Dance Therapy Summary
This article is directed towards the idea of dance as a form of therapy. According to “Miriam Berger, a dance professor and dance therapist at New York University, “‘You can change your internal state through external movement’” (Svobda). It was experimentally proven that engagement in dance can reduce feeling of anxiety. An activity such as dance allows the brain to release neurotransmitters (as was covered in Unit 2, Lecture 1) such as serotonin (plays role in regulating mood, sleep, impulsivity, aggression & appetite) and norepinephrine (affects eating habits, alertness, & wakefulness). It also states that proteins produced in the brain cells also initiate growth of new neurons, further synaptic connections made between these newly formed neurons and release endorphins resulting in satisfaction, euphoria, and high pain tolerance.
As was stated in the article Why do we like to dance, this article also states that music is necessary for one to coordinate motor skills. As well as the point that when watching someone dance, neurons are activated that make you also want to dance. Also when the dancer movements express certain emotions, the activation of the neurons in the audience member is what allows them to experience the emotion too.
This answered one of my biggest questions. I have learned that through the activation the mirror neuron in the audience participant, this also is what triggers that feel of emotions within them as they watch the dancer portray the emotion.
© 2009 - Niagara College: Psychology 1100 Porfolio Assignment
Sangeeta Bahadur
