Without consciously being aware of it, I had been immersed in expressive arts therapy for years. I was dedicating countless hours to dance, movement, theatre, and performance art with a group of young women. We would meet several times a week, share our personal struggles and insights, and make art together from the remnants of our pain, passion, questions, and restlessness. Our rehearsal space became our live journals of personal inquiry.
We would start with a “check in” to give space for each other to vocalize what was alive within our hearts. Then we would warm up our bodies by laying on the floor, stretching, and moving around to connect to our breath and allow ourselves to physically arrive in the room. The music would initiate our movements, and we would be compelled to dance. Our themes we chose to work closely with often came from the authenticity of what was commonly present among the group, whether that be the embodiment of a struggle or a victory of sorts.
From verbal articulation to movement storytelling, we discovered how inherently therapeutic the entirety of this process was. Our work on and off the stages became a necessity for enhancing our overall well-being and quality of life. Our intentions for this group quickly shifted from focussing on what our art looked like to the outside eye to emphasizing our vision of bringing performances that acknowledged the nature of the challenging human psyche. We were not afraid of exposing the raw complexities of our psychological landscapes through movement and theatre, despite how unattractive it may be. Our purpose as performance artists blossomed into creating progressive pieces where we gave ourselves permission to be stripped down to the core of our vulnerability within the environments we performed. With the presentation of concepts on survival, death, and rebirth, this raw and unmanicured style of performance was provocative and gave an invitation for others to relate, feel assured and have their own sense of belonging. This was my favourite way to not only work through my own difficulties, but it was also my favourite way to connect non-verbally with others.
The amount of feedback received by those who witnessed our work became undeniably generative. Individuals would stop in passing to speak on their personal experience, breakthroughs, change of awareness, or moments of self discovery. I realized that as soon as I would share an embodied character expressed from the fullness of my heart, blood, sweat and tears, the performance was no longer about me and it was no longer in my control how each piece was received. Once gifted and presented to the eye of the beholders, these spectators were eager to inform us of the cerebral journeys they had undergone, and I grew a deeper understanding of the service I was providing through the art of performance. While we did not anticipate the significant ripple effect of impact and connection, we did know there was something much greater than us presenting itself, and that was when I felt the power in this next shift as an entrepreneurial performance art collective.
It had been eight years of engaging with others from stage to audience, and while we were in high demand, we decided to host a few workshops to give back and build deeper connections with our fellow dance community. In these workshop spaces, we cultivated a sense of safety, courage and empowerment where our participants could explore the depths of their emotions held within their bodies. We offered space and intentional time toward exploring their feelings through movement, which ultimately provided a unified playground of group processing. These rooms of shared vulnerability lit a flame in my heart that forever changed me.
I was hungry for more. I was hungry for further education once again, and along my pathway of looking into courses of movement therapy and somatic therapies, I was stopped in my tracks by a friend who introduced me to expressive arts therapy. As soon as I heard the words expressive arts therapy, I was drawn and utterly intrigued, and once I sought out introductory workshops to see what it was all about, I knew I had found the exact career path I was looking for. Learning in ceremony, unpacking your authenticity, and examining your own patterns formulated from childhood ~ I was hooked. Though movement was my primary modality, finding resonance of the senses through moving between art forms was something that also sparked my attention. It reminded me that every living being's healing path is uniquely non-linear.
I was enticed by this particular form of therapy knowing much of the education would be based on looking at my own journey of personal growth including the emotionally laborious wild tides of learning and unlearning what makes me human. I saw the value in honouring the darkest depths and shadows of the human experience in order to welcome in change, and I craved to be a part of this intricate process for others too. Once understanding that the quality of the work would be explorative, creative, raw and personally transformative, I knew I had the capacity to be with those who were eager to heal themselves. I envisioned myself to be a space holder for the suffering by not only opening a window of discussion, but more so, through the enriching experimentations of the arts and empowered self expression.
Imagery Captured by: Zipporah Lomax, Phoenix Flash and Vasho
