Dancing with the Light Left

Dance can introduce healing due to allowed volitional movement. Typically, people find themselves sitting, standing, walking, and running when it comes to knowing our daily mobility. My association with dance mainly has origins in childhood when, according to others, I use to engage in this random behavior around age 5 or so, quite spontaneously to get cold drink from neighbors. Later this got expressed in school functions in which I recall doing Ghoomar with a bunch of other girls on the beats of only song used by all Indian school dance teachers at the time. Copying steps from popular songs and trying gymnastics inspired steps on stair railings followed by stitches on the head wasn't uncommon either. Then slowly as I entered adolescence, my dancing tendencies dissipated.

My post today is a continued discussion of Healing by Accident Using Dance Therapy in which I'll attempt to become more specific in how various dance forms can enable embodiment-based therapy. Emotion literature has been carrying the promising mechanism of embodiment for quite some time. Even before I delve further in expressing my ideas, I would like to state clearly, such a healing attempt in real world would require tremendous collaboration between therapists and people knowledgeable about different dance forms. The knowledge of the dance steps and forms would be crucial in identifying the embodiment that would be most congruent with anyone seeking healing though this route.

Embodiment is essentially our body's ability to make feelings possible due to the intricate link between our neuromuscular capacities and the resulting felt emotions (see Barrett and colleagues, 2008; Goldstein & Hayes, 2021). The facial feedback hypothesis also makes the case of embodiment clear. Generally, people assume emotions lead to bodily expression. However, according to embodiment, this may happen in a bidirectional manner, meaning bodily movement can introduce feeling the congruently tied emotions as well. Partly, this also has origins in one of Charles Darwin's principles called the principle of antithesis from The Expression of Emotions in Man and Animals (1872). The principle of antithesis states how particular emotions align with their matched body postures for which reason when a person feels dominant, they become big and expand to prepare for the most expected action. The opposite would be a submissive posture associated with concealment and becoming more enclosed to protect oneself (Oatley et al., 2006).

When people experience stressful life events, their previous worldviews about stability and control get destabilized (Davis, Wohl, & Verberg, 2007; Folkman, 1997). As a consequence, new forms of expression can be introduced to regain better management of the newly found and regulated emotions. This can be socially cultivated to enable sustained participation and consideration of such forms. People generally get caught in the societally approved templates and schemas of appropriate behavior in the aftermath of difficult events. The science of emotion, however, suggests that authentically expressing a range of emotions constructively can pave an authentic path to free unresolved or ill-understood experiences. Dance, in its main form and structure, is one such constructive pathway.

In many traditional forms of dance across cultures, storylines and some already ingrained sensibilities make the expression of various emotions possible. When dance becomes more individualized and independently shaped, the same ideas may apply. One idea that remains slightly unexplored is how already existing dance forms may be integrated in a relevant manner depending on the dominant antithetical healing expression offered by the dance. Below you'll find a list of some informed speculations bearing in mind how dance should be applied in a therapeutically sensitive manner once the person is ready psychologically.

1. Coping with stress and trauma by military soldiers: Tap dancing

Reason: Tap dancing has the core feature of strong black boots as a dancing tool. If

and when a traumatically impacted person is allowed to use their boots to generate

volitional expression of life, positive therapeutic outcomes should be expected.

2. Survivors of sexual assault: Durga themed Indian classical dance

   Reason: The storyline in several such dance forms enables an ending in which the woman feels empowered. The idea is not to encourage aggression but gently introduce some degree of control and volition in a person who may have lost all such imagination.

3. Domestic violence survivors: Bhangra

   Reason: This particular dance form with origins in Punjab has a vibe of gender equality apparent in its steps. Both men and women get to generate symmetrical group order.

4. Displaced persons or refugees: Manipuri with the Radhe Krishna theme and Kathak

   Reason: Both these dance forms instill a sense of stability due to the attire. The steps encourage the experience of generating an encircling space for reestablishing the self.

5. Personal loss of some kind leading to identity issues: Sufi whirling

   Reason: This dance form has the spiritual connotation of connecting the sky and earth, which can make a person feel better situated in a lasting way as a spiritual medium.

References

Barrett L. F., Lindquist K. A., Semin G. R., & Smith E. R (2008). The embodiment of emotion. In Embodied grounding: Social, cognitive, affective, and neuroscientific approaches (pp. 237-262). Cambridge University Press.

Davis, C. G., Wohl, M. J. A., & Verberg, N. (2007). Profiles of posttraumatic growth following an unjust loss. Death Studies, 31, 693-712.

Folkman S. (1997). Positive psychological states and coping with severe stress. Social Science and Medicine, 45, 1207–1221.

Goldstein, T. R., & Hayes, K. (2021). Embodiment and containment: Flexible pathways to flourishing in theatre. In L. Tay & J. O. Pawelski (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of the positive humanities (pp. 362–376). Oxford University Press.

Oatley, K., Keltner, D., & Jenkins, J. M. (2006). Understanding emotions (2nd ed.). Blackwell Publishing.