Embodied Concepts of Neurobiology in Dance/Movement Therapy Practice (4D)

"It is clear that consciousness cannot be severed from the body, but is itself an integration of the functioning of the mind and body" K. Homann, 2010 (pg.95)

When looking for further literature to guide my inquiry I wanted to find a study that encompasses my interest in what happens neurologically when we dance, watch dance and feel movement within and around us.   Furthermore, how this can help people and inform my work teaching and choreographing with mixed groups of dancers.  

This article by Kalila B. Homann published for the American Dance Therapy Association, entails many of the same themes as the previous 2 literature pieces I have reviewed but also helped me to understand the benefits of this knowledge; how I could directly use some of the themes to develop my professional skills.

The article focuses on 3 areas dance can impact  humans well-being; in our rest and arousal, our emotional regulation and our conscious and  pre-conscious memory.  The research explained in the writing was based on Dance Movement therapy interventions in clinical practice, Porges Polyvagal theory, and research into memory and how dance can make a difference on how we store implicit and explicit memory.

Homann explains the effect of DMT on rest and arousal, which posed some interesting questions I will consider incorporating into my inquiry.  Our Caudal base is the neural network that regulates sensory functioning and our emotional state.  In the caudal base there is the vagus nerve.   Porges theory is that this nerve regulates our rest, arousal and self-healing behaviours and therefore is active during therapy, in this case DMT.  

Scientists such as Porges, Ledoux and Stern found that humans learn optimally when there feel both stimulated and soothed.  'stress or fear will limit cortical functioning (Porges, 2004, 2009a). This concurs with Ledoux’s findings (1998) on fear and brain functioning. The body increases its adrenaline and cortisol production when one is anxious and tense, reducing blood flow to the frontal lobes of the brain. When we are afraid, we have less access to our thoughts.' (pg.82)

This posed the question why have so many teachers and choreographers that I have worked with put students under such pressure to achieve or remember?  It is proven as an ineffective emotional state for learning.  I am tacitly aware to maintain a relaxed studio atmosphere, but I'm sure any professional can emphathise with the panic when students don't know their repertoire 2 weeks before a show!  If the method I use in my inquiry is to interview choreographers who work with mixed groups one of my questions could be surrounding do they maintain a relaxed learning environment when working to a schedule?  Or do they use some pressure to create results from their dancers?

The following theme is the effect of dance or somantic processes on our emotional regulation.  'Movement can engage physiological processes related to emotion and make them potentially more available to the conscious mind. Feeling states can be identified through the individual’s conscious tracking of the body’s experience.' (pg 95).   
Dance can allow us to embody strong emotions such as anger or fear, and allow us to then make these sometimes subconscious feelings available for verbal processing.   

Dance movement therapy is also of great significance when a person is perhaps verbally impaired. When the person feels there are in a safe enough environment with the DMT this can allow them to process experiences stored in our implicit memory, and express themselves somantically.   

It struck me that as teachers and choreographers we have a great responsibility over our dancers emotions.   We talk about a movement 'speaking to us'.  When we feel something through dance that is inexplicable.   However, scientifically we are tapping into past experiences and emotions.   Pert (1997) describes how we are connected body and mind at a molecular level,   'the term mobile brain is an apt description of the psychosomatic network through which intelligent information travels from one system to another. Every one of the zones, or systems of the network—the neural, the hormonal, the gastrointestinal, and the immune is set up to communicate with one another'.

These neurological studies have helped me define questions I will incorporate when interviewing professional choreographers for my inquiry.   I will try to incorporate a proven theory such as Porges theory of optimal learning depending on a relaxed and stimulating environment.   It will be beneficial to my growth as a professional to find out whether they agree or disagree due to professional experience, and any case studies they may have to back their ideas up.