Musings of a Dance/Movement Therapist

Testimonial from Physical Therapist Kelly McDermott

My students love the Octaband.  It is an excellent tool for our gross motor groups.  It promotes visual attention, coordination, motor planning, strength and endurance.  Students of varying ages, cognitive levels and physical abilities can participate and most of all... have fun. The little ones love the texture. They like to wrap it around themselves. Sometimes I wrap 2 of the legs around them, and the kids then have to get themselves out of it. Their very favorite activity is to bounce the beanbag on it. The turtle beanbag with the flat bottom works best.  The octaband helps improve their attention span. They call it the THNEED, from Dr. Seuss’ Lorax. (“A Thneed's a Fine-Something-That-All-People-Need!") They do sometimes fight over which color band they get. They love to be the one who is underneath in the center.

One particular student who is shy and doesn't typically participate in our gross motor group activities without continuous prompting, etc... loves the Octaband.  He is a 4 year old little boy with a cortical vision impairment and developmental delays.  The Octaband brought him out of his shell. It is the one activity that he really enjoys.  We tried the "mine"/ "ours" game this week and it was a big hit.  Thanks again for sharing the evolution of the Octaband with our department. 

Sincerely,
Kelly McDermott, DPT, Boston Public Schools

Octaband Testimonial

This was a posting to the ADTA listserve on 3/23/08
Dear Friends and Colleagues,
I have been using the Octaband very successfully with many different populations, e.g, Alzheimer's, elderly, adult psychiatric and developmentally  disabled. I find the sixteen arm type especially useful.  Congratulations on creating such an innovative dance/movement therapy tool!
Peace,
Nancy Koprak,MA,ADTR,LCAT

Using the Octaband in Improvisational Dance Group

This posting allows me the opportunity to introduce the wonderful improvisational dance class that Itake called Dancing Outside the Lines with Joan Green in the Cambridge, Massachusetts area. This is only my third year with Joan, but for others in the class, it's probably more like 15 years. The class began, I believe, for dancers over age 50, but has opened up to include a few younger dancers. Our ages probably  span late 30's to mid 80's. Joan inspires us with different warm ups and structures each week, and always keeps us on task, encouraging our spontaneity and heightening aesthetic appreciation.

Soon I will post some pictures taken by photographer Ian Travis Barnard of our class using the Octaband, the first time the Octaband has been used, to my knowledge, in an improvisational dance class for adults. Feel free to comment.

Pictures of the Octaband at ADTA Conference 2007

These wonderful pictures were taken by my friend, Orit Janco, at my presentation, The Gift of Self: What dance/movement therapists bring to the elderly with dementia, at the ADTA conference in Brooklyn, October 2007. Thank you, Orit.

Break! The Urban Funk Spectacular

I went to see what I found to be a wonderfully inspiring performance last night of Break! The Urban Funk Spectacular. I wasn't sure that I would like it, since I don't like rap, but I do love breakdancing. I love the idea of kids dancing in the streets, and bringing that kind of raw energy into the theatre is very exciting. My favorite was Kenny Muhammed, also known as "The Human Orchestra". At first, it seemed to be more "music" than dance, but as he really got into what he was doing, it was an amazing dance about creating rhythmic sound through the involvement of his own body. It was highly original, and the amount of energy he invested in his performance was extraordinary. The result was my becoming energized, and wondering how to bring something of this energy into my work with the elderly! I'll let you know if I figure out how to do that.

Check him out for yourself. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=55C0RirU3yA

I also loved "Locking Q", otherwise known as Kumiko Naito. Her popping was pretty spectacular and she has incredibly precise timing.

From the program, Val Brochard, the director of production said "Their love for this art form is contagious and I promise you that BREAK! will leave you charged up with tons of positive energy!" It definitely did that.

Yoga with Kids and the Octaband

Thank you, Deb Goldman, for the wonderful photos I got to take of your class doing yoga with kids, and using the Octaband. The kids found the octaband helpful with the lotus pose and the tree pose. Elijah wanted to try the Octaband with the 5 pointed star pose, but they didn't have a chance to try that one yet. Here are some pics.

Julia Priest Of Music Together Newton has this to say:

Julia Priest is   Director of     Music Together of Newton , an early-childhood music education program based in Newton, Massachusetts. A graduate of Yale, Boston University and Massachusetts General Hospital’s Institute of Health Professions, Priest specializes in using eurhythmics as well as the Alexander Technique to teach music and performance skills to children. She participates in musical activities in churches and synagogues, and teaches music at elementary and preschools, in and around Boston.

Julia has just begun using the octaband, and wrote to say: "Verrry successful today in preschools a capella with Pop Goes the Weasel. Seated, bouncing it on the A melody and swaying on the B melody; standing, revolving/skipping on the A melody and swaying again on B. Of course Pop! was tons of fun and eventually built into all jumping at once."

Thanks to Julia for her feedback and her ideas.

Thanks to Julia, Carol Mersky, Principal of Temple Emanuel Preschool, the children and parents of this preschool class for their willingness to have pictures taken.

I Thought that Only Humans Dance

So you can imagine my surprise, when I watched this video this a.m. http://birdloversonly.blogspot.com/2007/09/may-i-have-this-dance.html. Check out the dancing Cockatoo.

Suzy Matheson Dance Therapist on Arts for Living

Tonight, Sunday, December 2nd at 8 p.m., Art of Living Gallery is airing a program about A.R.T.S. for People out of Dallas, Texas. Suzy Matheson of Movement Expressions is featured throughout the program, as well as other creative artists and arts therapists bringing the joy of self expression through the arts to different populations.

Click the following link for a brief look: http://www.artsforpeople.org/AboutARTS/InTheNews/TheArtofLivingGalleryEpisode117/tabid/854/Default.aspx
There is 1 image early on which shows Suzy using the octaband with kids which is fleeting but demonstrative of the great joy which the octaband brings to its users.

 

Wade Robson

Every day, I attempt to name the things that I am grateful for. Wade Robson's fabulous choreography and dancing is one of the things I am grateful for. I was just rewatching the video from his performance on Dancing with the Stars. You can see it at http://www.givememyremote.com/remote/wade-robson-on-dancing-with-the-stars-video/
for wade. I don't tire of watching that video. I don't know what it is about his choreography - maybe it's that it is quirky, and full of the unexpected. I am a (for a short while longer) 50 something y.o., and except for the big jumps, I can do that choreography. So, I'm practicing. Watching that video, and dancing parts of it put me in a great mood. And I'm trying to figure out how I can adapt it to the elderly.