You Are The Art

Dance movement therapy at Card Zero Studio

Niki is a creative arts therapist specialised in dance movement therapy. Card Zero Studio is her therapy practice, as well as her general artistic practice. She is a big nerd who loves plants.

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Real talk: sometimes I’m hesitant to lead with the words dance movement therapy when talking about what I do in my practice. It's under the umbrella of creative arts therapy, so it often feels easier to lead with that. The truth is that lots of people are put off by the idea of dancing in therapy.

Performer mode

I totally get it. As a performing artist, I know very well that dancing comes with vulnerability. You are not only making art; you are the medium of the art. That means contending with the limitations of your body, as well as its opportunities, which are not always risk-free or accessible at will. 

For that reason, I want to explain a bit about how I work. Let me start by dispelling some commonplace misconceptions.

Common misconceptions about dance movement therapy:

• You will have to perform an interpretive dance piece depicting your emotional life story

• It’s the same as ecstatic dance (“It’s like 5 Rhythms, right?”)

• The main aim is to generate peak somatic experiences for catharsis or ‘release’

• It’s basically a dance class or a fitness thing

• It’s mostly about feeling good and letting off steam, and isn’t ‘real therapy’

Parts of these assumptions might resonate for some practitioners (for example, they might offer group sessions with a class-like atmosphere, use structured dance improvisation formats, or incorporate somatic techniques, or focus on relaxation). But on the whole, these ideas are pretty far from what a typical session looks like in my universe.

Every dance movement therapist works differently. In my training at Melbourne Uni, I was encouraged to rigorously explore different forms, contexts and methods of both therapy and dance, and to develop an approach that makes sense to me in an evolving field. This was extended by the influence and guidance of Chenai at Rainbow Muse, who leads by radically and creatively inhabiting her vision of the future, and also by the loving modelling of generous peer-to-peer leadership in Rainbow Muse Collective.  

In short, I have been empowered to choose my own adventure. That's lucky for me, because I have a special interest in Art as a lens on the world - I really mean it when I say that any type of action has the potential to be creative, and I love to create space for people to fit the Art lens onto their experience. Seeing through this lens can be illuminating and confronting, functional and experimental. With that said, I’d like to explain how this all maps onto dance movement therapy. >initiate infodump<

Dimensional doodle

Moving through the world

I am fascinated by questions of why bodies move the way they do in propelling us through the world. We’ve all had experiences of being thwarted in doing what we would ideally do: whether by pain or illness, structural or systemic factors, fear, or mysterious forces that we struggle to make sense of. A driving question for me is how body movement might play into these - as a means to investigate obstructions and find or create possibilities for moving in, around, or outside of a limit.

Put simply, my approach is a bottom-up style of psychotherapy that starts with what’s moving in the here and now, as an inroad to understanding what’s going on. Considering what bodies are doing - including in response and relation to each other - is a way to find that inroad. Basically, bodies are constantly moving, and we can turn our curiosity toward this.

Just noodlin'

Something I think about a lot is creative action. The way I see it, this is at the core of navigating the world, and trying things out to adapt our actions to better support our needs. It's a useful lens for connecting with (often completely legitimate) feelings of being trapped or stuck, and working toward a shared understanding of what empowerment might look like.

I really enjoy working outdoors in natural environments, because the whole body is meaningfully engaged in creative action when moving through them. It's a practice space for being in uneven terrain with features that are dynamic and not uniform. In this type of setting, distance, direction, routes, paths and obstacles become more than abstract concepts; they are contours of the world that we can explore experientially.

Putting it in context

What does all this actually look like in a therapy session? To answer that, I'll share some of the methods I tend to bring into sessions. I don’t necessarily use all of these at once, or with everyone - it depends what we're aiming to do.

• A focus on spatial factors

  What is in the space between us as human bodies? How are things converging and diverging and transiting in space? How does this create a sense of place? 

  → This could look like: We build a pillow fort; I seek permission to enter it and only enter with permission. In doing this, we are creatively building a shared understanding of the physical therapy space and its resources, locating limits and defining boundaries.

  
  

• Focus on lesser-known sensory systems

  What’s the lay of the land (literally)? How do we know where we are?  

  → This could look like: We walk a trail together, and try out your ‘inner compass’ to make small navigational decisions. In doing this, we invite attention to lesser-known sensory systems - vestibular, kinaesthetic, proprioceptive. (Yes, they’re big words… and they can be extremely fun once you get to know them!)

  
  

• Games and multi-player action

  Are we in sync? Do we need to be in sync for this to work? Either way, what happens? 

  → This could look like: We co-design a ball game. In doing this, we contend with the interpersonal tension between cooperation and competition.

  
  

• Making something material

  What colours, shapes or lines are you drawn to right now? How do small moves shape your external world? Are we surprised?

  → This could look like: We each fill a page with visual imagery while discussing your week, then show and tell. In doing this, your sensorimotor body comes into the interaction while sitting and talking. At the same time, you can put some distance between your body and a mood, impulse or sensation, which can then be easier to see.

  
  

• Inclusion of micro and macro movements

  There is room for breath, voice, and the inquiring mind under the umbrella of potentially creative movement. There is also room for systemic movement. What pathways are lighting up? 

  → This could look like: Discussing a creative (not necessarily artistic) action that was taken and exploring its impact, particularly when this diverges from what you or others would normally do. For example, we map out the shape of a rally that you attended: where you walked, how long it took, how space was occupied by different parties, and how these elements make meaning.

  
  

You’re still reading?

I’m guessing you’re probably a curly thinker, like me… if not, then I admire your patience!

This post has outlined how I approach dance movement therapy at Card Zero Studio, including some common misconceptions, influences and curiosities. I’ve described how movement can be used to explore terrains, support creative action, and engage with the world. I’ve highlighted some of the ways that movement is carried into my sessions, including through a focus on spatial dynamics, lesser-known sensory systems, co-created games, visual making, and movement at micro and macro scales. Across all of these, the body is engaged as both a site of inquiry and a source of insight.

Still from a live action artwork by the author (feat. some other dance movement therapists)

Does this speak to you?

Hello // I have a face

I provide non-pathologising support informed by chronic stress/trauma and neurodivergence concepts, including how these intertwine with each other.

Main areas of interest:

• Autistic and auDHD experience 

• Ambiguous and unlabelled constellations of divergent traits

• Chronic/traumatic stress and the nervous system

• Existential concerns/conflicts (e.g. reality, consciousness, meaning, death and dying, altered states)

Info on working with me: www.cardzerostudio.com.au/therapy