Dance-therapy for Peace

Dance-therapy for Peace
Men have learnt how to fly like birds,
have learnt to swim in the depths of the sea like fish,
but we have not learnt the noble art of living like brothers
(Anonymous)
- Introduction
After three years working in a non-profit organization dedicated to
education for peace and having studied a postgraduate in conflict
management and a master in dance movement therapy, I decided to try
to develop a method that enables the two disciplines together for the
same purpose.
Peace is not only the absence of war, nor does the absence of conflict. Human
relations are always in conflict, and peaceful resolution of these situations is the
auspicable way of harmonious coexistence of diverse cultures, peoples,
religions, genders, races.
Enrico Euli, expert in conflict mediation, in his book "Casca il Mondo" (ed. La
Meridiana) speaks about the importance of "imagining a culture in which the
discussions are not viewed in terms of war ... but as a dance whose objective
is the balanced and aesthetically pleasing representation ",
Sometimes words can be misleading, do not reflect our real thought. In return, a
moving body never lies, it is rather a reflection of our deepest emotions. There
is a close relationship between body and mind.
I was inspired by the “Beyond Words” educational model of two dance
therapists, Nitsan Gordon-Giles and Wafa Zidan, who introduced their method
during 2009 ADTA annual conference.
- Why dance-therapy and why peace? Definitions/Connections
- “A culture of peace is an integral approach to preventing violence and
violent conflicts, and an alternative to the culture of war and violence
based on education for peace, the promotion of sustainable economic
and social development, respect for human rights, equality between
women and men, democratic participation, tolerance, the free flow of
information and disarmament”. (The Programme of Action on a Culture of
Peace adopted in 1999; and the 1998 UN resolution on the culture of
peace)
- Irenology is the science of Peace studies and mixes multiples disciplines
in order to prevent, diminish, and solve conflicts by peaceful means,
thereby seeking 'victory' for all parties involved in the conflict.
- According to Galtung's definition, there’s a negative peace opposite to
positive peace. Negative peace refers to the absence of direct violence.
Positive peace refers to the absence of indirect and structural violence.
Most peace and conflict researchers adopt this latter definition.
- The belief that non-violence is skillful or virtuous should be cultivated.
This view is held by a variety of religious traditions worldwide: Quakers,
Mennonites and other Peace churches within Christianity; Jains, Yoga,
Buddhism, and other schools of Indian religion and philosophy, Islam
(The Quran considers violence itself as a big crime).
Therapy through Dance and Movement helps expressing inner feelings and
generates new ways of communicating. It can lead to peace making and conflict
transformation thanks to the use of creative games and movement dynamics.
When we feel safe and enjoy playing within the group, we can be more tolerant
with ourselves and with the others, our emotional intelligence grows up and
communication is easier. If we release our stress through shared games, we
lose part of our fears and let ourselves to be more authentic.
- Peace Education Theory
- Traditional distinctions in peace education are couched in terms of
negative and positive peace. These distinctions can be seen in peace
through effort which uses peacekeeping strategies to stop violence,
peacemaking which helps disputants to creatively transform their
conflicts, and peacebuilding which tries to motivate students to want to
be peaceful. Negative peace education tries to prevent fires while
positive peace education, first of all, tries to stop fires (conflicts) from
breaking out.
- Paulo Freire underlines the importance of developing a perplexed
attitude towards the violence of the system and a pedagogy that depends
on a dialogue between teacher and student where both together look for
alternatives to violence. Peace educators produce critical thinkers who
question the emphasis upon militarism found all around the world.
- Peace education is based on values such as nonviolence, love,
compassion, trust, fairness, cooperation and reverence for the human
family and all life on our planet.
- Skills include communication, listening, understanding different
perspectives, cooperation, problem solving, critical thinking, decision
making, conflict resolution, and social responsibility.
- Peace education should lead to peaceful living.
- What is Peace Education in practice?
Peace Education means to learn about and to learn for peace.
Learning for peace means learning the skills, attitudes and values that
one needs in order to contribute to peace and help maintain it. For
instance, this means learning to deal with conflicts without using
violence, learning to think creatively, learning to apply the methods of
active non violence or learning to deal with cultural differences in a
constructive way.
- Marian Chace and her theory
Marian Chace was, somehow, the pioneer of dance movement therapy in
the United States in the 1940s. Her method is based on four pillars,
which are the following:
1) Body action/Integrate mind-body
2) Therapeutic relationship between therapist and patients
3) Symbolism/ Metaphor of movements
4) Rhythmic group activity
I start on the premise that all the participants to a Peace Education
Group don’t suffer any psychiatric disease. Actually it would be
necessary to apply different group dynamics with psychiatric patients
according to their different needs.
It’s possible and auspicable to use the four Chace pillars in a Peace
Education group. Marian Chace used to emphasize on the importance of
symbolism as a way of creatively resolving conflicts through action.
Metaphor is useful and skillful while it allows the mover to create his/her
own world in a safe setting.
My method:
(eye contact/ rhythm to create the sense of belonging to a
group/exaggerate conflict-exaggerate movements-play with the conflict/
stress release-lift tension-play in a secure setting)
In years 2009-2010 I dedicated to study the movement of groups of children of
different countries worldwide (Europe, South-East Asia and South America),
working in social centers, orphanages, schools and local associations. The
average age of members of the sessions is between 5 to 8 years.
