Some Reflection Points about Dance/Movement Therapy and Dance: A Topic of Conversation in 2010 with Suprapto Suryodarmo

Seeing the call from the Center for Religious and Cross-cultural Studies at Universitas Gadjah Mada (CRCS UGM) for contributions of articles and videos on the theme of “Amerta Movement” from various perspectives, I thought it would be useful to share a 2010 correspondence with Suprapto Suryodarmo – founder of Joged Amerta fondly called Prapto – that was spurred on by his question to me: “What is the difference between dance therapy and dance?”

For dance/movement practitioners in the mid-2020s perhaps it is no surprise to see certain terms taken up in a discussion or article such as dance, dance therapy, meditation and also somatic practices (even though the term somatic in the Indonesian arts sphere just emerged in the 2000s). Actually, this brief essay stems from the idea that one of Prapto’s processes since the early-1970s was to discuss about his movement concepts, to peel ideas, and then try to “under stand” via the experience of movement practice. He also often wished to know about the approaches of other movement-based practitioners in a dialogic sense. Not for grasping onto an identity or category of work, rather for “re-cognizing” that one’s understanding and awareness of movement arts and life will always be changing according to the environment and journey of time.

As an opening, I would like to give a picture of that phase in the development of his Joged Amerta practice during which Prapto posed this question regarding dance therapy and dance. Then, I will share my response to his inquiry (originally written in Indonesian). Following that, my essay invites readers to delve further into Prapto’s explorations on sources of movement arts by providing a hyperlink to the Amerta Movers website with the English version of his 2009 essay titled “Meditation in Dance: ‘Dance Meditation?’”. His essay includes a practice diagram Prapto designed: “The Idea of Joged Amerta”.

Towards the end of 2009, Suprapto Suryodarmo (1945–2019) – from Solo known for his work developing ritual art performance, especially movement arts through the practice of Joged Amerta and establishing of Padepokan Lemah Putih – was invited to be a speaker for a national seminar at Institut Seni Indonesia (ISI), Surakarta. The seminar themed “The Art of Dance in Human Life” was to be held on 19 December 2009 and Prapto chose to bring the topic, “Meditasi dalam Tari: ‘Tari Meditasi?’”.

Uniquely, in composing his workshop descriptions, correspondences, and public talks, Prapto didn’t use a computer as he preferred to orally contemplate a topic he took up and ask someone to type it up, including revisions. As for a typist, usually Prapto would ask a student in an arts study program at a college or an artist or arts educator. The process of listening, typing and orally reading back was, essentially, a kind of guidance mode for the typist to be involved in digging up patterns of thoughts and ideas and also in hearing and sounding the sensibility of what was being communicated.

Such was the case on 12 December 2009 when Purnawan Andra, a student in the Dance Department at ISI Surakarta, was assigned by the program chair to interview Pak Prapto about the concept of his art so that the conversation would be jotted down in the form of a paper. Turns out that it was Pak Prapto’s wish to choose Purnawan as the note-taker for the paper Prapto would present at the national seminar on that 19 December, titled “Meditasi dalam Tari: ‘Tari Meditasi?’”.

In his 2009 essay, Prapto clarified and differentiated various aspects of his concepts and movement practices in Joged Amerta. That period also marked a phase when he was honing terms he used in the annual workshops brochure for his “Art in Amerta Movement 2010–2011 Program in Indonesia” and abroad. So, it felt natural that shortly thereafter, in early January 2010, Prapto sent a text message to my cell phone asking, “What is the difference between dance therapy and dance?”

Some Reflection Points about Dance/Movement Therapy and Dance (2010)

Responding to Prapto’s inquiry, on 28 January 2010 I sent an email to him with simple notes in Indonesian (as best I could) as follows.

Good afternoon Pak Prapto. This writing contains some reflection points about dance/movement therapy and dance. It is not “formal” writing but rather just several simple ideas. In the first section I quote* an article from e-motion, an Association for Dance Movement Therapy UK publication, and one from the American Dance Therapy Association website. The last section is my understanding based on my experiences as a dance-movement and interarts teacher in dialogue with students and fellow artists.

The nomenclature dance therapy, also termed dance/movement therapy, is the “psychotherapeutic use of movement to promote emotional, social, cognitive and physical integration of the individual”. Dance/movement therapists focus on movement behavior as it appears in the therapeutic relationship. Expressive, communicative and adaptive behaviors are used for treatment.

In European and Anglo cultures, as early as 1609, there were already writings by a British actor, John Lowin Roscio, on the use of dance for “holy or healthy purposes”. Then in 1837, W.A.F. Browne, a surgeon and medical superintendent of the Crichton Royal Institution in Scotland, wrote about a “ball” (formal dance) held in 1835 for female patients in a French asylum, “which resulted in positive effects on their mental state, in particular for those suffering from ʻmelancholiaʼ”.

Moreover, Roscio reviewed references to dance in the Bible and in 1609 he wrote a pamphlet with a section titled, “What sort of Dancing is more convenient for the health”. In Old English with punctuation and certain words in capitalized letters as in the original, Roscio conveyed:

Among the indifferent dances, those dances as we think, must be numbered, which as practised for the exercise of the body that thereby the bodily health may be better preserved wherefore in regarding the diversity of dispositions, which is found at all times in the humaine kinde, it will not bee amisse, to set down one word in this purpose, to declare what sort of Dancing is more convenient for these and what for those.

