Mary Whitehouse’s first introduction to the concept of DMT was through seeing a picture of Marian Chace working at St. Elizabeths Hospital (Whitehouse, 1999). A student of both Mary Wigman and Martha Graham, Whitehouse performed and taught modern dance. However, Whitehouse was looking for something more and started to expand her idea of what dance was. Instead of seeing dance, she began to witness movement occurring in classes. As time progressed, Whitehouse developed her framework of DMT, which was heavily influenced through her work with C.G. Jung.
Whitehouse focused on the unconscious of clients and the therapist to explore the difference between “Self” and “self” (Whitehouse, 1999). Whitehouse recognized that “self” referred to individual …show more content…
90). She was mindful of the group dynamics based on how people were in her sessions and the genders of the participants. Whitehouse was aware to make sure that everyone felt comfortable to open up during the session. She also had both individual and group sessions for DMT. In group, White was cognizant that group sessions allowed a person to work on socialization skills, but people may be wary of having others see them or comparisons among group members occur. In and individual session, people felt more heard or seen in the session, comfortable with a therapist being with them through this process rather than other people. The sessions combined structured exercises and improvisation (Whitehouse, 1999). The use of imagery helped clients explore movement within themselves and how they would act based on the image created. This allowed clients to go as deep as they wanted to go with the image and allowed it to be tailored to each individual. Whitehouse was flexible with the activities she had the group do depending on her interests for the that day but also where they were and what they needed as well. Her closure included an activity where the people lined up in a single file (Whitehouse, 1999). Then, they held hands, linking with one another throughout the space. Then, they walked around to create a linked chain so when they moved they made eye contact with every person in the session. It …show more content…
Each have their own way to “warm-up” or introduce the session. Chace’s warm-up is more structured in the sense that it started in a circle formation and the patients would focus on certain parts of their body with her instruction (Chaiklin & Schemais, 1993). Whitehouse’s warm-up was more of an improvisation and started on a floor rather than a circle (Whitehouse, 1999). She also used imagery of polarity to support exploration for the individual to participate in through movement that is unique to that individual. Even though the actual structure and how they each went about the warm-up phase was different based on their own unique styles, the main idea of bringing everyone together to move was present in their sessions. It gave them a chance to check in with themselves and ease their way into more complex ideas and movement that may occur later on in the session. Another similarity that both Whitehouse and Chace adopted was the concept of meeting clients where they are (Whitehouse, 1999; Chaiklin &Schemais, 1993). In their role as the therapist or teacher/leader/mediator, they were conscious to not allow the client to explore the movement within themselves. Whitehouse asked clients how they wish to start, and allow them the autonomy to make their own decisions based on their comfort level (Whitehouse 1999). Chace
Whitehouse focused on the unconscious of clients and the therapist to explore the difference between “Self” and “self” (Whitehouse, 1999). Whitehouse recognized that “self” referred to individual …show more content…
90). She was mindful of the group dynamics based on how people were in her sessions and the genders of the participants. Whitehouse was aware to make sure that everyone felt comfortable to open up during the session. She also had both individual and group sessions for DMT. In group, White was cognizant that group sessions allowed a person to work on socialization skills, but people may be wary of having others see them or comparisons among group members occur. In and individual session, people felt more heard or seen in the session, comfortable with a therapist being with them through this process rather than other people. The sessions combined structured exercises and improvisation (Whitehouse, 1999). The use of imagery helped clients explore movement within themselves and how they would act based on the image created. This allowed clients to go as deep as they wanted to go with the image and allowed it to be tailored to each individual. Whitehouse was flexible with the activities she had the group do depending on her interests for the that day but also where they were and what they needed as well. Her closure included an activity where the people lined up in a single file (Whitehouse, 1999). Then, they held hands, linking with one another throughout the space. Then, they walked around to create a linked chain so when they moved they made eye contact with every person in the session. It …show more content…
Each have their own way to “warm-up” or introduce the session. Chace’s warm-up is more structured in the sense that it started in a circle formation and the patients would focus on certain parts of their body with her instruction (Chaiklin & Schemais, 1993). Whitehouse’s warm-up was more of an improvisation and started on a floor rather than a circle (Whitehouse, 1999). She also used imagery of polarity to support exploration for the individual to participate in through movement that is unique to that individual. Even though the actual structure and how they each went about the warm-up phase was different based on their own unique styles, the main idea of bringing everyone together to move was present in their sessions. It gave them a chance to check in with themselves and ease their way into more complex ideas and movement that may occur later on in the session. Another similarity that both Whitehouse and Chace adopted was the concept of meeting clients where they are (Whitehouse, 1999; Chaiklin &Schemais, 1993). In their role as the therapist or teacher/leader/mediator, they were conscious to not allow the client to explore the movement within themselves. Whitehouse asked clients how they wish to start, and allow them the autonomy to make their own decisions based on their comfort level (Whitehouse 1999). Chace