Dance therapy and belly dance (Part 1)

A couple of months ago, I attended a one day introductory course on dance therapy, organised by Bristol College and an organisation based in Bristol, called Dance Voice. Since I first heard about dance therapy, I have always been interested and fascinated by this discipline and I have wondered if some of its principles can be applied to belly dance.

There is no doubt that movement in every form, whether it is sport, dance or a game which involves physical activity, is beneficial for the mood and the mind. Dance movement therapy uses dance to help people with their emotional, social, mental, physical and spiritual development. Dance therapy is usually aimed at people with disabilities, or mental health groups, older people and any other group of people in need of help. However, I believe that there is no reason why dance therapy activity should not be beneficial to the average person and to dance students, including belly dancers.

Dance movement therapy is based on the work of Rudolf Laban, a dancer and choreographer who established a discipline of dance analysis and invented a system of dance notation called Laban Movement Analysis. Laban’s approach emphasises the fact that the movement is self generated, thus expressing the inner state of the dancer.
Dance therapy uses a lot of activities, to be carried out individually or in groups with or without props, some of which could also be used during a normal dance or belly dance class.