Hey everyone,
So I was reading the Brennan article on Dance Therapy and she stated that dance allows the individual to connect with others. This triggered a memory of an activity that I did with high schoolers in my field placement last year. It is called "I was, I am, I will be." Basically, everyone stands in a circle and each person has to do either a still frame or a movement to describe each one. For example, "I was" can be illustrated by crouching down with your arm across your face to show that you were shy. "I am" can be shown by walking across the room to illustrate that you are moving through life now. So, they silently do each movement/still frame. Then, they do it again but everyone has to guess what the movement meant. This is so validating for adolescents!! It would probably be beneficial to a lot of different populations actually. Like Drena was saying today, dance/movement is good for severely mentally ill and older adults because it builds them up and strengthens their defenses. Anyways, I really encourage you to try this out. It allows them to open up to each other just a little and make them feel heard. Let me know if you end up trying it with your clients!
What a neat activity! Thanks for sharing. How does it go when the other students are guessing what the movement means? I'm wondering how it plays out if the group is having a hard time pinpointing what the individual was going for, or mislabels... kind of like if we are looking at a piece of artwork made by a client and we misidentify an element.
ReplyDeleteAlso wondering when in the life of the group you did this (early, mid, late) and how you found their response to the activity (reluctant? excited?...).
Thanks for sharing - definitely one to keep in your back pocket!