[Adta] Response to Heather, Lora re: neuroscience

Sun Oct 7 16:53:02 EDT 2007

Dani, Jenn, Heather, Donna and all – (Wow, fair warning, I couldn’t stop typing. Apparently I’m jazzed about this right now. Please read and respond if you have the time or inclination – anyone. Pithy this is not…) Thanks! I want to deeply express my gratitude for the comments that you’ve provided and the dialogue that I hope continues to flow. But before I get to specific responses to individual’s comments, allow me to share this:

As I stood in the ending circle of the conference closing that Marylee so beautifully choreographed, I stood with tears in my eyes. I looked around the room at everyone present, personally knowing only a small handful of those in the room. As a fledgling D/MT who hasn't even yet earned her ADTR (but has been ever so tortoise-like pursuing my education for over seven years now) I have heard only fleeting whispers of the struggles and conflicts that the ADTA has endured since its inception. I didn't live those debates so I don't have an emotional investment one way or the other in their outcomes - I live the present moment and accept the consequences of all the choices that those before me made. As for me, I'm still formulating my opinions, I'm still searching for my own answers to these questions that many of you have already forged through your own dance with our profession and how it is defined.  Truth be told, though dance is the oldest, most ancient of healing forms, our profession is still young, our community still few. As such, I think new generations of D/MTs are going to continue to learn from our elders and still strive to define our work in contemporary contexts. There will not always be concordance but our strength lies in our willingness to dialogue and to learn from each other’s perspectives on our work.
As I stood in that circle, shoulder to shoulder, hand in hand with my colleagues of all ages, levels of experience and geographies, I was profoundly struck by the COURAGE that stood beside me.  Everyone in that room has come to our profession at different times and some have worked more alone than others and before others, but EVERYONE IN THAT ROOM WAS A PIONEER. Though we are not as isolated and alone as Chace or Whitehouse or the other “firsts” we are each still, right now, pioneers.  We have the support of a community but most of us are still faced with explaining our work, justifying our work, being misunderstood, undervalued.  So as I gazed about the circle, my eyes brimmed with tears of appreciation and respect, witnessing the courage and conviction and bravery that stood shoulder to shoulder in that circle.  Everyone in that room - everyone in our profession - has taken the path less chosen. We have been called to this path by the rhythm in our souls and ease be damned. What powerful women and men we are to make and live such choices! So, in the spirit of dialogue, in the spirit of honoring the ever-evolving context we dance within, in the spirit of listening to my colleagues’ views as well as discovering my own… Heather – thank you so much for your response and putting things into perspective with the “idealogical hegemony.” I must admit, I had to look up the definition J but wow – that hits the nail right on the head.  And yes, I think understanding within that framework will help me release defensiveness and frustration.  I hope.You wrote:“I am interested in your response about not just dancing but also learning about neuroscience etc. - and please don't take this as a criticism for I'm sure I've said similar things too in the past - Yet why should neuroscience be more worthy or weighty than dance?  In our hearts and among our fellow dance therapists, we know it's not - but when the headlights of society's reality beams on us, as you say, like an animal facing a car's headlights at night, we become disoriented and lose our sense of where we are. . .” I’ll admit in the moment even I didn’t like the fact that “not just dancing” came out of my mouth. I think I was just as frustrated with my own Judas like betrayal of the dance as I was with the social worker’s laughter and comments. In my request to include neuroscience training in D/MT curriculum, I did not mean to insinuate that neuroscience is more weighty or worthy than dance.  But it is a delicate line to walk. I want to be able to communicate to others who don’t know our work… but it’s such a subjective, embodied experience.. If individuals have no sense of being embodied in their own lives, HOW CAN THEY grasp what we do if we do not somehow embrace the language that they DO know?  Are we not trained to “meet the client where HE/SHE IS AT?”  Don’t we do that in our therapy work at times with people who are so threatened by movement… we attune to where THEY are and where THEY feel safe to start and let the movement and dance evolve from that?                     