Bay Area National Dance Week

is April 24th - May 3rd, 2009!

What is National Dance Week, you ask?

About Bay Area National Dance Week, from the website:
• We envision a Bay Area that celebrates dance in all its forms.
• We envision a Bay Area that is passionate for, knowledgeable about, and participates in dance.
• We envision a Bay Area that values dance as a cornerstone of civic pride and identity.
• We envision a Bay Area that recognizes dance as a defining characteristic of our humanity.

The Bay Area has one of the largest, most active and thriving dance communities in the country. During Bay Area National Dance Week, participants and volunteers reaffirm our region’s commitment to dance, offering hundreds of free events.

This year's festival once again will offer a diverse roster of programs—including free classes, performances, rehearsals, lecture demonstrations and studio open houses—giving a wide-angle view of the many and varied styles of dance practiced in the region. Ranging from established company programs to one-time events, Bay Area National Dance Week is an opportunity for dance-lovers of all ages and experiences to take a grand tour of the many movement styles, including Argentine tango, classical Indian, jazz, hip hop, ballet, traditional hula, fire dance, Samba, modern, Chinese classical, belly dance, aerial dance, West African, contact improvisation and more!

Click here for more information, or to sign up for the newsletter.

Surf and Ocean Therapy

When my husband comes back from surfing, he glows. It's as if the ocean coated his body with what I call "happy juice." He is invigorated; yet is calm, clear, and radiating well being from head to toe. Surfing makes him very happy.

There is something about this flow, motion of the wave to catching it to standing up on the board. To many, surfing is a soulful connection to nature and the earth, a therapeutic embrace, a bonding. Like a dance, the movement can be nourishing, grounding, connecting.

Waves are movement, energy. A surfer must catch the wave, feel the push of energy, hold on to it and ride it, and then let it go.

To me, surfing can be frightening. There are many unknowns: What's out there? How strong is the wave? Will I be gently pushed and pulled by the waves, or pummeled and thrashed around? And of course, the light, warm, calm Tropic waters are much more enticing than the cold, dark, vast (and sometimes shark filled) waters of Northern California.

But what is this fear all about? The same fear of the unknown I experience working in the hospital with the mentally ill? What, exactly, am I scared of? Death? Pain? Loss of control? Being 'pummeled'? Not being a strong enough swimmer?

When I do ride a wave, I feel a deeply gratifying sense of accomplishment, a feeling very difficult to describe with words. Similar to the way I feel after a day at the hospital, I feel strong and proud and confident. A sense that through movement, a deep connection to self, to others, and to world emerge.

The Jimmy Miller Foundation in Southern California is a nonprofit Ocean Therapy foundation, that enables children with physical and mental disabilities a "pure surfing experience." Check out their website here.

I think I need to get in the water more often...

DMT with Autistic Children

DMT in Iowa

Chair Workout

Leading Dance/Movement Therapy groups in the hospital setting, we do a lot of movement warm-ups while seated. Here's an exercise video featuring a chair workout. The leader goes very quickly, perhaps too quickly, but there are some goodies here.

While I work on my paper...

Even though I've been feeling a bit 'under the weather' and have a huge paper due in two weeks, I went to SF Ballet's Program 5 last night, the "All Morris" program, featuring three of Mark Morris's choreographic gems; A Garden, Joyride, and Sandpaper Ballet.
Mark Morris and his company have been doing a lot of work with using dance with people who have Parkinsons Disease. I have posted some of the articles and videos on this blog in past posts. I imagine the dance and movement with these non-dancers, used to rehabilitate and give expression, will be a future source of fascinating choreography. I hope.
SF Ballet is always a pleasure to watch, and its a real treat when I get to see any live performance, but Morris's choreography left me a bit confused. What was he trying to convey? In A Garden, for example, choreography was a blending of traditional and contemporary ballet, with very blah costumes (I especially was turned off by the color of the mens shirts). It seemed just a bit too scattered and arbitrary of a piece. It lacked a sense of cohesion and flavor until the pas-de-deux, which spurt out a bit more spice and chemistry.
The second piece was much more my personal style, very contemporary. The dancers were in incredibly shimmery-gold-spandex unitards that screamed the Star Wars' character, C-3PO in a much more oiled and smoothly sculpted body. There were digitally lit numbers that flickered and changed on the dancers' bellies, a statement of...something. Perhaps left to the audience's individual interpretations. The choreography and music were erratic and unique, heart-pounding and eye catching. To me, the movements, and especially the poses, echoed contemporary society's image-oriented obsession, a focus on numbers and flashy things. This is particularly interesting to me, considering the SF Ballet posters all around town, on buses, bus stop advertisements, taxis, and store windows, show the image of the principal ballerina, an emaciated arm outstretched, in an exasperated expression, and milky white skin pounded with blush.
To me, the antithesis of what (I hoped) Mark Morris's choreography conveyed.


I've gotta get to writing my paper, so my next few postings will be of the youtube videos I've been watching while I procrastinate. Here's one:

Everyone Can Dance

Marian Chace: Mother of Dance/Movement Therapy

Here's an article from Time Magazine written in 1959 about Marian Chace. Marian was the first Dance/Movement therapist, who wrote extensively about her work in psychiatric hospitals. Read about her here.

Readings in the Creative Arts

Violin Therapy for drug addicts.

An article on the correlation between anxiety disorders and physical balance.

Children need more movement. And traditional classroom desks need a make-over.

THIS WEEKEND IN LONG BEACH...

I am headed to Southern California for our first Califonia ADTA event of the year!
Susan Kleinman, MA, ADTR, NCC will give a presentation on:

"Becoming an Embodied Therapist: Accessing the Language of the Body in Treatment" THIS SATURDAY!

Date: March 7, 2009 Time: 1:30- 4:30 PM

Location: California State University, Long Beach
1250 Bellflower Blvd.
Long Beach, CA 90840-7201
Dance Studio in Dance Department/Dance Building
(Please see campus map for specific location)

This workshop presents an opportunity for mental health professionals to learn how to discover and trust their innate ability to “attend” empathically, respond authentically, and translate non-verbal experiences into cognitive insights. Experiential body/mind exercises based on dance/movement therapy principles will be used along with didactic presentation to integrate a more embodied approach into traditional psychotherapy theory and practice. Participants will learn how embodied methods can be used to treat eating disorders, addictions and trauma.

Susan Kleinman, MA, ADTR, NCC, is a dance/movement therapist for residential and outpatient services at The Renfrew Center of Florida. Ms. Kleinman is a trustee of the Marian Chace Foundation, a past president of the American Dance Therapy Association, and a past Chair of The National Coalition for Creative Arts Therapies. She is a co- editor of The Renfrew Center Foundation’s Healing Through Relationship Series, and serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Creativity in Mental Health. She is a frequent presenter at national and international conferences.

Come early and participate in the Southern California Chapter Update and Social Hour in same building from 12:30-1:30 PM. Brown Bag encouraged. Snacks provided.

ADTA Refund Policy: $25 Administration Fee Charged. Absolutely no refund will be made after Feb 21st or for no-shows.

Please call Lora Wilson at 562-682-7761 if experience difficulty finding location of event.
At the door fees:
$50 SCCADTA member,
$60 Non-member,
Always $20 for students.

Hope to see you there!