well-being, socialization, and sense of accomplishment.
The General Population
Jacobs (1992) devised a number of movement techniques to use in counseling with people of various ages. Jacobs stated that in using these techniques, counselors may need to move either closer or farther away from clients at times to illustrate the movement or dance going on in the therapeutic setting. In such cases, counselors should move with caution and inform clients of what they are doing either before or while they are moving. Four of Jacobs’s general techniques that are appropriate for clients over the life span follow.
Evaluation of Progress
In evaluation of progress, clients are asked to stand up and position themselves according to how much progress they have made during counseling. A line is drawn representing where counseling started, and a goal line is also drawn, with clients placing themselves in between. Such a procedure may be especially powerful for clients who have become resistant to counseling or who are concrete thinkers and need to visualize their progress.
Feeling Pulled
The idea behind the feeling pulled technique is that clients often have forces in their lives that impede their progress in reaching goals. In this activity, clients are asked to start moving toward their goals, with the counselor holding onto their arm and pulling them backward. The right amount of tug is agreed to by the clients. The counseling session then turns to identifying what forces with what levels of power are inhibiting the clients.
Circles
When clients do the same thing over and over, they fail to make progress. In circles, clients are asked to walk around in the same direction a number of times to get a better feel for what doing the same thing again and again is like. It is hoped that this realization leads to insight and new directions for the therapy.
Movement Between Chairs
The premise behind movement between chairs is that clients sometimes need to experience their vacillation with regard to decisions they have discussed but failed to make. In movement between chairs, clients are asked to simply move continuously between two or more chairs that represent decisions they could make. They are not to speak unless they have something new to say at the end of bouncing back and forth between chairs, which should go on a minimum of 2 to 3 minutes.
Creative Reflection
Which of Jacobs’s four techniques for adults do you think might be most effective overall? What makes you think so? Which of the techniques do you gravitate to most? Why?
Groups
When individuals enter a group, they often feel a great deal of tension. The other people are strangers, and everyone sometimes feels ill at ease about what to say or do. It is crucial that people feel relaxed in the group, and that the group provide a structure that is supportive, safe, and predictable, if members of the group and the group as a whole are going to function well (Gladding, 2020; Sandel & Johnson, 1996). In these situations some creative movement can help alleviate tension, break down barriers, and energize the group as a whole.
One way of promoting the formation of a group is train station, which comes from Playfair (https://www.playfair.com/), an organization dedicated to putting fun back into the workplace. In a train station, the group is divided in two. Half of the group is designated to be greeters and the other half passengers. The group is then given the following instructions: Each greeter has just received a phone call from a best friend from early childhood. It has now been a number of years since they have seen each other, but the former best friend is to arrive in a few hours at the train station in the city where the greeter now lives. After agreeing to meet the friend, the greeter is so excited that the greeter hangs up the phone without thinking to ask what the person who called looks like. Lacking this information, the greeter goes to the train station at the designated hour and decides that the best strategy to use in this situation is to move slowly but with enthusiasm toward the group of passengers now arriving. With arms waving, the greeters as a group move in slow motion as if running though a field of wheat toward the passengers, who all display similar behaviors. As each greeter gets to a passenger, looks are exchanged but then both realize the person they are exchanging glances with is not the right person; both then look away and toward another person in the immediate area, who also turns out not to be the right person. This activity continues until all greeters and passengers have passed each other, after which participants are given a chance to voice how they experienced the exercise. They are then informed by the leader of the group that nothing they ever do in the group will be as embarrassing . . . or perhaps as much fun.
Creative Reflection
How could you use the SCAMPER model outlined in Chapter 1 to make some of the general exercises just listed applicable to the populations
