by Diane Butler
Preface for the Reader
Seeing the call from the Center for Religious and Cross-cultural Studies (CRCS), Graduate School, Universitas Gadjah Mada (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 Prapto in Indonesian that was spurred on by his question to me: “What is the difference between dance therapy and dance?”
For a dance/movement practitioner 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.
So, firstly, allow me 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 him (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 “Meditation in Dance: ‘Dance Meditation?’” that includes a practice diagram Prapto designed: The Idea of Joged Amerta.
Towards the end of 2009, Suprapto Suryodarmo (1945–2019) – more fondly called Pak Prapto from Solo who developed ritual art performance, especially related to movement arts through the practice of Joged Amerta and the establishing of Padepokan Lemah Putih – was invited to be a speaker at a national seminar hosted by the Dance Department, Faculty of the Performing Arts, Institut Seni Indonesia (ISI), Surakarta. That seminar themed “The Art of Dance in Human Life” was held on 19 December 2009 and Prapto brought his topic, “Meditasi dalam Tari: ‘Tari Meditasi?’”.
However, in composing his workshop descriptions, correspondences, and public talks; Prapto didn’t use a computer and preferred to orally contemplate a topic he took up and ask someone to type it up, and then type up revisions. Meanwhile, for a typist usually he would ask a student in an arts study program at a college or an artist or an arts educator. 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 was a student in the Dance Department at ISI Surakarta and 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 presented at the national seminar on that 19 December; titled “Meditasi dalam Tari: ‘Tari Meditasi?’”.
In his 2009 paper, Prapto clarified and differentiated various aspects of his concepts and movement practices in Joged Amerta. That period was also a phase when he was honing terms that he used in the annual workshops brochure for his Art in Amerta Movement program in Indonesia and abroad. So, it felt natural that shortly thereafter, in early January 2010, Prapto sent me a text message via cell phone asking, “What is the difference between dance therapy and dance?” Hence, on 28 January 2010 I sent an email to him with simple notes in Indonesian as follows.
Some Points about Dance/Movement Therapy and Dance (2010)
Good afternoon Pak Prapto. This writing contains some points about dance/movement therapy and dance. It is not ‘formal’ writing but rather 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 from 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 in England by 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”. With 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 in 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.
In the fields of visual arts, music and theater, in the 1930s emerged ritual art approaches related to healing. Also shamanic arts, particularly in theater and visual arts, was combined with movement and dance. 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 exchanges 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 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 too. In this spirit 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 people from numerous fields and countries. In late April 2010, he wanted to create an English version of his paper “Meditasi dalam Tari: ‘Tari Meditasi?’” and asked Supriyati Pantarei, a 3D animation filmmaker and performance artist from Java, to help. Later, he asked me to translate it and the result was titled “Meditation in Dance: ‘Dance Meditation?’”. The final page 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.
References
American Dance Therapy Association (ADTA). (n.d.). “What is Dance/Movement Therapy”
Arsip Indonesian Art Archive. (2013). IVAA Interview: Suprapto Suryodarmo filmed at his home in Solo, Central Java. Video by Dwi and Jaya. Koleksi IVAA. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EXLzYJo9LSY
Butler, Diane and McHugh, Jamie. (2001). Body Melting/Nature Melting: an exchange between Anna Halprin & Suprapto Suryodarmo. In Contact Quarterly: Journal of Dance & Improvisation, Vol. 26, No. 1, winter/spring.
Butler, Diane; King, Evangel; and Maltrud, Kristine. (2003). Art Human Nature: An International Gathering of Movement Artists. With contributing writers: Helen Poynor, Annie Brook, and Jamie McHugh; video stills: Pooh Kaye. In Contact Quarterly: Journal of Dance & Improvisation, Vol. 28, No. 2 summer/fall.
Digiseni LPPM-UNS. (2005). One Lesson from the Garden with Suprapto Suryodarmo video by Digiseni LPPM-UNS, Surakarta. [Indonesian with English subtitles archived on Michael Sapp youtube channel] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SpImCoXGU0M
Meekums, Bonnie and Casson, John. (2007). “The Earliest Document of Dance Movement Therapy in Britain?”
In e-motion Vol. XIV, No. 22, Winter, pp.6–7. Association for Dance Movement Therapy (ADMT) U.K. See in particular section by Roscio. Available online at: https://admp.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2007Winter.pdf
Morgan, Kate Tarlow and Butler, Diane (transcribers). (2012). An Improvised Conversation with Bonnie Bainbridge-Cohen and Suprapto Suryodarmo. In Currents: a journal of the Body-Mind Centering® Association, winter.
Padepokan Lemah Putih. (2010). Art in Amerta Movement 2010–2011 Program in Indonesia.
Suryodarmo, Suprapto. (2009). “Meditasi dalam Tari: ‘Tari Meditasi?’”. Paper presented for National Seminar on Seni Tari dalam Kehidupan Manusia. Departemen Pendidikan Nasional, Jurusan Tari, Fakultas Seni Pertunjukan, Institut Seni Indonesia (ISI) Surakata. 19 December. [“Meditation in Dance: ‘Dance Meditation?’”], translation by Diane Butler. English version including The Idea of Joged Amerta diagram available on the Amerta Movers website at: https://amertamovers.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/meditation-in-dance_dance-meditation_by-suprapto-suryodarmo-2009.pdf
Click this link for article in bahasa Indonesia
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Diane Butler is a dance-movement artist, teacher, cultural program director from the USA who has collaborated with traditional and contemporary artists from diverse cultures and faiths in the Americas, Europe and Asia for four decades and since 2001 resided in the villages of Bedulu and Tejakula, Bali, Indonesia. In 2001 together with Suprapto Suryodarmo – she co-founded Dharma Nature Time, an international foundation to support interculture in cultural environments through sharing in the arts, religiosity and nature. Since 1997, Diane has been leading Awakening InterArts workshops and served as a guest teacher in a number of countries.
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