Musings of a Dance/Movement Therapist

Octaband is Latex Free

Great news for Octaband ~ Test results show that the Octaband has "no detectable material latex rubber".

Octaband or Parachute?

When people see the OctabandTM in use, they frequently ask about the similarities and differences to the parachute. In some ways, I was motivated to create the Octaband because the parachute wasn't useful for me in working with the elderly, especially those with moderate to severe dementia. For one thing, the parachute requires a large space, and I rarely had a space large enough for the larger one. Secondly, there are very limited ways that one can move with the parachute if one is sitting down. One can move it up and down, or side to side. One can bounce a ball on it. Third, in using the parachute all of the movement requires that people move together, which is not always possible with elders with severe dementia because they lack the motivation to do things to please others. It seems their energy needs to be internally focused, so their motivation needs to come from an internal source.

So, here is how the Octaband is different. The Octaband, like an octopus is very flexible. It takes up as much space or as little as one has. It can expand by stretching it, and the "legs" can be wrapped several times around the hand to take up less space and also to offer greater resistance. The Octaband allows for a greater range of physical movement, as one can move to the limits of one's physical range, regardless of what others are doing. Therefore, a person can reach out to his further limits in all directions. One benefit to this is that if one person has a limitation, i.e., needs to keep the arm/elbow close to the body, but the person next to her wants to reach way out, the person who needs to keep the arm close is able to do so, without being pulled. Thus, the Octaband promotes greater physical range of motion and flexibility, as well as safety in that way. Addressing the 3rd difference, the Octaband has a hem at the end of each leg, so that the leader can slip the person's hand into the hem. So if the person lacks the cognitive understanding of what is expected of them or physically can't hold on, the hem allows them to hold on and be part of the happening. (The hem can also be slipped over the feet.) Because of the bright colors which elders love, the soft, yummy material which feels good to touch, and the stretchiness of the fabric, as well as the unifying properties, everyone WANTS to join in. Additionally, the center of the Octaband is a simple and satisfying circle, which promotes a calming point of focus, as different from the pie-shaped angles and colors in the center of the parachute which can be over-stimulating.

That is partially why I created the Octaband, and some of the differences between the Octaband and the parachute. On the other hand, the parachute is better for bouncing a ball on. One can bounce a beanbag on the Octaband, but it is less useful for "games", more useful for enhancing flexibility, strength and vitality through movement. Another difference is that because of the legs, it is vital to present the Octaband in a very structured way with children to ensure safety. Children tend to love to get under the parachute and the Octaband - the parachute provides more space, the Octaband less space, but at the same time, can be less scary, because they can see one another through the legs.

Rachel Federman Morales uses Octaband at HMS School in Philadelphia

Rachel Morales uses the Octaband in her dance therapy groups at HMS School with kids with cerebral palsy in Philadelphia. Last spring, Rachel choreographed a dance performance with a semi-professional teen-age dance company, Fusion2, who worked and danced collaboratively with the kids with C.P.

                            
   

Rachel said of the Octaband: The kids loved dancing with the octaband. They would say things like, "This is so cool; I want one", "Or it reminds me of an octopus", " I love the colors".  It is an amazing prop.   Everyone that sees it and moves with it just loves it. I will be using it again in my choreography this upcoming school year."

You can check out http://www.hmsschool.org/ for the school website.

Here's how Rena Kornblum of Hancock Center is using the Octaband with children.

I do not refer to it as the octaband because it lends the octopus imagery to the prop and I have found that if I allow the group to come up with an image I get more ideas. The two favorites images have been a spider and the sun. The spider image came from first graders who developed an activity of moving around in a circle and then choosing someone to sit in the middle circle of the band. That person is then captured by the spider. The rest of the class continues moving around in a circle, winding the child in middle up in the web. If we are on a linoleum floor the children continue to move around in a circle, turning the captured child in the web. I made up a song to go with it but unfortunately now that I am older I do not remember the songs I make up. Of course the favorite part of this activity was getting captured and being wound up and turned.

Another favorite activity was putting a ball on the little circle and trying to more around and keep the ball balanced.

In one kindergarten class the children decided that the cloth was the sun. There were too many children for the handles (We could use one with some more handles by the way) so while 16 children moved the
octaband up and down slowly while moving around in a circle, two children were selected to go under the cloth moving any way they wanted as long as they were out before the sun came down. Again I made up a song about the sun rising and warming the earth allowing the children to play but when the sun drops the children must sleep to get energy for another day. I have no idea if these are the actual words. The idea in my songs are making up a simple rhythm to keep everyone in synchrony and coming up with words that describe our movement. Sometimes the children help me make up words and sometimes they just come together. This is one of those times I wish I had a recorder because the song just clicked
with the children and they loved being creative with their movement and making the sun rise and fall. This would work with preschoolers too.

With the preschoolers I made up a song that I actually know the words to. These song goes:
Around we go, Around the cloth
With sun going up and dooown
Around we go, Around we go
With the sun going up and down
And in, and in and wave hellooo to our friends
And back and back and spread back out and say good-bye.

The children love going in and back and waving hello and good-bye. They also like being connected and having handles to hold onto.

One pre-school class did use the octopus image. They liked moving the legs close together and then shooting back to make the octopus move through the water. I also used music on a CD (Yes occasionally I use other people's music) and we had the octopus dance in the water. The connection to the handles made the dance a group dance even if everyone wasn't moving the same way.

The concept of group connection without the intensity of the pull that a stretch cloth gives is a nice way to invite individual dancing to music while still having a concrete connection to everyone else. Developing a group image and making up songs aids in synchronous movement, connected through rhythm, intensity and the cloth without having to be too close to anyone. I think the octaband lends it self to group connection and imagery. There seem to be endless ways to use it.

One class divided in half, having half the group holding the handles while the other half moved underneath one time, and then in and out and around the children holding the cloth the next time. It has been a spider, the sun, a cloud, the sky, a creature, an octopus, a flying disc ( that got a sense
of lightness in the movement) and more. I have used the large octaband the most but others at Hancock Center have used the smaller one with therapy groups.

It was particularly successful with a group of developmentally delayed and autistic teens. It allowed one girl who normally hangs far away from the group to successfully participate in a group activity. It allowed her to keep some distance but for the first time actually move with the others in the group. It was a turning point for her.

I love your prop and think it offers something special for dance therapists.
Warmly,
Rena Kornblum
http://www.hancockcenter.net/