I
Unit: Blanch Evan
Theme: Methods
Introduction
Blanch Evan
Blanche Evan was a dancer and choreographer who was a pioneer in the development of dance
therapy. For 41 years she had a studio in New York
City in which she worked for 20 years teaching creative dance to
children and subsequently conducting dance therapy sessions for adults.
She was a founding member of the American Dance Therapy Association. Her
objective, she once said, was ''the integration of dance with therapy,
so that it becomes one.'' Although
Miss Evan received training at the Alfred Adler Institute of Individual
Psychology and was a member of its faculty, she regarded herself as a
dancer and choreographer first.
II
Learning Objectives
- Understand the concepts related to the Adlerian Theory
- Explain the use of self-creating goals
- Gain an awareness of concepts such as inferiority complex, self-ideal, coping and safe-guarding behavior
- Experience Evan's methodology
III
Main Lesson
1
Alfred Adler
Alfred
Adler was an Austrian medical doctor, psychotherapist, and founder of
the school of individual psychology. His emphasis on the importance of
feelings of inferiority, the inferiority complex, is recognized as an
isolating element which plays a key role in personality development. Named after its creator, Adlerian theory
refers to the practice and belief that people as individuals should be
validated, connected, and made to feel significant. The theory
was created in the early 1900's by Adler who founded this new
way to approach psychology after parting ways with Sigmund Freud. Adlerian therapy is a short-term, goal-oriented, and positive psychodynamic therapy.
Psychodynamic therapy, also known as insight-oriented therapy, focuses on unconscious processes as they are manifested in a person's present behavior. The goals of psychodynamic therapy are the client's self-awareness and understanding of the influence of the past on present behavior.
Psychodynamic
psychotherapy or psychoanalytic psychotherapy is a
form of depth psychology, the primary focus of which is to reveal the
unconscious content of a client's psyche in an effort to alleviate
psychic tension. This form of depth psychology (focused on revealing the
the client's unconscious content) aligns with dance/movement therapy's
premise that unconscious movement is the expression of the client's
psyche.
Question 1
1. Re-state the concepts above in your own words.
2
Self-Creative Goals
How self-creative goals can be facilitated during a dance/movement therapy session?
Question 3
What was Adler's idea of inferiority complex, self-ideal, coping and safe-guarding behaviors?
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3
Blanche Evan's Methods
From Bonnie Bernstein “Dancing Beyond Trauma”
Link
The work described in this
chapter is based on the theory and methods of Blanche Evan (Benov, 1991; Levy,
1988; Rifkin-Gamer, Bernstein, & Melso'n, 1984). The Evan approach
emphasizes restoring the client to her natural potential for expressive
movement and ''re-educating the body to a state wherein movement responses'
function" (Evan, 1951, p. 88). It also mobilizes the dynamic interaction
between the psyche and the body. Toward this end, the work includes dance
education and movement rehabilitation in addition to emphasis on in-depth
exploration of feelings and insight-oriented improvisation.
The Evan method serves as
primary, rather than adjunctive treatment, and is appropriate for clients who
possess the ego strength to tolerate in-depth self-examination.
Question 4
2. What is the main purpose of Evan's method?
Question 5
Based on what we have studied so far, is in-depth-examination appropriate for patients with schizophrenia? Explain.
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4
Terms
The following
section will provide a brief explanation of Blanche Evan's terms that are used
by the author to describe a session's sequences and interventions.
Psycho-physical
Psycho-physical refers to an experience that occurs concurrently on
psychological and physical levels and describes the complex impact that the
body has on the psyche, and that the psyche has on the body. A fundamental
concept of the Evan's method, psycho-physical implies that all human
experience' including emotional response, memory, and thoughts contain
kinesthetic components.
Body movement
is a direct outlet for the psyche, thus, through dance, the psycho-physical
realm can be fully expressed and explored to stimulate insight and mobilize
therapeutic change. "To experience psycho-physical unity is a basic
need" (Evan, 1949, p. 54).
Mobilization
Mobilization refers to sequences of directives that are formulated
to increase body awareness and broaden movement vocabulary through 'the exploration
of the elements of dance; that is, rhythm, space, intensity, body, movement,
and content. "A goal is to open up the client's body without taking away
defenses. Moving, expanding, and discovering the body without pointing it to
content" (Evan, 1978, personal communication). Three examples of
mobilizations are:
(1) a directive emphasizing body structure, such as
exploring the range of movement of the spine;
(2) a directive expanding the use
of dance elements, such as gradually varying tempo from very fast to very slow;
and
(3) a directive that encourages experimenting with new movement dynamics,
such as to explore leaping, sliding, lunging, and exploding.
Improvisation
Improvisation refers to the Evan method of insight-oriented dance,
characterized by free association in movement and guided by psychological,
physical, or psycho-physical themes. "Improvisation is dependent on
an over-all state of receptivity which is replaced with identification with
your theme. At the point of action, it is the summation of your past and
present. It is also the arbiter between reality and fantasy" (Evan, 1950,
p. 80).
Improvisation gives physical form to psychological experiences
and Evan states: "Honest improvisation is a direct route to the
unconscious" (Benov, 1991, p. 192).
In this work, content-evoking themes
are suggested by the therapist in response to a client's verbal and/or movement
communications. Four examples of improvisation techniques, as defined by Evan,
are: externalizing, enacting, physicalizing, and rehearsing.
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5
IMPROVISATION TECHNIQUES
Externalizing
In externalizing
the client might "dance out" a dream, fantasy, or physical
memory.
Enacting
In enacting,
the client recreates a significant life experience, perhaps her assault, and
while dancing, she may embellish the life enactment with movement
derived from previously unexpressed feelings.
Physicalizing
Physicalizing involves putting into movement an idea, a memory, or
a feeling that has been previously stored in a cognitive realm.
Rehearsing
Rehearsing involves an improvisation in which alternative
responses are created and practiced in order to prepare for changes in behavior
outside of the therapy session.
Question 6
3. In which way is improvisation important for the client's healing?
IV
A Note to Remember
Evan's
objective was the integration of dance with therapy,
so that it would become one.
V
Case Study
VI
Activity
Students work in pairs. One plays the witness and the other the client.
Externalizing
Students write down a dream, fantasy of physical memory and then express it in movement or dance.
Enacting
Students write about a significant life experience and then recreate it in movement/dance.
Physicalizing
Students write about an idea, memory or a feeling previously store cognitively.
Rehearsing
Students
write about the changes needed to creatively cope with a specific
challenge. Then, they improvise alternative creative- responses in order
to prepare for changes in behavior.
VII
Students write a reflection on their experience with Evan's improvisation techniques.
VIII
Glossary
IX
Student's Work
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Celeste Pongratz (Questions 1-6)
-
Re-state the concepts above in your own words.
Famous psychologist Alfred Adler emphasized the importance of
inferiority complex, or inferiority feelings, in influencing the
formation of personality. Adlerian theory, which he developed,
emphasizes the value of connecting and validating people in order to
give them a sense of significance. This method broke with Sigmund
Freud's theories and served as the model for Adlerian therapy, a
condensed, goal-oriented type of positive psychodynamic treatment. The
goal of psychodynamic therapy, sometimes referred to as insight-oriented
therapy, is to identify the unconscious processes that underlie an
individual's current behavior. The primary goals of this therapy are to
increase the client's knowledge of themselves and their awareness of how
their past has influenced their actions now.
-
How self-creative goals can be facilitated during a dance/movement therapy session?
Allowing people to freely explore movement without any limitations or
criticism might help them become more creative and expressive. Create a
safe environment where people feel comfortable trying new things and
taking chances. Encouraging to move in a way that is true and seems
natural facilitates the genuine expression of feelings, ideas, and
experiences. Giving free-form movement prompts or themes can help get
creative and be motivated to use movement to explore who they are.
Participating in collective choreography or group improvisation helps
people to co-create and express themselves as a group. Also, adding
items like scarves, ribbons, or painting supplies, along with using
stories or imagery, can help to spark the imagination and improve
expression.
-
What was Adler's idea of inferiority complex, self-ideal, coping and safe-guarding behaviors?
The inferiority complex, as defined by Alfred Adler, is a person's
ingrained sense of inadequacy and personal inferiority that frequently
results from early experiences of perceived or actual inferiority. This
complex pushes people to use different strategies to make up for their
perceived shortcomings and strive for supremacy. Adler introduced the
concept of a self-ideal, which is a person's idealized or imagined
self-image that acts as a compass for their actions and aspirations. The
self-ideal serves as a catalyst for motivation, inspiring people to
strive for greatness and get over inferiority complexes. Adler
emphasized the need of an individual's coping strategies, which may
include adaptive or maladaptive behaviors, to deal with these
inferiority complexes. Maladaptive coping mechanisms involve destructive
actions, such aggressiveness, withdrawal, or overcompensation, which
are intended to hide or escape feelings of inadequacy. Adaptive coping
mechanisms involve constructive techniques to manage obstacles and
feelings of inferiority. He also developed the idea of safeguarding
behaviors, which are defense mechanisms people use to preserve their
sense of self-worth and save themselves from experiencing more
inferiority complexes. Such as making up justifications, adopting a
hostile or domineering attitude, or avoiding circumstances that make one
feel inadequate. The overall goals of these protective techniques are
to maintain a person's sense of self-worth and stop additional
psychological suffering.
-
What is the main purpose of Evan's method?
Evan's method's primary goals are to retrain the body to respond to
movement in an optimal manner and to restore each person's innate
capacity for expressive movement. With an emphasis on the dynamic
interaction between the body and the mind, this method seeks to enable a
more in-depth investigation of emotions and realizations via movement.
It encourages a comprehensive approach to therapy by fusing components
of movement rehabilitation and dance education. The approach is meant to
serve as a main therapeutic modality, especially for those clients who
have the ego strength to undergo in-depth emotional and
self-examination. The Evan technique seeks to foster personal growth and
well-being, improve self-awareness, and aid in emotional healing by
using movement as a medium for introspection and self-expression.
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Based on what we have studied so far, is in-depth-examination appropriate for patients with schizophrenia? Explain.
While in some situations therapeutic procedures like dance/movement
therapy (DMT) can be helpful for people with schizophrenia, the extent
of exploration must be carefully matched to the unique requirements and
capabilities of each patient. Instead of emphasizing overt cognitive
exploration or introspection, DMT may place more emphasis on the
embodied experience and nonverbal expression. Movement-based therapies
can help people with schizophrenia establish a sense of agency and
empowerment, connect with their body, and express themselves
artistically. In-depth self-examination should be used with caution when
working with this demographic, though, as going too far into difficult
emotional or psychological subjects runs the risk of causing or
exacerbating psychotic symptoms.
-
In which way is improvisation important for the client's healing?
Improvisation offers a different and frequently more approachable
kind of communication for clients who might find it difficult to express
their ideas and feelings orally. It enables people to communicate their
experiences and feelings without being constrained by language by using
the language of their bodies. Improvisation fosters a sense of agency
and empowerment by empowering clients to trust their impulsive movements
and feelings. This allows people to re-establish a connection with
their bodies and reclaim control over their emotional and physical
experiences. Also, improvisation can help one explore new ways of being
and relating to others as well as oneself. It pushes people to try new
movement patterns, venture outside of their comfort zones, and find
creative ways to express themselves.
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