Date of Award
5-2013
Degree Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Art in Dance/Movement Therapy and Counseling (MA)
Department
Creative Arts Therapies
First Advisor
Susan Imus
Second Advisor
Laura Downey
Third Advisor
Laura Allen
Keywords
Bahá’í, religion, Laban Movement Analysis
Abstract
The purpose of this thesis was to explore the concept of integration between two main aspects of my life: my professional career as a dance/movement therapist on an inpatient adolescent behavioral health unit, and service guided by Bahá’í teachings in a neighborhood-based setting. Literature reviewed encompassed instances of Rudolf von Laban’s Effort elements found in the Bahá’í Writings, as well as research on the integration between the mind, body and spirit, the history of religion and mental health, and the current relationship between religion and mental health. Both artistic inquiry and heuristic methodologies were used to guide my research. Through Moustakas’s method of data analysis – immersion, incubation, illumination, explication, and creative synthesis – certain themes surfaced that shed light on my personal embodied experience of integration, and its implications both in a dance/movement therapy (DMT) and religious vein. Two major themes included the role of improvisation in integration and the shift from fragmented language and movement to bodily integration found through utilization of the Laban Movement Analysis (LMA) Body category, in place of Effort. This study informs not only my own orientation towards integration, but also provides a platform from which both dance/movement therapists and any faith-based mental health practitioners can conceptualize integration and make it a more conscious part of their work.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Recommended Citation
Rezai, Elena M., "Explorations Into Continuity: An Heuristic, Artistic Inquiry into the Interplay Between Work as a Dance/Movement Therapist and Service within the Bahá’í Community" (2013). Creative Arts Therapies Theses. 29.
https://digitalcommons.colum.edu/theses_dmt/29
Included in
Alternative and Complementary Medicine Commons, Art Therapy Commons, Child Psychology Commons, Dance Movement Therapy Commons, Developmental Psychology Commons, Experimental Analysis of Behavior Commons
Comments
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