The project
«Flaméncame» is the first project I developed in the Netherlands. I am currently developing a model with Flamenco dance as a framework combined with dance movement therapy methods to help women sufferers from domestic violence to:
BODY
-Reinhabit again their bodies and foster kinesthetic awareness
EMOTIONS
– Release anger and sadness feelings and support emotional-regulation
– Improve the self -image and self- esteem
MIND
– Strenghten their belief and feeling of capability.
– Promote self efficacy, independence and motivation.
And how?Abuse and violence has a direct and strong effect in a BODY level.
Dance and movement helps in the healing process addressing directly the body and it expression. Starting from the body to address and arrive to the feelings and emotions and further to reflect about thoughts, beliefs and cognitions.
The other way around that verbal traditional therapy.
When and Where?
The first project was in March 2014, in a women shelter for victims of domestic violence, run by a recognized foundation in Amsterdam. Blijf van mijn Lijf Groep.
The second pilot was in May, 1st 8th and 15th of May. In the same organization.
There was a session with mothers and children to foster their connection and two only for the women.
We are now preparing a short documentary about the project, to gather funds and ask for economical support!
Why would I like to focus initially in helping women?
Because still 200.000 women are victims of domestic violence every year only in the Netherlands.
And women in general. Because women still being the main caregivers in the family and when helping women we are also helping their children, the seed for healthier adults.
Why can Dance Therapy help us?
Dance Therapy works directly with the body-mind connection while other therapies work mainly from the verbal aspect of the individual.
Dance/movement therapists have a unique perspective when working with victims exposed to traumatic environments such as those in domestic violence situations. Therapeutic approaches that work directly with the body provide new avenues for assisting victims of domestic violence through a simultaneously physical and metaphorical process. Increasing body awareness in victims of trauma makes it possible to ‘‘gauge, slow down, halt traumatic hyperarousal, and separate past from present. Extract from: Devereaux D.(2008) Untying the Knots. Dance movement therapy with a family exposed to domestic violence
Physical traumas are held in the body, in our celullar memory. Therefore working with abused women in a body level is a direct way to start developing a stronger self.
Dance/movement therapy process increases the battered woman’s range of action and interaction. Living in an abusive and constrained relationship leads to a limited coping style characterized by a person’s restricted use of space, minimal movements and over-controlled body action. Expanding a client’s movement repertoire is directly linked to changes in self-concept and interpersonal dynamics. For example, in a movement or dance segment a battered woman is often surprised by her own strength when she is encouraged to push against a partner. Finding her strength (…) enables her to interact more assertively with the important figures in her world (…) ‘without the active use of weight, there is little hope that these women will ever be able to stand up for themselves.» Extracted from Dance/Movement Therapy with Battered Women: A Paradigm of Action
L I B R A Z has worked with gipsy rumanian women and their kids in Santa Coloma, Barcelona and in a project with orphan children in Yerevan Armenia.
Dance has helped me so much that I want to share this power with women like me.
To help them going forward, always forward.
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i move i am 