Marian Chace: Kinesthetic Empathy

 

I
 
Unit: Marian Chace
 
Theme: Kinesthetic Empathy
 
Introduction
 
Created in the 1940s by Marian Chace, dance/movement therapy (DMT) is a psychotherapeutic practice. .The term 'Chacian circle comes from Marian Chace's approach to Dance Movement therapy. Since she created this approach, the Chacian Circle has become a very frequent and popular way of doing group therapy by DM therapists. Today's class introduces Marian Chace as the creator of the field of Dance Therapy in the East Coast.



II
 
Learning Objectives 

  • Understand the importance of making eye contact
  • Explain why the term reflecting is more accurate than mirroring when using it in Dance Movement Therapy.
  • Gain an awareness of attunement & kinesthetic empathy
  • Experience what would be like to be a client or therapist through role playing

III


Check In
 


IV
 
Main Lesson

1

Video
 
Dr. Arredondo is an expert on neurological or mental dysfunction and gauging the contribution of those causes to an individual's emotional, vocational, family, serving the greater San Francisco metropolitan area including San Jose, Silicon Valley and the Peninsula. He is a treating clinician also provides psychotherapy for adults including those who struggle with divorce, depression, anxiety, chemical dependency, substance abuse and a wide range of other personal and interpersonal issues. He is a graduate of Harvard College (cum laude) and Harvard Medical School. 

In addition to his private practice, he has helped organizations develop effective models of service delivery for disenfranchised and underserved children and families facing multiple adversities. His primary focus is the transferring of knowledge of childhood development, autism, the effects of emotional trauma, and current thinking about the importance of human connectedness to practitioners from multiple disciplines. He is an experienced psychologist. 

He is also the founding director of The Children's Program, Solomon, Compassionate Neuroscience and The Office of Child Development. An author, expert witness, lecturer, and consultant, David's work has been featured in the New Yorker, PBS and NPR; He has testified on behalf of children for the ACLU. Most recently he has translated recent advances in developmental neuroscience into a practice improvement model that is child and family friendly.

 

 

Question 1

Write your response to the information given in the video in reference to eye to eye contact.

 

2

 

Article

Children Are Born to Dance! Pediatric Medical Dance/Movement Therapy: The View from Integrative Pediatric Oncology 

Link:  https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9067/6/1/14/htm

 

 

 Mirroring

Although mirroring is generally defined as the subconscious replication of another person's nonverbal signals, in Dance/Movement Therapy, mirroring or reflecting other person's movement is a conscious attempt at developing a connection with that person through the language of the body. Mirroring is the preliminary step in understanding atunement and kinesthetic empathy.

Question 2

Why would you say some therapists prefer to use the term reflecting as opposed to mirroring. 


3


Attunement


Attunement:  The results of the study show that successful attunement in dance movement therapy draws the client's attention to the present moment; it encourages individual spontaneity, playfulness, and creativity; promotes embodiment, and thus the integration of mind and body.

Question 3

What exercise from class would you classify as an example of attunement?

 

4

                                                                      
                                                                      Marian Chace 

Marian Chace is one of the founders of modern dance therapy. She was born 31 October 1896 in Providence, Rhode Island. She thought of herself first as a dancer and maintained that one needed to have the art form well integrated within oneself in order to then make use of it as a therapeutic modality. From her own experiences, she extrapolated those concepts and principles which are basic to facilitating therapeutic change. 


She understood the essence of the art form of dance and how it relates to the needs of human beings for communication and understanding. Her ability to observe these communications in movement led to responses that answered confusion and isolation.

Chace offered dignity and compassion in surroundings bereft of such. Her intuitive trust of the body and its expression in movement led to a way of thinking that evolved into structures that could be taught to others. 

She was a woman of conviction and courage and she unflinchingly shared her truths despite personal insecurities. She died on July 19, 1970.

Question 4

Who was Marian Chace?  


5


 Contributions to DMT

 

 One of the important ideas that Chace evolved was that tensions and distortions of the body are reflections of traumatic experience. 

However, there is a relationship between change and readiness for change and “only when he is ready for it will it become meaningful to him and effect a change in his body image…” 


She understood that movement was symbolic of the unconscious and by reflecting and building on the movement offered, the patient could begin to claim the expression as his own and explore new possibilities. 

She understood how to integrate the verbal and non-verbal in a way that flowed one to the other without awkward shifts. Her use of kinesthetic empathy was basic to the process.


These principles and structures have since been elaborated on by others and modified to meet different problems. However, her vision of dance as therapy and the concepts she evolved, remain core precepts which can be applied to behavioral theory.

Question 5

Which contribution you think was the most important for the field of Dance Therapy?

 

 

V

A Note to Remember


Making eye contact leads clients and therapists to establish a deep connection. Doing so makes it easier to reflect on each other's movements as clients express feelings, images and traumatic memories through their bodies. Reflecting the movement of clients allows the therapist to attune to the clients' movements and what they express.


VI

 

Case Study

 Danielle Fraenkel

 

Dr. Danielle L. Fraenkel founded Kinections in 1984 to bring dance/movement therapy to people struggling with eating disorders, depression, creative blocks, etc. Dr. Fraenkel teaches GSWS 242 - Dance/Movement Therapy Foundations at the University of Rochester (U of R) in Rochester, New York. 

 

Kinesthetic Empathy 

 

Question 6

 According to Danielle Fraenkel, why is kinesthetic empathy the keystone of Dance Movement Therapy?



VII
 
Activity 1
 
1. Find a private space in the room, close your eyes, focus on your breath, and begin to express in movement what you feel, what you think, what you sense.
 
2. Continue moving. Identify movement that repeats and establish that movement as a motif or theme.
 
3. Expand on that movement and make it bigger, more abstract, a movement metaphor.
 
 4. Keep that movement metaphor handy to use it in the next part of the exercise.
 
5. Find a partner. Take turns to role play. One plays therapist and the other plays client. Use the concepts discussed by Danielle Fraenkel to create  a muck session in which you join, reflect, echo, your partners' themes in movement through attunement and kinesthetic empathy.

6. Sit down together to verbally reflect on the experience through dialoguing with each other. Write about it and post it on Discussion Board.
 
7. Share with the class your experience.

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VIII

Journaling
 
 
IX
 
Glossary
 
 
X
 
 Sources


 
David Arredondo.  https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidarredondo?original_referer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2F

XI

Students' Work


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