This interdisciplinary thesis examines the role of dance/movement in training programmes, which address peace, violence, conflict and trauma. Despite the growing literature and scholarly interest in embodied practices, few training programmes address dance/movement peace explicitly, identify shared beliefs or make connections between movement behaviour and decision-making. The research questions explore how dance/movement trainers experience, implement and conceptualise embodied processes that enable the transformation of conflict, particularly concerning interpersonal and/or intergroup violence. In order to investigate this question, an 'internal' analysis of relations and practices amongst its practitioners progresses to an 'external' analysis of contributions to arts-based peace practices and peacebuilding. Twelve semi-structured interviews were conducted with experienced trainers working internationally who use artistic, therapeutic and educational approaches to peace practices. The practitioners' curricula and training materials were examined using thematic analysis and qualitative analysis software (NVivo). The data analysis results in a map of shared beliefs, positionality and boundary shifts amongst the respondents, and proposes an exploration of practices applicable to multiple settings and client groups. This thesis presents new research in Communities of Practice (CoP) theory with artistic communities. It also deepens previous research on dance/movement peace practices and movement analysis, which sustains peaceable and violent actions can be understood through conscious and/or unconscious movement decision-making processes. The thesis concludes that embodied processes involve reflexive and enactive interventions, and proposes analyses of spatial relations, symbolic enactment and relational nonverbal interactions as key contributions of dance/movement. These embodied processes challenge 'conventional' forms of knowledge transmission and the arts' constant pressure for legitimisation. The thematic exploration of shared practices and beliefs therefore integrates movement analysis and social theory to present an interdisciplinary contribution to embodied analyses of violence.

Univ., Akad. avh.--Lund, 2006.

This thesis studies materiality in the context of contemporary outdoor dance practices in the natural environment. The more particular territory of this research is comprised of receptivity-, materiality- and/or exposure-based practices, influenced predominantly by the international lineages of Amerta Movement and postmodern dance. This territory is understood to be a relevant niche domain that is relatively uncharted and particularly informative regarding questions of materiality. The practitioners that this study turns to are mostly located in the UK, but also in Germany. The key influence of Amerta is rooted in Central Java, Indonesia. The main empirical data was collected between 2010-2012 in the UK. This work is a practice-as-research project and consists of a written thesis and a performative afternoon. All questions and arguments have been generated and developed through movement – as well as text-based research practices. The methodology draws on qualitative, ethnographic research methods such as participant observation, fieldnote writing and interviews. It further employs creative research methods such as movement-based writing, research installations and the documented immersion into dance practice and performance making. The main theoretical resonances were found in the field of new materialism and speculative realism. The key arguments of the research were thus developed through creative practice and diffractive reading (Barad), particularly of the work of Jane Bennett, Karen Barad and Graham Harman. The findings of this research suggest that attending to materiality supports dancers in refining a sense of embodied emplacement that furthers movement practice, especially in outdoor contexts. Sensing ones own material body is paramount here. In resonance with new materialist and speculative realist scholarship this research argues that dance making takes place in intermaterial confederations that cross the familiar human- non-human divide. Such confederations allow for a decentralisation of the human positionality that is relevant beyond dance and affects ontological conceptualisations and practices of life at large. The findings of this thesis further suggest a partial integration of concepts that on philosophical grounds preclude each other. For the context of dance practice this research puts forward that Barad’s proposal of entanglement can co-function with and is co-relevant to the autonomy of objects and materials proposed by Harman. The thesis thus argues that materials of all different orders occur in inter-independence (Suryodarmo) rather than only entangled with or withdrawn from each other. Both discrete and independent entities and mutual affordances impact the practice of outdoor dance; reality both exceeds the dance and resonates materially within the human body.

Thesis (Ed. D.)--West Virginia University, 2010. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains vi, 157 p. : ill. (some col.). Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 151-153).

Thesis (M.I.T.)--The Evergreen State College, 2010. / Title from title screen (viewed 7/7/2010). Includes bibliographical references (leaves 142-146).

Thesis (doctoral)--University of Stockholm, 2005, in "co-tutelle" with l'Université Paris VIII. / Cover title. Includes bibliographical references (p. 256-264).

Thesis (doctoral)--University of Stockholm, 2005, in "co-tutelle" with l'Université Paris VIII. / Cover title. Includes bibliographical references (p. 256-264).

This study investigated the effects of various forms of therapy (individual, occupational, and dance) on self-concept. Subjects were 29 psychiatric patients at Providence Medical Center who volunteered to participate in this study. The Tennessee Self-Concept Scale (TSCS) was used to measure self-concept both at time of admission and prior to discharge. The data were analyzed in a step-wise multiple regression to determine which of the various forms of therapy are the best predictors of self-concept at second TSCS application. The results of the step-wise multiple regression did not support the hypothesis that exposure to dance therapy would be a significant predictor of self-concept prior to discharge.

The study aimed to identify and understand the phenomenon of group processes comparing two Personal Development (PD) group modalities. One group mainly used verbalisation and the other mainly used movement for interaction and self-expression. Group processes were expressed through the analysis of the participant's non-verbal movements and the verbal expressions of their experience in the group. The thesis of this study was that group processes can be expressed and identified through movement and verbal expressions. This study built on previous studies that have explored group processes in both Dance Movement Psychotherapy (DMP) and in Verbal Group Psychotherapy fields in relation to PD groups. Two theoretical frameworks that underpinned this study were: DMP as group work and Group Psychotherapy with the primary focus on group processes in PD groups. These theories were selected for their pertinence to the understanding of group processes and PD groups. The comparison between the groups intended to answer the study's question: which group processes as expressed verbally and non-verbally in movement can be identified in a dance movement PD group compared with a verbal PD group? Qualitative hermeneutic phenomenology methodology was employed in this study in order to answer the above question using two collection and analysis methods: movement observation using Laban Movement Analysis (LMA) and a thematic analysis of participants' verbal reflections in semi-structured interviews. The findings of the study have shown which group process developed in each of the PD groups identified through the two collections methods. For instance, they were conflict, rivalry, trust, intimacy and cohesion. The analysis of the DM PD group has shown differences in findings between that which the movement observation identified and that which participants described in the interviews. The study aimed to contribute to the body of knowledge regarding group processes in DMP and group psychotherapy theory and research. Exploring group processes through the use of movement and verbalisation adds to the professional development and training in both fields. The study outcome offers an original contribution to practice, through the development of a group work guide for facilitators, derived from the group processes conceptual model. It represents a new way of understanding group processes and dynamics through the observation of a group's movements and verbal reflections by participants. This guide is aimed at supporting facilitators of PD groups when considering interventions both when leading groups and when reflecting on the groups' processes.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of California, Riverside, 2009. / Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 231-237). Issued in print and online. Available via ProQuest Digital Dissertations.