The fourth International Conference, ‘Multifaceted Movement Approaches,’ presented by Creative Movement Therapy Association of India (CMTAI) in association with Department of Psychology, Christ University, Bangaluru, aims to address the important subject of ‘Enhancing the Mind-Body Nexus’, by bringing together a curated handful of researchers and practitioners from the field, to a relevant audience.
The two-day conference, scheduled on November 25 and 26, at Christ University, will host panel discussions, film screenings, experiential sessions, informal group reflections and a movement JAM, to present the psychotherapeutic use of movement through psychological theories and research in the field of Dance Movement Therapy (DMT), Expressive Art therapy and other body based approaches. A peek into what the conference holds in store looks exciting and promising.
Pivot on movement
Centered around movement, the session by Reetu Jain, will focus on what is therapeutic about dance for participants new to dance therapy and the session by Tarana Khatri will examine how the Kestenberg movement analysis helps understand the movement dynamics and structure within each individual.
‘Active Imagination Using Movement’ by Brinda Jacob Janvrin will urge participants to work with expressive arts and authentic movement techniques to explore dream images. ‘Role of the Embodied Therapist in Movement Psychotherapy’ by Preetha Ramasubramanian will touch upon the skills that Dance Movement Psychotherapists build within themselves to aid their work in responding to the client’s non-verbal communication.
Extending the movement loop further, Tripura Kashyap’s session will introduce therapeutic dance as a cross-curricular activity in classroom settings and the ‘Gesture & Dance in Storytelling Therapy’ by Dr. Eric Miller, would experientially lead participants to explore emotions, situations and characters of stories through posing and movement of their bodies. Taking the movement connection further into the territory of drama therapy, in the session by Anshuma Kshetrapal, participants will learn how the ancient art of storytelling has been rejuvenated in drama and movement psychotherapy and in ‘Letting the Body Lead Therapeutic Work’ by Maitri Gopalakrishna, participants will explore what it would mean to actually let the body lead our work and let the body emote first, through an experiential segment followed by a discussion.
Parasuram Ramamoorthy’s session will aim to further the understanding of the relationship between drama and empathy.
In addition to movement and sessions related to drama and visual arts therapy , the sessions by Ritu Shree, Katia Verreault and Charitra Balal, extend to DMT for families of Children with Autism, Psycho-support in communities and Art psychotherapy & Family constellation work respectively. The boundaries between movement, drama and visual arts for therapy are blurred, by emphasising on staying connected in the practice and theory of the various disciplines, rather than keeping practices compartmentalised and in isolated pockets.
The response has been growing with the last three year’s conferences in New Delhi, Bengaluru and Pune respectively. The conference allows one to invest in their own growth -Tripura Kashyap,Movement Therapist,
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