Healing through Dance Movements

The recent pandemic saw artists in the creative field reaching out and bringing people together through technology. One such contributor to the field is Bhavisha Dedhia, a psychologist, classical dancer, Dance Movement Therapy (DMT) practitioner and a special educator. DMT offered her the opportunity to cater to diverse groups such as cancer patients, survivors rescued from human trafficking as well as working women. She shares her experiences and scope of DMT in wellness

“Dance may be a part of the discipline but Dance Movement Therapy (DMT) focuses more on movement instead of the standard understanding of dance. In DMT, movements usually can involve just breath, postures, gestures, shadow movements or any movement done with the entire body,” said Bhavisha Dedhia, a dancer, psychologist and a UAE-based Special Education Teacher.

A psychologist by profession, Bhavisha is also a Kathak dancer. She has a dual master’s degree in Psychology as well as the classical dance form, Kathak. “I always wanted to try and do something different and incorporate dance and mental health. That is when I came across DMT and started reading about it in detail and eventually pursued a course”, she said.

Bhavisha’s journey as a trained therapist and a DMT practitioner began in 2014 when she enrolled at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Mumbai, which has an affiliation with Sanved Kolkata, a women-led pioneer institute in the field of DMT for trauma healing and empowerment of marginalised populations. She undertook the year-long course gaining theoretical as well as on-field practical exposure. Post her graduation in 2015, she began assisting Sohini Chakraborty, Secretary and Founder Director of Kolkata Sanved in small projects as well as working for the institution.

Bhavisha has conducted DMT sessions for survivors of human trafficking under “Restoring Smiles through Dance Movement Therapy”. Since 2015, she has been associated with Kolkata Sanved and TISS as a visiting faculty for their DMT course. Post the pandemic with all of the institute’s sessions going online, she has continued her role as a visiting faculty on their online platform.

“DMT is based on three key focus areas-body movements, verbal processing and analysis of the movement while reflecting on the body and mind connections. This was widely done in the physical set-up before Covid-19. The facilitation has, however, changed from physical to virtual while engaging with the same activities as in the pre-Covid phase but moving onto online mode such as the Zoom platform,” she said.

Learning the DMT code

Dance Movement Therapy focuses on the organic and authentic movements of the body, as is seen in our daily lives. The aim is to observe and modulate these body movements in assisting or help change either behaviour, thought process or emotional understanding. “DMT sessions involve creating movements, whether small or big, it is seen as a way of communication, rather than base it on any fixed routines,” said Bhavisha.

A dancer herself, Bhavisha’s experiences relate to the general understanding of dance as a measure to relieving stress, fighting negative emotions and help evoke the sensation of “being happy”. “It may provide a way of accomplishment that reinforces self-confidence and esteem, along with deepening a spiritual connection. In many ways, it is therapeutic. However, there is a difference between dance being therapeutic and movement being used in therapy,” she said.

Between the lines - dance, movement and therapy

Contrary to popular the belief, while attending a dance session can be a mood elevator, triggering health benefits, these are but by-products of the process of ‘dancing’. However, for a DMT practitioner, the session is target-oriented and formulated or prescribed based on the recipient’s wellness needs. The main goal is to understand the psycho-social needs of the client through the medium of ‘movement relationship’ between the client and the therapist.

“A DMT session is more improvisational, and client-driven than a dance class. It focuses on amalgamating the body, the mind and the spirit, via techniques and interventions that are supported by scientific and behavioral theories,” said Bhavisha.

Most importantly, unlike the equation between a teacher-student relationship in a typical dance class, the relationship in a DMT session is shared and mutual, whereby both the therapist and the client lead themselves towards the formation of a “movement dialogue”. “This movement dialogue may contain breath, verbal communication, gestures, postures or may be body actions being shared between the therapist and client,” said Bhavisha.

The interpretation of the movement dialogue is equally important. “Verbal processing is of utmost importance, which processes the experience during a DMT session. Because every movement is communication, each movement features a meaning that is processed by the client themselves,” said Bhavisha.

"I always wanted to try and do something different and incorporate dance and mental health"

Bhavisha Dedhia

Benefits of DMT:

Physical: Focuses on the health and the stamina of an individual, building comfort within one’s own body.

Emotional: Focuses on self-regulation and a positive sense of self-worth.

Cognitive: Helps pay attention to details, being aware of the surrounding, improving decision making, positive thinking and reduce self-harm tendencies.

Social: Enhance self-esteem and self-confidence to face the world.

The practitioner’s passage

The comprehensive year-long course equipped Bhavisha on the aspects of DMT that trained her to link with real-world scenarios via internships. “It was really helpful to have been able to experience DMT from a student, client and practitioner’s perspective,” she said.

An ideal DMT practitioner needs to develop qualities of empathy, compassion, open-mindedness, confidentiality, patience, self-awareness and self-confidence, flexibility and good listening skills, who also regularly engages into a selfcare routine.

She had the opportunity to facilitate various group sessions for children, cancer patients, working women and survivors of human trafficking. While there have been many success stories, there are a few challenges that we, as DMT practitioners, face while working with the survivors of human trafficking. As they live in rehabilitation homes, they tend to develop a ‘no-complaint’ behavioral tendency as a defence mechanism, it takes time for their mind and body to sync,” she said.

Dance therapy, however, has varied acceptance and recognition across countries. “In countries, wherever a Masters’ level of education is needed, dance therapists usually work among medical settings, whereas in other countries, the therapist practices privately and in a freelance setting. Therefore, DMT research projects are still into their infancy stage,” she said.

“Although the follow of DMT is heterogeneous and with its wider scope, there is a greater variation in its methodology but studies have indicated positive outcomes of DMT,” she said.

Syncing medicine to creative therapy

DMT can be therapeutic for all physical, mental, and cognitive or social issues. There is a possibility of treating physical illnesses like chronic pain, cancer, arthritis, hypertension and other physical disabilities including Parkinson’s disease.

Mental health issues such as anxiety, depression, schizophrenia, mood disorders, PTSD, chronic trauma, bipolar disorders can be treated too. DMT therapy is also beneficial to patients with cognitive and social issues such as dementia, Alzheimer’s disease, Autism and ADHD.

DMT is not restricted to medically diagnosed patients but can be extended to those with other physical, mental and cognitive issues, even individuals under regular work stress can benefit from DMT sessions and is open to diverse age groups and population mix.

“There are certain illnesses that need medication and prescription from a doctor but DMT can aid the treatment and has shown results through consistent therapy sessions,” said Bhavisha. “Also, a session for a person with depression and that of a child with autism will differ on their needs. Just like the session goals, the activities too will differ and so the sessions are completely custom-made,” she said.

Pandemic tips:

Engage in creative self-care:

Listen: To music and move your body accordingly to fast grooving music, slowly moving to a slow tune and finally help settle thoughts within oneself.

Observe: Sudden spurts of loneliness while in dance mode too. This is the time to get in touch with friends and family.

Seek: Online DMT classes for therapy under a trained therapist to help handle the flow of emotions that can go awry during any such self-cleansing process.

“My dream is to see every hospital have a separate ward for music or art or DMT which is eventually acknowledged along with mainstream medical therapy,” said Bhavisha.