[Adta] Lora, Jenn, Dani, etal

Sun Oct 7 16:17:48 EDT 2007

Thanks, Elissa, for your wonderful message.

Since my dance therapy class is just reading the chapter in Levy for class this week, I am forwarding them your e-mail to make sure that they read this. You continue to inspire.

Donna
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Elissa White 
  To: adta listserv 
  Sent: Sunday, October 07, 2007 4:04 PM
  Subject: [Adta] Lora, Jenn, Dani, etal

  Dear All, 

  I've been thinking so much about the recent emails around the lack of acceptance of 
  dmt.   I am entering this discussion in the hope that my experience over these years 
  (from 1967 - 1993 in clinical settings (see  "Zeitgeist at Bronx State Hospital" in Fran Levy's 
  book, DMT:  A Healing Art) will give you some perspective re people's understanding 
  of dmt. 

  I have to admit that in l967 I was extremely fortunate and in a place where the director 
  of the hospital (Dr. Zwerling) was extremely supportive of dance therapy.   I was in the 
  right place at the right time. I went to Bronx State as an assistant to Irmgard Bartenieff 
  and Martha Davis. They were conducting the movement aspects of family therapy research with 
  Dr. Zwerling.  I eventually became  a half-time dance therapist and half-time researcher.  Zwerling 
  was interested in having dance therapy throughout the hospital.   At his suggestion, I, together 
  with Claire Schmais (who had  joined our "movement team"),  met with the director of 
  nursing, who in turn, suggested we do an orientation with the charge nurses (40) of 
  the wards.   Claire and I, naive, but enthusiastic (especially knowing we 
  had the support of the director of the hospital), eagerly walked into this room with 
  these 40 women.    They were definitely in charge and we were there to "sell" them this "therapy." 
  Little therapy, as we know it, was being done at this hospital.   Zwerling was new to 
  the hospital and change was in the air and we know people are threatened by change.  Who 
  were we to come into their "space" and try to do "therapy."  It is a scene I will never forget. 

  Claire and I instinctively knew a "verbal" orientation would be out of the question.   So, 
  we did what we did best.   We did a quasi-type dance therapy session, making the 
  charge nurses feel good about themselves, their bodies, their psyches and each other. 
  We talked about our plan for the patients.   We respectfully asked them to go back to their wards, speak 
  to their staff, and if the staff  were interested,, we went to the wards and again, did an 
  orientation to dance therapy -- not with words but with the dance. 

  This was an invaluable lesson for me.    During the ensuing years 
   I did orientations and training with the psychiatric residents (Bronx was a teaching hospital),
  hoping that when they finished their residencies and they would be in a position to hire staff, that
  they would remember their dance therapy experiences and hire a dance therapist.   I also did grand 
   rounds several times at the Bronx and other institutions. 

  What I basically learned is that words -- no matter what theories are used to back up what we 
  do -- do not do the trick.   It is always the dance that matters because that is the soul of what 
  we do and what makes the difference.    Unfortunately, dance has such different meanings 
  and connotations for people that it is difficult to assess what an audience's  (one or many people) 
  understanding is of what you're trying to convey - but in the dance you can see the audience's understanding. 

  It is definitely a challenge to be able to do a "dance" orientation, but there are ways of doing 
  it where you can have people think about how their bodies feel when they are sick, joyful, 
  depressed, excited, etc.  One can do this while just talking to people  --"can you recall how 
  it feels when you are really happy?"   It's not exactly dance, but the aim is to have people 
  understand that we in dance therapy deal with feelings and thus, we have to make them 
  aware of how they are feeling during certain states of being.  Once experienced, it is so much 
  easier to use words that explain what we do. 

  Over the years, I also began to realize that I was dividing the world up into "movers" and 
  "non-movers."   The movers go along with you -- but the non-movers are threatened, 
  resistant, etc.   We need to put ourselves, no matter how difficult, to understand what that 
  may feel like. 

  Even though dmt is much more accepted and more dmts are hired, than in l967, I still 
  believe that newcomers to the field are pioneers.   There are probably a lot more 
  non-movers in the world than are movers. 

  One of the useful pieces of advice that I received when I first started out was:  "stick to the 
  dance, don't try to talk in other disciplines' languages, they know more than you in their 
  language and know or understand little of  what you do."    I do believe, as Dani stated 
  (and Sharon - and Heather), that the dance is what separates us from other disciplines.    I also believe 
  that even if we begin to speak of mirror neurons, etc., that this is again, a cognitive process 
  and  words are words -- whereas the experience of the dance is something viscerally 
  understood and felt. 

  Whether this long email is of any help or not, I wish you all well in your passion and 
  commitment to dmt.    As you can see I am committed to the dance in dmt and often 
  refer to myself as a "dancing dance therapist." 

  Sincere best wishes, 

  Elissa White 

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