Dancing your way to health

Veteran dancer and new age dance therapist Dilshad Patel speaks to Purnima Goswami on exploring the healing powers of dance

Dilshad Patel, founder of Creative Movement, is an accomplished national level Bharatnatyam dancer and has been a professional dancer for twenty years. She was awarded a scholarship in the Work-Study Programme at the Garth Fagan Dance School in New York, and acquired her training in Afro Caribbean, Contemporary, Salsa and Jazz. It was also here in New York that she trained in Dance and Movement therapy at the Harkness Dance Centre, while simultaneously teaching at schools, residential treatment centers for emotional and behavioural disorders and in psychiatric departments in hospitals. She has worked with specially-abled children and adults, prison inmates and individuals with varied therapeutic needs. Her work vis-à-vis the medical field spans the gamut from conducting sessions with heart patients and those suffering from lung disease

How would you define dance therapy?

Dance therapy is the use of dance movements to improve the mental and physical well being of a person. It is a psycho-therapeutic treatment method which uses dance movements to express internal emotions and feelings. The main premise behind harnessing movement for therapy stems from the belief that the body and mind are connected i.e. the state of the body affects mental and emotional health and vice verse. Dance therapists observe movements to diagnose and provide remedy to existing health issues and prevent any potential problems.

How did you get into dance?

My affair with dancing began when I was 5, so I have been dancing for two decades now. I began with Bharatnatyam and became a national level Bharatnatyam dancer. I worked for seven years as a dance instructor and a performer.

How did you get into dance therapy?

While teaching dance to juvenile delinquents, orphans, the children of sex workers and other disenfranchised populations, I learned about the various challenges and rewards of counselling these individuals with special needs. I saw how important exercise and movement was to facilitate a sense of self-esteem, freedom of expression, and self- confidence.

How did you go about pursuing dance therapy?

After some research, I knew that I wanted to be a Certified Dance Therapist. I completed my education with a double major in Psychology and Philosophy, and headed to the US, where I was accepted into a dance therapy program at the prestigious Harkness Dance Center in, New York.

Please tell us something about your training?

Besides pursuing my education in movement therapy at the Harkness Dance Center, I received specialised training in dance therapy as well as various dance styles such as Afro Caribbean, Contemporary, Salsa and Jazz. I got an opportunity to observe and teach at various schools, psychiatric departments in hospitals and residential treatment centers for teenagers with emotional and behavioural disorders. I was awarded a scholarship to be part of a work-study program at the Garth Fagan Dance School in New York, where I was tutored by Tony Award-winning choreographer Garth Fagan himself, of the Broadway musical Lion King fame.

Tell us a bit about how you got started in India?

I returned to India to pursue my goal which was to start the first of its kind organisation that would amalgamate exercise and dance as therapy (therapeutic dance or choreographed movement) including creative dance and movement therapy, constructive rest techniques, breath work and NLP (neuro-linguistic programming) into one single session. Thus, I started the organisation Creative Movement where people realise the vast difference between the term dance/ movement therapy and dance as therapy.

How is dance therapy different from dance and how does it help?

Teaching choreographed movement or dance to special populations is definitely therapeutic. However, it is not dance/ movement therapy. In dance therapy, there is no formal technique or choreography. Dance therapists encourage the flow of authentic movement from the participants and do not rely on traditional dance instruction. A therapist interprets the client's movement and thus creates change. As movement analysts, we are trained to read and interpret individual movement patterns and to create change in gesture and posture, and thus change the way our clients think. As therapists, the first step towards making a difference is to understand the uniqueness of every individual and to be present with a client emotionally and physically.

What advice would you give to students who are passionate about dance and wish to make a career in it?

Training as a dancer is different to training received to become a dance therapist. Both are fulfilling careers. A dancer’s career is short lived and therefore students must always have an alternate educational qualification to fall back on. Correct training is of course essential to be a dancer, choreographer or performer. Dancers are innately talented and can hone their skills further by appropriate training.


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