One of the number-one songs in 1987 was, “I Wanna Dance with Somebody” by Whitney Houston, a song with currently almost a billion plays on Spotify. It’s an upbeat dance song about a woman who is looking to dance to “chase my blues away.” You can’t help but move around, listening to the song, but can you really chase the blues away by dancing?
According to the Trauma Research Foundation, movement therapy has been around since the 1940s and is considered part of the development of identity and self. It’s expressive and cathartic. It can be expressed by improvisation or choreographed.
New England Journal of Medicine studies have shown dancing can improve brain health, including a reduction in dementia risk. We all know it feels good to dance, and when we hear a certain song, we can’t help but move to it. Part of the reason is that dancing increases levels of serotonin, which is the brain chemistry that reduces stress. Dance also improves our memory by creating new neural connections. https://hms.harvard.edu/news-events/publications-archive/brain/dancing-brain
Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews reports on a study where there is significant data that shows dancing just doesn’t feel good—it literally rewires the brain to make it function more effectively. All those dance songs you’re embarrassed to say you enjoy, have real benefits for your physical body when you dance. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S014976341830664X?via%3Dihub
The American Dance Therapy Association views dance as a form of therapy and takes dancing very seriously. To get certified as a dance therapist, a master’s degree is required. From disease prevention to prison reform programs, dance is considered a tool for healing. If you haven’t already, check out the countless videos on YouTube where an entire prison population is dancing to the song Thriller, with all the prisoners replicating every Michael Jackson move. Dance to Be Free is an organization that brings dance therapy to women’s correctional centers. Their mission is not only to help the incarcerated women, but also reduce recidivism. https://www.dancetobefree.org/
Dancing can be an addition to conventional therapy, or it can be just you working on your own mental health, doing something “fun with benefits.” You can do it whenever you feel like it, and the only equipment you need, you already have. If you have never taken a dance class, you may have an opinion that is outdated. It’s not just learning line or ballroom dancing. Dance studios are fun and dynamic. Learning new dances provides a way to express yourself, and relieve tension and anxiety. Imagine the positive energy you would have if you did a hip-hop dance right before going to a job interview! Dance can also give you that incentive you need to exercise. The pandemic stripped many of us of our energy and desire to connect with others and ourselves.
In the words of the Home Depot song, my favorite song to dance to, “Let’s Do This!” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KynCXXAr0-4
Sylvie Minot is the co-founder and executive director of non-profit Syzygy Dance Project which is a group of twenty volunteers focused on dance exploration to cultivate healing and empowerment. Sylvie established the Syzygy Dance Project in 2010 as a result from teaching a class at the San Francisco County Jail. She then awakened to her calling to bring dance to compromised individuals which includes inmates, veterans, addicts in recovery, chronic illness patients and the elderly. Sylvie is also part of 5Rhythm which is a dance movement founded in the 1970s, focused on the 5 various rhythms of the body. Syzygy Dance Project also works with businesses to help reduce work stress and improve focus.
Sylvie Minot received her BA in Dance from San Jose State University and is a certified 5Rhythms® Teacher who was also trained in the Heartbeat (emotional) map by Gabrielle Roth.
Sylvie has studied psychology, indigenous healing rituals, energy medicine, and sound healing and is inspired by the teachings of Angeles Arrien, Carolyn Myss, and Tito La Rosa.
Since 2000, Sylvie has taught weekly dance classes and workshops for a variety of populations. Sylvie is often described as a catalytic shape-shifter because of her ability to meet people right where they are and move with them into new possibilities.
An interview with Sylvie:
When did you discover dance could unlock empowerment and healing?
When I noticed how dance changed my life. I was always told growing up as an Asian girl/woman that I can not and should not get angry, so I spend all of my life pushing down everything that made me mad. I walked around with the mask of a “nice” person who never got mad. As I continued dancing, I couldn’t suppress the anger any longer and in the safety of dance workshops, I was able to release it in a safe and contained way. By releasing my anger, only then was I able to work on, move with the hurt and trauma beneath the anger and starting my path to healing and empowerment. I now hold these workshops and private sessions for others. Because I know anger and was able to to release it, I can tolerate the anger and often rage that comes and help others begin their healing path.
How does dance create a safe form of expression? How do you use motion to get the students to move past their insecurities about expressing themselves?
Dance is a safe form of expression because it can help you let go of the stories than verbal therapies ask for. When I work with people who cannot put into words how they feel or how they are affected, I help them use the movement that’s already in their body to express without having to hear the story behind the emotion or trauma. I see what’s moving in my clients when I put on a song with a nice beat, and I move with them and guide them into expressing what’s there. I help them get into their body first by just moving through the joints and the tightness in the body. Their body tells me a lot of what they are holding. I always attune to what’s there and then help move it through. The body doesn’t lie.
