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Life-Centred Dance harnesses the transformative power of music and movement to evoke positive emotions and a profound sense of aliveness in the present moment. This innovative approach is dedicated to promoting happiness, mental health, and overall well-being by emphasising individual strengths, fostering wellness, and tapping into the boundless potential of the human spirit.
Through a combination of music and expressive movement exercises, participants are better able to reawaken their zest for life, unleash their creativity, open their hearts, and forge connections with something greater than themselves. While the primary focus is on guided dance and movement to music, individuals may also be invited to engage in activities such as singing, writing, drawing, painting, or sculpting with clay. Life-Centred Dance is not therapy per se, but rather a therapeutic and educational method that is accessible to individuals of all ages and backgrounds, including children, families, adults, and elders. Its versatility allows for a wide range of applications, catering to diverse populations such as those with learning disabilities, brain injuries, cancer survivors, caregivers, and more. By transcending verbal communication, Life-Centred Dance offers a unique avenue for individuals to connect and express themselves beyond the constraints of language and culture. In rediscovering our innate means of expression, we tap into a primal form of communication that predates language itself. From infancy, we instinctively learn to smile, move, and interact with the world through non-verbal cues. These fundamental expressions are shared across all cultures, serving as a testament to our shared humanity and evolutionary heritage. Non-verbal communication is a natural gift that transcends words, allowing us to connect and communicate on a deeper, more intuitive level. In essence, music acts as a universal language that resonates with the soul, while dance serves as a potent instrument for harmonising not only the mind and body, but also integrating the individual within a group or community. Music distracts us from pain and fatigue, elevates mood, increases endurance, reduces perceived effort and may even promote metabolic efficiency. Listening to the right music makes us move farther, longer and faster than usual—often without realizing it.
When the goal is to activate, the two most important things to be aware of are tempo/speed and rhythm response, which is the power a song has to make you want to move, e.g. fast songs with strong beats are particularly effective (120 - 145 beats per minute). Past research indicates that endurance is improved when movements are synchronised with a musical beat. This research shows that synchrony, moving in exact time with the music, may help the body use energy more efficiently. A 2012 study showed that moving in time to music required 7% less oxygen. Music can helps us maintain a steady pace and decrease energy expenditure. (source) "Music and movement are particularly entangled in the brain. Recent studies suggest that—even if someone is sitting perfectly still—listening to enjoyable music increases electrical activity in various regions of the brain important for coordinating movements, including the supplementary motor area, cerebellum, basal ganglia and ventral premotor cortex. Some researchers think that this neural crosstalk underlies people's instinct to move in time to music. "We have also known for decades that there are direct connections from auditory neurons to motor neurons. When you hear a loud noise, you jump before you have even processed what it is. That's a reflex circuit, and it turns out that it can also be active for non-startling sounds, such as music."
Source "Dance involves the culturally mediated body, emotion, and mind. So do illness and pain. Dance may promote wellness by strengthening the immune system through muscular action and physiological processes. Dance conditions an individual to moderate, eliminate, or avoid tension, chronic fatigue, and other disabling conditions that result from the effects of stress. Dance may help the healing process as a person gains a sense of control through (1) possession by the spiritual in dance, (2) mastery of movement, (3) escape or diversion from stress and pain through a change in emotion, states of consciousness, and/or physical capability, and (4) confronting stressors to work through ways of handling their effects."
Judith Lynne Hanna, Ph.D.. The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine. Winter 1995, 1(4): 323-331. doi:10.1089/acm.1995.1.323. I've just published this post about the positive impact of listening to preferred music on people with Alzheimers. Well, it turns out that our favourite songs don't just affect our mood and behaviour. A Canadian study has shown that preferred pieces of music also affect us at the physiological level, and some can be used to improve walking in Parkinson's disease.
The importance of using personalised music playlists comes up again and again. So, if you work with people affected by Parkinson's disease, I'd really recommend that you spend some time finding out their top tunes. Then, if you want to help them with gait training, first check the song's beats per minute and then check if the bpm match their walking pace. Songs from 80 to 100 bpm are said to be great for inactive people and also for warming up, e.g. Hello Dolly by Louis Armstrong (around 80bpm). There's many ways to determine the beats per minute of a song. If you google "find out how many beats per minute a song is" you'll find many options. Good luck! I'll leave you with the abstract of the study I mentioned. "This study explored the viability and efficacy of integrating cadence-matched, salient music into a walking intervention for patients with Parkinson's disease (PD). Twenty-two people with PD were randomised to a control (CTRL, 𝑛 = 1 1) or experimental (MUSIC, 𝑛 = 1 1) group. MUSIC subjects walked with an individualised music playlist three times a week for the intervention period. Playlists were designed to meet subject's musical preferences. In addition, the tempo of the music closely matched (± 1 0–15 bpm) the subject's preferred cadence. CTRL subjects continued with their regular activities during the intervention. The effects of training accompanied by “walking songs” were evaluated using objective measures of gait score. The MUSIC group improved gait velocity, stride time, cadence, and motor symptom severity following the intervention. This is the first study to demonstrate that music listening can be safely implemented amongst PD patients during home exercise." If you work with people with dementia it is worth spending some time finding out their favourite songs. This might come in handy when dealing with challenging behaviours. A study has found that listening to preferred music
"The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of recorded, preferred music in decreasing occurrences of aggressive behavior among individuals with Alzheimer's type dementia during bathing episodes. Eighteen older adults, age 55 to 95, with severe levels of cognitive impairment, participated in the study. They were randomly scheduled for observation during bath time under either a control (no music) condition or an experimental condition in which recorded selections of preferred music were played via audiotape recorder during the bathing episode. Following a 2-week (10 episode) observation period, conditions were reversed. A total of 20 observations were recorded for each individual. Results indicated that during the music condition, decreases occurred in 12 of 15 identified aggressive behaviors. Decreases were significant (p < 0.05) for the total number of observed behaviors and for hitting behaviors. During the music condition, caregivers frequently reported improved affect and a general increase in cooperation with the bathing task. The implications of these findings for improving the overall quality of care for severely cognitively impaired older adults are discussed." Over the past 3,5 years Paula has delivered sessions in over 50 care homes and 10 day centres in Bristol, Bath and North East Somerset, North Somerset and South Glouscestershire, most in partnership with Alive Activities. In addition, Paula has also facilitated sessions at Paulton Hospital.
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AuthorPaula Jardim Archives
August 2020
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