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Graduate Summer 2019 elective | CATS 609 – Introduction to Dance Movement Therapy (3 credits)


Join Professor Joanabbey Sack, MA, BC-DMT, RDT  and guest dance movement Therapists as she introduces you to the foundations and primary concepts of Dance Movement Therapy, and the somatic experience through practical, experiential and theoretical material. The course serves to recognize and understand the importance of Dance Movement Therapy and movement observation in therapeutic and educational perspectives. It provides support to the integration of this material into the study and application of the Creative Arts Therapies.

All graduate students are welcome to register for this course.

Meeting Dates: May 15 – June 14, 2019

Days: Wednesdays & Fridays

Times: 13h – 17h30

Location: GN M100, SGW (Downtown) campus

 

COURSE DESCRIPTION:

This course provides an introduction to the foundations and primary concepts of Dance Movement Therapy, and the somatic experience through practical, experiential and theoretical material. The course serves to recognize and understand the importance of Dance Movement Therapy and movement observation in therapeutic and educational perspectives. It provides support to the integration of this material into the study and application of the Creative Arts Therapies and health professions.

 

GOALS:

1. To introduce students to the foundations, essence, principles, and tools of Dance Movement Therapy and to support understanding and using movement and non-verbal expression in therapy and in ones creative process.

2. To explore and understand kinesthetic empathy, non-verbal communication, attunement and developmental constructs of movement in the therapeutic process.

3. To develop skills in the observation, understanding, and description of movement qualities and to work with basic concepts of Laban Movement Analysis and the elements of space, time, force and flow. This work helps to develop and enlarge the range of ones’ (movement) options and facilitates the understanding one’s own movement patterns and the patterns of our clients. 

4. To examine and experience the healing properties of Dance/Movement Therapy and the potential of incorporating movement into the therapeutic process as we address and explore non-verbal action, interaction and behaviour.

5.  To acknowledge, observe, and explore the principles of neurobiology so basic to this field.

6. To support the understanding and experience of movement’s role in assessment and evaluation.

7. To understand movement as an expressive and communicative principle with visual arts, writing and music to reinforce the therapeutic experience.

For more information or to register for the course, contact Alyssa Browning in the Creative Arts Therapies Department.                

 

Learn more about Joanabbey Sack.

Centre for the Arts in Human Development

Parkinson en mouvement

Dance Movement Therapy Association in Canada

Joanabbey Sack MA., BC-DMT, RDT, is a board certified Dance Movement Therapist and a registered Drama Therapist with extensive training in Dance, Music, the Social Sciences, Laban Movement Analysis, and Theatre Arts. She teaches at Concordia University’s Department of Creative Arts Therapies and is the Dance Movement Therapist at Concordia's Centre for the Arts in Human Development. Joanabbey offers sessions in dance movement and drama therapy to children, youth and adults at the Queen Elizabeth Health Complex. Both Individual and group sessions are available for Dance Movement Therapy and also for Movement Training with a focus on alignment, ease of movement and strength training. She uses dance and dance therapy as a vehicle toward exploring positive and healthy patterns of movement in a process to further emotional, cognitive, physical and social integration. Joanabbey was the Dance Movement Therapist at the Montreal Children's Hospital for 12 years. She is co-founder and co-director of the Parkinson’s Dance Project (parkinsonenmouvement) which offers specialized dance classes as well as group and individual sessions for people with Parkinson’s syndrome. Individual and small group classes for the newly diagnosed and those living with Parkinson’s are available at QEHC. Joanabbey is Past President of the Board of Directors of Dance Movement Therapy Association in Canada and vice president of the board of directors of Parkinson en Mouvement. Joanabbey offers group and individual supervision to professionals and interns in the Creative Arts Therapies.

https://www.concordia.ca/research/cahd.html
www.parkinsonenmouvement.org
http://www.qehc.org
http://www.dmtac.org/ 




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