In building confidence through dance, how have students transformed that confidence to be useful in other parts of their life?
By embodying confidence in the dance, their bodies start to to move in the world from this embodied place.
Is there a style of dance that works the best for those who use dance for healing?
There are many styles of conscious dance that works well. I practice the 5Rhythms dance created by Gabrielle Roth and I am a certified teacher in this practice. I have also created my own work incorporating 5Rhythms and other practices from my background in dance, therapeutic modalities along with ritual and earth medicine practices. The difference between just dancing and dancing for healing is the intention and the willingness of the student to try something different and being able to go through some discomfort at times. If people leave when they don’t like a song or they check out because a song evokes a certain emotion, I believe they just fall back into their old pattern and it is very hard to make the shift that is needed. If nothing changes, nothing changes. If they stay and move with the discomfort, they will find a new way of moving and coping with difficulty. This works well when working with people in recovery from addiction. It teaches people to find new coping skills besides alcohol and drugs.
What is your own personal experience of the healing power of dance? How do you use dance to reconnect to a more positive self?
As I mentioned above dance allowed me to express myself in ways that I couldn’t ever do before. I was also very disconnected to my feelings not just the ”negative” ones but also joy. It is hard to feel joy when there isn’t any feelings in your being and fake joy doesn’t count. Once I was able to be in my body and connect to my emotions, then express them, I was able to feel strong, confident, and empowered. Once I can do it on the dance floor, my intention was to do it in life. And slowly, it happened. I became a teacher and I’m completely confidant that I can hold and support someone’s healing process through dance. I help others reconnect to the things that bring them joy, to the things that makes them smile. I help students use their imagination and feel it in their body. When one experiences trauma, they get stuck in a loop that doesn’t stop, the imagination breaks people out of the stuck patterns, then I help them find new pathways.
Both silence and music can be a part of dance. How do you choose the sounds, music or silence during a dance session?
I chose music depending on the population I’m working with. If my students can’t relate to the music at all, they won’t move. I also have a theme to my classes and the music I choose works with the theme. My music is used to take my students on a journey. I also use silence if I want them find their own movement without the influence of the music. I also use musical instruments as a sound vibration to help move a certain part of the body.
You have taught dancing addiction recovery and inmate programs. How has dance helped those participants?
Dance brings people back into their body. People with addiction tend to try to escape and are disconnected not just to their emotions but also their body. The don’t feel safe in it, so our program help people feel safe again and once they reconnect to their body, they are less likely to harm it. One of the women in a recovery program said that by dancing she no longer wanted to abuse her body, therefore it gave her the motivation to put harmful substance in her body.
Incarcerated people also feel unsafe in their body and they also feel trapped. The dance classes help them find freedom with the limitations they are in physically. We help them find freedom behind the physical bars and the mind prison that we can put ourselves in. They reconnect to themselves in spite of the circumstances. We help them not let the circumstances define who they are by offering movements to embody who they are, their strengths, their courage, their gifts, not just their mistakes and what society thinks is bad.
How do you remove the fear of awkwardness with your students?
Once we start having fun and laughing together all that disappears.
Can couples dancing such as the Latin styles be used also for couples therapy?
Yes, It has been used to allow leading and following and letting go of control which is needed in relationships.
Has the healthcare community recognized dance as an option for healing?
Some of them have but I would like to see much more.
For someone that doesn’t have access to dance instruction, what would be a suggestion on how to get started in dancing that provides a healing benefit?
There are a lot of online classes now that can help people get started. Sometimes, just putting music and let yourself move with it can start the process. Many people listen to music to help their mood. I would suggest adding movement to it.
Most of us wish we could express ourselves with dance that is beyond our capabilities. What kind of fantasy dancing do you wish you could do and what would you imagine your experience of that would be?
I use a lot of imagination in my classes. I have people tap into the feeling of what it feels like to do something. Most of the time the action itself does not determine how we feel, but how it makes us feel is what is important. I use the example to horseback riding. Someone may love horseback riding but can no longer ride. So I have them imagine the sensation of what riding felt like and move as if they were riding, so they get that feeling of joy again. Someone who does not like riding will not have the same emotion or sensation even though the action “riding” is the same. Therefore it’s the feeling behind the action that is important not the doing itself, so helping people fantasize and imagine ways of moving and doing can help reconnect to the feeling of joy or well being.
Sylvie Minot Links: