Dance
as Therapy
Abigail
Evans
Brigham
Young University
In this article titled, “’It Gives Me Purpose’: The Use of Dance with People Experiencing
Homelessness”, it addresses the positive outcomes that can result from using
dance as therapy, practically within the population of people who are homeless.
Dance is a form of therapy because it helps increase positive outlooks on
yourself and your abilities. It can enhance your mood and physically change
your body for the better. For people who are experiencing homelessness, a lack
of self-confidence and happiness are often major problems with in their life.
With this knowledge, Melissa Knestaudt decided to create an experiment
to see how much a therapeutic dance class could benefit these people’s lives.
The outcome was clear; it made very positive changes on the lives on those who
participated.
Strengths
of the Article
This article was interesting to read and very well written. The
author used politically correct terms such as “people experiencing homelessness”
instead of “homeless people”. I liked how it told a story of how this was a new
idea, how it came about, was carried out, and then the results of it as well.
Its format was clear and well organized. The author explained step by step her
process for collecting results of her experiment. It was very effective how she
included picture examples of what the survey she gave to the students looked
like. It allowed the reader to really understand the process she went through
as a therapist.
Weaknesses
of the Article
The article seemed quite repetitive in information. The
author would state a fact many times throughout the article which made it clear
but kind of boring. Her population, included in her study, was mostly female
and Caucasian- it would have been more statistically reliable if she had a more
even population distribution. Also I wish she would have included information
on whether her dance class continued after this experience or just ended.
How
this can be Applied
As a therapeutic recreation major this can be applied in
the future as an idea for a form of therapy that can be used with patients. The
process that was used for surveying how the participants felt before and after
a session is also a good idea to use in the future when trying to measure the
results of a therapy session. I learned to always make the survey easy to read
and easy to later calculate the results.
Personal
Reaction
My personal recreation to this article is happiness,
learning once again how recreation is truly a great way to perform therapy. I
have seen first hand how happy dance can make people and how it can promote
self-confidence and creativity. What a great way to help people experiencing
homelessness feel empowered to move forward in life in a positive way.
Conclusion
Dance is a
form a therapy. Melissa Knestaudt was able to prove this through implanting a
new dance class for people who experience homelessness and tracking the outcome
through surveys on the patient’s emotions. She found that the dance class truly
did benefit the patients. She stated, “The participants reported a stronger
sense of belonging, exhibited self-determined behaviors, and expressed a degree
of reduced stress from having participated in this pro- gram.” (Knestaut,
Devine & Verlezza, 2010, p.300) Hopefully dance will continue to be used as
a form of therapy for anyone who needs a positive activity in his or her life. Many
will benefit from dance as a form of therapy.
Knestaut, M., Devine, M. A., &
Verlezza, B. (2010). “it gives me purpose”: The use of dance with people
experiencing homelessness. Practice Perspective, XlIV, 289–301.
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