Such Dances as do strongly stirre the body, ought to be chosen of them, which have some obstruction in the wayes of Urine, or some other like impediment. And the contrarie must be used of such persons, as doe perceive their own Braines to be weake, or the like infirmitie to be in some other part. But to the others that Dancing is fitter, which exerciseth the bodie in a meane measure of agitation. Therefore let all those persons, which doe ordinarily exercise themselves in Dances, carefully observe and regard the constitution of their bodies: to the intent, that they should not use any kind of Dancing, which by repugnance might be hurtful to their complexions: Remembering assiduously within them selves, and so much the more in this matter, to acknowledge God to be the Author of all good things: become the Apostle S. Paul in the 4 Chap of the first Epistle to Timotheus doth condemn the bodily exercise, when it is not accomplished with godliness.

Also in Europe in the 1910s in the field of children’s education emerged the Dalcroze method formulated by Swiss musician Émile Jaques-Dalcroze and the Eurythmy method by Austrian philosopher and architect Rudolph Steiner, both of whom employed the arts to nurture body-soul integration of children and adolescents.In the 1940s the field of movement therapy clearly emerged in the UK and the USA. In 1942, Marian Chace, a dancer in the Denishawn group founded by Ruth St. Denis and Ted Shawn who founded Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, began using dance with groups in a mental hospital. During this period the Denishawn group was also influenced by the choreography of Martha Graham, Mary Wigman and Harold Kreutzberg. Marian continued to work as a dancer and dance teacher while studying psychotherapy and psychodrama, later working on “Dance for Communication”. In 1947 Marian became the first person to be recognized as a dance therapist by a medical institution. Two decades later emerged the American Dance Therapy Association in 1966.

In Euro-American cultures there were also attempts to distinguish between dance/movement therapy and therapeutic dance. Therapeutic dance can be practiced by dance teachers who are not trained as therapists but work in various contexts such as schools, studios, prisons, elders’ homes, and so forth. There are movement and dance approaches that can also be referred to as “allies”, for example Body-Mind Centering formulated by Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen, Life Art Process formulated by Anna Halprin, Authentic Movement formulated by Janet Adler, 5Rhythms formulated by Gabrielle Roth, and others.

Artists in the fields of visual arts, music and theater, in the 1930s began to develop ritual art approaches focused on healing. Particularly in theater and visual arts, artists also combined shamanic arts with movement and dance. Next, the American Art Therapy Association was founded in 1969. Another approach is contemplative art yet not only based on Buddhist vipassana practice, but also liturgical, as in Christian sacred dance, or Circle Dance, of which many have origins in farmer cultures, the movement of nature, and so forth.

Interestingly, some of the leading Euro-American figures in the field of dance and somatic practices did not study directly from culturally Eastern people in the regions of Asia or Southeast Asia. They faced illnesses or challenges in their bodies and tried to self-heal through movement and dance. Then, subsequently, tried to develop ways that other people could also self-heal through the wisdom of one’s body and dance-movement.

Hopefully these simple notes are useful. ~Diane

On re-reading the correspondence above, I remembered that Prapto constantly initiated sharing among movement-based practitioners of various cultures that illuminated the diversity of approaches as well as affinities. He enjoyed dialogue via movement and spoken language with several Euro-American somatic innovators who had a background in dance such as Anna Halprin, Gabrielle Roth, and Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen. Perhaps Prapto posed that question in Indonesian to stimulate me to try to respond in the Indonesian language about modes within Western contemporary dance-movement training and therapeutic applications (including mention of seventeenth-century antecedents). When he asked me to forward these notes to some of his Indonesian artist colleagues, perhaps it was to stimulate them to articulate about South-East Asian traditions and current techniques in their region. From this esprit of dialogue, Prapto also wrote about his movement practices from the view of “art in Joged Amerta”.

“The Idea of Joged Amerta” diagram by Suprapto Suryodarmo (2009)

The topic of conversation above is but one of many themes on movement arts that Prapto discussed over the years with hundreds of people from numerous fields and countries. In late April 2010, he wanted to make an English version of his paper “Meditasi dalam Tari: ‘Tari Meditasi?’” and reqested the help of Supriyati Pantarei, a 3D animation filmmaker and performance artist from Java. Later, he asked me to translate it and the result was titled “Meditation in Dance: ‘Dance Meditation?’”. The final page of his essay contains “The Idea of Joged Amerta” diagram by Prapto that was refined in a graphic form by Kurnia Arianto and R.S. Lawu, both of whom were Padepokan Lemah Putih staff. Prapto said if anyone wants to learn the approach to movement arts that he has been developing since the 1970s – they can look at “The Idea of Joged Amerta” diagram as a map for practice.

* Summary and quoted text translated to the Indonesian by Diane Butler.

Acknowledgements

 I wish to express my thankfulness to Emma Meehan (C-DaRE Coventry Univeristy, UK) and Samsul Maarif (CRCS UGM) for the initiative of compiling articles and videos for the Amerta Movement pages on the CRCS UGM website and for content guidance, Ribka Ninaris Barus (research coordinator CRCS UGM) for communications and coordinating, M Rizal Abdi (public education coordinator, CRCS UGM) and Mirotin Eka Wahyuningsih (editor, Penerbit Murta Media Karya) for input and corrections on the Indonesian version of my essay such that it is more communicative. Deep thanks to Pak Prapto who gave an example of a way of life for increasing a spirit for artmaking and enlivening ngelmu (experiential knowledge) through srawung (sharing).