Hi! This time, I would like to talk about my dance therapy approach.
In a dance therapy approach, you may discover where you are and what feelings arise by tracing your creative movement experiences. Through sharing, you may be able to verbalize those experiences, and perhaps meet your true self.
In therapy, I often explore where I am in my body and how I feel. I have been taking this approach through dance for a while, but sometimes I also follow it with drawing.
【An episode with drawing】
This time, let me share an episode involving drawing.
At the end of a gathering with a dance education group, we had an opportunity to reflect on our learning process. Each participant was given a piece of paper and some crayons.
This is the artwork I made.
Three stone crayons.
One pin-like crayon.
Twirly motifs, and
blurry colored paper.
My turn came to share my story with the group. I talked about the process of drawing and placing the crayons on the paper.
“It was hard to show their colors when I tried to color with the broad surface of the stone crayon. When I chose the edge of it, twirly lines appeared on the paper. The same thing happened with the straight crayon. However, these lines were not the ones I wanted to show.”
This opportunity became a moment of storytelling for me. The artwork turned into a story—one that no one could deny.
The stone crayons may have reflected my current situation. I realized how attractive they were—their weight, their shapes, and how naturally they fit into my hands. Yet when I tried to use them as something to color with, their colors appeared only a little as long as I wanted to keep their original shapes.
I would need to shave them down to use them as crayons for coloring.
Instead, I left the stone crayons on my drawing.
They could be my potential gems.
In my concept, I used the word ‘kureyon(writing with Roman letters in Japanese accent),’ which describes different senses shown in the diverse colors/people. Each color may have meanings to shine, but what if the shapes are different?
While writing this blog, I found myself wondering:
Do stone crayons have to be used only for drawing?
What if they have other functions?
【Reflection: What emerges from the body】
I believe that without this art activity, I might not have been able to reflect on where I am now.
I expressed an image with the stone crayons after the movement session. I also reflected through words based on how I experienced through the body while drawing.
In therapeutic reflection, you might meet your own stories—whether or not you call them “stories.”
Since I began learning dance therapy, I have become increasingly curious about the stories that arise from participants’ body movements.
Therapeutic opportunities can encourage us to explore where we are, both in our bodies and in our minds. Through this process, we may discover our strengths and our own stories—the stories that make us who we are, and sometimes empower you.
Dancing in Ayaka Dance, my current dance program, can be like reviewing the steps you have already taken (rather than simply learning how to dance). Each step can become a story.
If you find your story meaningful, no one can deny its value. It may even become something valuable that supports you.
I hope reach as many of these stories as possible.
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今回は英語記事で、私なりのダンスセラピー・アプローチについてご紹介しました。
まずは私が初めてダンスセラピーを学んだ言語、英語でご案内いたしました。
日本語版が待てない方は、翻訳して読んでみてくださいね（笑）
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