Dancing Through Grief: A Dance Movement Therapy Study
Abstract/Description/Artist Statement
Unfortunately, death is a shared experience, and every person on earth knows or will know grief because of so. The indelibility that grief brings is shown everywhere and is in everything. The only question is how do we, as grieving people, process grief? Some people let their grief control them in damaging ways, yet others connect their grief to their art consciously or unconsciously. I will be examining how grieving dancers use dance to process their grief. I will do this by analyzing performances that dancers workshop to process their grief. Also, I will be examining articles that prove or debunk the theory that dance can be a form of therapy and if it is effective or not. This observational study will be performed through an analytical lens to better understand how dancers grieve with death through the medium of dance and how dancers connect their art to their grief; all to see if Dance-Movement-Therapy (DMT) can be an effective form of therapy. In other words, this is a purely speculative study to broaden the knowledge of DMT.
Faculty Advisor/Mentor
Kate Mattingly
Faculty Advisor/Mentor Email
kmatting@odu.edu
Faculty Advisor/Mentor Department
Communication and Theater Arts
College/School Affiliation
College of Arts & Letters
Student Level Group
Undergraduate
Presentation Type
Art/Creative Work
Dancing Through Grief: A Dance Movement Therapy Study
Unfortunately, death is a shared experience, and every person on earth knows or will know grief because of so. The indelibility that grief brings is shown everywhere and is in everything. The only question is how do we, as grieving people, process grief? Some people let their grief control them in damaging ways, yet others connect their grief to their art consciously or unconsciously. I will be examining how grieving dancers use dance to process their grief. I will do this by analyzing performances that dancers workshop to process their grief. Also, I will be examining articles that prove or debunk the theory that dance can be a form of therapy and if it is effective or not. This observational study will be performed through an analytical lens to better understand how dancers grieve with death through the medium of dance and how dancers connect their art to their grief; all to see if Dance-Movement-Therapy (DMT) can be an effective form of therapy. In other words, this is a purely speculative study to broaden the knowledge of DMT.