Lauren A. Guyer and Jonathan Skinner

Over the Summer, between Graduation and resits, the School of History and Anthropology hosted a Sound, Movement and Therapy Workshop in the Whitla Hall. This event was convened by social anthropologist Dr Jonathan Skinner, with the assistance of new grad student in Anthropology and dance teacher Lauren Guyer. The aims of the day were to bring together community practitioners and trainers, occupational therapists, QUB staff and students, and healthcare workers to explore best practice in practice-led sessions using movement and sound in the healing process. This was the second network and outreach day following ‘Generation Dance’, a showcasing of possibilities working with dance amongst the ageing population held in the Harty Room in Easter and sponsored by CARDI (Centre for Ageing Research and Development in Ireland).

Anthropology at Queen’s has a strong applied and policy tradition, and has been influenced by ethnomusicologist John Blacking who was a founding Professor here. Uniquely comparative and participatory, anthropology in general, and anthropology with an arts health twist, is concerned with treating the body as a cultural artifact, a repository of knowledge to be tuned into. Music and dance are considered by many to be the oldest of expressive arts in human history; indeed, philosopher Maxine Sheets-Johnstone would go so far as to argue that sound and movement are the mother or all cognition. They are thus well suited for careful anthropological examination and application, especially in the realms of disability, social inclusion and patient wellbeing.

The day consisted of five sessions. Dr Jonathan Skinner opened the proceedings looking at how Merengue, the national dance of the Dominican Republic, a steady, rhythmical marching dance, could be used to develop mobility in those with restricted movement such as the elderly, or in developing rhythmic – and attention - skills in the young. The worskhop continued with Lady Shruti Rana discussing and exemplifying Nada Vibronics, an Indian vibrational medicine using breath-induced sounds to connect energy through the body. The Whitla resonated to the sound of ‘Om’ as participants were shown how aches and illnesses are self-treated in India.

Nada Vibonics demonstration by Lady Rana (QUB)

Ms Lauren Guyer then completed the morning leading participants through sensory and response exercises developed from Laban dance improvisation: not just a technique for developing creativity and self-expression, applied dance improv. can encourage social interaction and nonverbal communication in the traumatised or autistic; it can introduce order, sequence, body control to those with attention disorders or hyperactive/aggressive issue; it can promote memory regain in stroke sufferers; and it can foster trust in the abused. After an intense morning where participants were given a variety of techniques and practices to inform their own work in the community, we broke for a brief lunch.

After lunch, participants were given a tour of Queen’s new Movement Perception Laboratory in the PEC. There, Professor Cathy Craig is leading an innovative team of post doc researchers who are using sound to aid physical movement therapy in Parkinson’s Disease sufferers. Physical movement such as gait can be ‘sonified’ and patients can be encouraged to recreate the sound in their movements.

Sonifying Movement demonstration and explanation run by staff at the Movement Perception Lab (QUB)

This was followed by a performance by Dr Jenny Elliott, Clifford and rehabilitation nurse Phil. They poignantly and powerfully illustrated the use of dance in rehabilitation work, and its ability to democratize patient-carer relationships. This work was followed on by partnership exercises to explore dance relations from a ‘wheelchair bound’ perspective.

 

 
Wheelchair service user dance introduction and performance run by Dr Jenny Elliott (Arts Care)

The day was a rewarding success. The Whitla Hall was filled with new sounds and new movements. Participants enhanced their professional practice and took back new skills and techniques. Connections were made between sound artists and movement workers across the healthcare world. Further details and video clips of the exercises from the two interdisciplinary Arts Health and Anthropology workshops are available at: www.dancebeyond.co.uk. Contact Dr Jonathan Skinner (j.skinner@qub.ac.uk) to join our mailing list and to participate in future workshops. The next workshop will have a drama edge to it, and will be looking at the research and community practice interface.