Can’t that also apply to how we speak of our work with allied professionals?  First of all, if we’re ‘SPEAKING” about our work, we are using the VERBAL.  We can’t (I don’t think) engage people in mirroring or authentic movement or shared rhythm every time someone asks us what D/MT is so that they get it immediately. It would be great if we could and it certainly would be more powerful and accurate but… it’s not possible.  I can remember when I was first applying for grad programs and I heard D/MTs talking about how they got jobs – how they had to go to hospitals and agencies etc and volunteer to do a group for free so that professionals could experience directly what it is we do. Well, yes, that’s ideal (not the free part but the embodiment part.) That’s ideal to have everybody in the world experience what we do on an embodied level. But that is not realistic. Sometimes we’re going to have to “snag” them with words first, we’re going to have to meet them where “they” are and if we can use terminology that doesn’t “justify” what we do but rather elucidates what is happening physiologically – or neurologically or even psychologically IN THE DANCE… well then, isn’t that just about opening the gate? If you disagree with me, please share, but know that I don’t mean to make secondary the “dance” to the science or the psychology. I just see it as a very important tool in our box to open doorways and engage interest that we might otherwise lose out on due to people’s own disembodiment or prejudice against movement or dance. Additionally (and again, this might be an ideological hegemony issue) but psychological frameworks are not always convincing either. Not everybody “buys into” psychology. Even mental health professionals are biased against certain frameworks, eg.,  CBT vs psychodynamic. Using a psychological framework isn’t always going to convince someone either.  BUT.. if we’re talking about what physical parts of our brain or heart or lungs or muscles  are being activated and can actually be SEEN on an MRI or with whatever medical instrument WHEN you are dancing.. I don’t know, for some people, that might just be the information that piques their curiosity or openness to learning more. Dani-  I appreciated your historical context so very much and I agree (I hope that is apparent) that DANCE is the source of the healing.  I realize for those of you who have been in this field for decades, this discussion echoes of earlier debates but I think with each new generation of D/MTs these dialogues will continue UNTIL we have firmly established our work in the world – until we no longer, as a field or as a society, give tacit or complicit submission to the “idealogical hegemony.” We’re going to try to keep figuring out how to gain the respect we deserve.   I think it’s both. I think we’ll gain our respect in the world not by downplaying either the neuroscience/psychology OR the dance.  I think back to the fantastic work that the Naropa students did with those fabulous hip hop kids from Denver who were “just dancing.”  We need more of that in this world – more attention called to what’s happening with kids or adults or the elderly when they are DANCING –  not in therapy, but just on their own, in community.  So You Think You Can Dance and Dancing with the Stars are too examples of how our society is aching to move and feel the benefits of dancing.  We need to embrace these examples and call attention to them and hold our hands up and say “yes – that’s what happens when you dance! Just Dance!!!! Oh, by the way, World, THAT’S WHAT WE DO!!!!” AND  we need to TALK THE TALK with doctors and researchers and mental health professionals. We have to do the research. Personally, I think we should be doing some significant outreach to the neuroscientists who are already studying and researching mirror neurons, etc and ASK THEM TO USE OUR SUBJECTS in their research. Why re-invent the wheel or spend 5 years learning how to do PHD level research in neuroscience when we can simply tag-team with those who are ALREADY experts. I don’t think we need to become experts in the science (unless you want to) because we are EXPERTS at the DANCE and yes we need to continually acknowledge that, but we need to be able to use the language. I need to be able to use the language. I also need to learn how to better articulate the power of dance itself, VERBALLY. I don’t deny that. I need to be able to articulate both and then remind myself – and be reminded again and again by my esteemed colleagues – that I am first and foremost a DANCE/movement therapist. For that reminder, Dani and Heather and others, I thank you. And if you managed to read this entire pontification (I can’t help but think of Jerry Maguire’s “memo”, if you know the reference…), I thank you and welcome comments. Respectfully,Lora Wilson, MA, DTR
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