Abstract

BRITO, Rafaella Medeiros de Mattos; GERMANO, Idilva Maria Pires  and  BOMFIM, Zulmira Aurea Cruz. Dancing Wards Off Worries: Therapeutic Processes in Dance and Movement Group Practices. Estud. pesqui. psicol. [online]. 2022, vol.22, n.2, pp.811-831.  Epub May 03, 2024. ISSN 1808-4281.  https://doi.org/10.12957/epp.2022.68654.

The article identifies and discusses the therapeutic processes experienced by participants of group practices with focus on dance and movement in order to understand how these body therapies yield personal benefits and transformation. Data were collected through interviews with professionals and clients involved in different therapeutic practices in Brazil and UK by use of the hermeneutic-dialectic method. Other data were obtained through participant observation and a field diary. Interviews underwent Dialectical Hermeneutic Analysis and were discussed based on a theoretical framework including Somatic Education; Dance Movement Therapy; Sacred Circle Dance and Biodanza, in addition to Eugene Gendlin's Experiential Theory and Merleau-Ponty's philosophy of the body. The results point to seven main therapeutic processes involved in dance and movement approaches: perception; symbolization; encounter and communication; processing and integration; association and metaphors; evocation of memories; totality and connection. We conclude that the transformation processes that take place on a dance based therapy and on a speech based therapy are fundamentally different, and it is up to the client to choose the therapeutic practice that best fits his/her style and need.

Keywords : dance; movement; therapeutic dances; experiential theory; body..

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