Children tend to be very receptive and respond very well to a "communication
through movement".
The leader of the group plays the role of facilitator, in fact this is not a
therapeutic group, but a group of educational games. Her/his task is to
"facilitate" communication between participants.
My basic idea is the compilation of a common language starting from the body
in motion. It is very important to identify a common rhythm within the Group
(according to the principles taught by Marian Chace). It starts with a circle; the
facilitator observes carefully participants and begins to reflect sympathetically
the microscopic movements that she/he collects. It is necessary to exaggerate
the movements in order that children recognize them as their own and can play
with their kinetic creations. Once he/she has identified the rhythm (that is
marked with the feet, hands, other parts of the body, even with the voice), the
leader has "the power to move the group" and can lead to the following dynamic
(the group is recognized as such and recognizes the authority of the moderator,
it allows the moderator to move the group and at the same time brings new
variants to motion in a constant feed-back). The facilitator is like a big mirror for
the group.
I would like to underline the importance of the voice. In dance therapy we often
forget the vocal chords, but also they can "dance" and resonate with the rest of
the body.
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5a7asjmkyi)
In education for peace, the conflict has an important role. We cannot evade the
conflict. The conflict is inevitable, vital and useful if you know its dynamic (it
generates a lot of movement) and turn it into a creative way.
In all the groups with whom I worked, there were always one or more conflicts.
My idea to face it is based on the following principles:
( 1) Recognize the conflict through a symbolic ritual-apotropaic
representation of the same (presentation of the conflict in front of the
group, through the use of metaphoric objects and movements related to
the malaise caused by the conflict. Sometimes "choreography" of the
conflict and representation on a stage.)
- (2) Recreational development of the conflict, with the only condition not
to cause physical harm to anyone, including to themselves
- Damasio, in his book “Descartes’ error”, underlines how people act and
make decision according to their emotions, and that for this reason it’s
important to transform painful emotions in order to not be influenced by
them. Movement dynamics propitiate this transformation. The ludic
climate allows participants to move in a secure emotional setting, where
it’s possible to face conflict and play in order to transform it.
- Some examples of group dynamics + videos
- Example: in a Burmese refugees camp in Thailand, young girls had a
strong conflict with male children, since the latter enjoyed sexist
privileges: ex. be exempt from taking care of the younger
brothers/sisters, have precedence over girls when they want to play with
the little toys, eat a bigger ration of rice, etc.. To stage the conflict, we did
two groups, one of girls and another of male children. The two groups
clashed with war dances that echoed the Maori dances. Girls expressed
their anger through direct, fast and heavy movements in space, and
bound flow. Even their faces participated, making grimaces to frighten
children, pulling out the tongues, opening wide the eyes and the mouth
and letting out grunts.
- Male children did the same. I asked them to exaggerate the movements,
then to reduce them, to move very slowly, then very fast (variations of the
elements of the movement according to Laban analysis system). The
variation permitted them to see the problem from different points of view.
The two groups ended up laughing, finally mixed spontaneously and kept
on playing together.
- In the next sessions, I could observe that male children helped the girls
in taking care of the little brothers/sisters.
- Conclusion
- Seek peace and pursue it
Psalms 34:14
In conclusion, I strongly believe on the power of structured movement in
order to face conflict and play with it in a creative way. This means that
we can build peace by creating a harmonic setting in which all the
participants feel safe, free of expressing their emotions, totally accepted
and tolerated so that they can accept and tolerate the others. Common
rhythm helps to create the sense of belonging to a group, and facilitate
communication through movement creation/variation. If all the
participants of the group play together with a common objective, this
shared purpose leads to a deep cohesion among them (it means more
cooperation, more creativity, sharing different skills in order to be more
efficient for the case solution).
- “Movement for peace” (www.movingpeace.org) is an NGO founded to
divulgate Education for Peace through Dance Therapy all around the
world. “Movement” has two main meanings. One of them deals with the
concept of “association of people held together by the same purpose”,
the second literally means “to move”. I think that this movement must be
contagious, and must grow up thanks to the efforts of lot of people,
creatively playing together to move peace all around the world. I don’t
believe that a conflict can be really resolved, I rather think it can be
constantly transformed in order to create new pacific and creative
solutions to people’s needs.
Resuming, the keys of the methods are the following:
• Make a circle
• Observe the participants
• Mirror their movement, exaggerating them
• Grounding, by using a common rhythm (or variation of the rhythm
according to the group general emotional status)
• Metaphorical and rhythmical use of the voice and of body movements
• Develop a spontaneous movement sequence based on metaphor (it
can be done individually or as a group)
• Choreography/ representation of a conflict, considered important by
the group
• The leader/facilitator must be a strong reference for the group, in
order to have the situation under control in every moment, and avoid
physical injury.
• Games and strategies to transform conflict and play with it
• Closing ceremony/ ritual to end the group dynamic
This method is only the beginning of a hopefully long investigation about
“moving peace”. Educators, dance therapist and people from all over the world
are invited to keep on experiencing and cooperating to build together a better
world through moving our emotions, shaking our bodies, dancing our feelings.
Federica Sestu