Blanch Evan: Methods

 

 I

Unit: Blanch Evan

Theme:  Methods


Introduction

 



Blanch Evan

Blanche Evan was a dancer and choreographer who was a pioneer in the development of dance therapy. For 41 years she had a studio in New York City in which she worked for 20 years teaching creative dance to children and subsequently conducting dance therapy sessions for adults. She was a founding member of the American Dance Therapy Association. Her objective, she once said, was ''the integration of dance with therapy, so that it becomes one.'' Although Miss Evan received training at the Alfred Adler Institute of Individual Psychology and was a member of its faculty, she regarded herself as a dancer and choreographer first.
 
 
II 
 
Learning Objectives
 
  • Understand the concepts related to the Adlerian Theory 
  • Explain the use of self-creating goals
  • Gain an awareness of concepts such as inferiority complex, self-ideal, coping and safe-guarding behavior
  • Experience Evan's methodology
 
III
Main Lesson
 
1
Alfred Adler

Alfred Adler was an Austrian medical doctor, psychotherapist, and founder of the school of individual psychology. His emphasis on the importance of feelings of inferiority, the inferiority complex, is recognized as an isolating element which plays a key role in personality development. Named after its creator, Adlerian theory refers to the practice and belief that people as individuals should be validated, connected, and made to feel significant. The theory was created in the early 1900's by Adler who founded this new way to approach psychology after parting ways with Sigmund Freud. Adlerian therapy is a short-term, goal-oriented, and positive psychodynamic therapy.
 
Psychodynamic therapy, also known as insight-oriented therapy, focuses on unconscious processes as they are manifested in a person's present behavior. The goals of psychodynamic therapy are the client's self-awareness and understanding of the influence of the past on present behavior. 
 
Psychodynamic psychotherapy or psychoanalytic psychotherapy is a form of depth psychology, the primary focus of which is to reveal the unconscious content of a client's psyche in an effort to alleviate psychic tension. This form of depth psychology (focused on revealing the the client's unconscious content) aligns with dance/movement therapy's premise that unconscious movement is the expression of the client's psyche.
 
Question 1
 
1. Re-state the concepts above in your own words.
 
 
 2
 
 Self-Creative Goals


Question 2
 
How self-creative goals can be facilitated during a dance/movement therapy session? 

Question 3

What was Adler's idea of inferiority complex, self-ideal, coping and safe-guarding behaviors?
 


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3


Blanche Evan's Methods

From Bonnie Bernstein “Dancing Beyond Trauma”
 
Link
Blanche Evan's Methods 

The work described in this chapter is based on the theory and methods of Blanche Evan (Benov, 1991; Levy, 1988; Rifkin-Gamer, Bernstein, & Melso'n, 1984). The Evan approach emphasizes restoring the client to her natural potential for expressive movement and ''re-educating the body to a state wherein movement responses' function" (Evan, 1951, p. 88). It also mobilizes the dynamic interaction between the psyche and the body. Toward this end, the work includes dance education and movement rehabilitation in addition to emphasis on in-depth exploration of feelings and insight-oriented improvisation.

The Evan method serves as primary, rather than adjunctive treatment, and is appropriate for clients who possess the ego strength to tolerate in-depth self-examination. 
 
Question 4
 
2. What is the main purpose of Evan's method? 
 
Question 5 

Based on what we have studied so far, is in-depth-examination appropriate for patients with schizophrenia? Explain.

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4
 
Terms
 
The following section will provide a brief explanation of Blanche Evan's terms that are used by the author to describe a session's sequences and interventions.      

Psycho-physical

Psycho-physical refers to an experience that occurs concurrently on psychological and physical levels and describes the complex impact that the body has on the psyche, and that the psyche has on the body. A fundamental concept of the Evan's method, psycho-physical implies that all human experience' including emotional response, memory, and thoughts contain kinesthetic components.

Body movement is a direct outlet for the psyche, thus, through dance, the psycho-physical realm can be fully expressed and explored to stimulate insight and mobilize therapeutic change. "To experience psycho-physical unity is a basic need" (Evan, 1949, p. 54).

Mobilization

Mobilization refers to sequences of directives that are formulated to increase body awareness and broaden movement vocabulary through 'the exploration of the elements of dance; that is, rhythm, space, intensity, body, movement, and content. "A goal is to open up the client's body without taking away defenses. Moving, expanding, and discovering the body without pointing it to content" (Evan, 1978, personal communication). Three examples of mobilizations are: 
 
(1) a directive emphasizing body structure, such as exploring the range of movement of the spine;
 
(2) a directive expanding the use of dance elements, such as gradually varying tempo from very fast to very slow; and 
 
(3) a directive that encourages experimenting with new movement dynamics, such as to explore leaping, sliding, lunging, and exploding.

Improvisation

Improvisation refers to the Evan method of insight-oriented dance, characterized by free association in movement and guided by psychological, physical, or psycho-physical themes. "Improvisation is dependent on an over-all state of receptivity which is replaced with identification with your theme. At the point of action, it is the summation of your past and present. It is also the arbiter between reality and fantasy" (Evan, 1950, p. 80).  
 
Improvisation gives physical form to psychological experiences and Evan states: "Honest improvisation is a direct route to the unconscious" (Benov, 1991, p. 192). 
 
In this work, content-evoking themes are suggested by the therapist in response to a client's verbal and/or movement communications. Four examples of improvisation techniques, as defined by Evan, are: externalizing, enacting, physicalizing, and rehearsing.
 
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 5
 
 
IMPROVISATION TECHNIQUES 

Externalizing

In externalizing the client might "dance out" a dream, fantasy, or physical memory.

Enacting

In enacting, the client recreates a significant life experience, perhaps her assault, and while dancing, she may embellish the life enactment with movement derived from previously unexpressed feelings.


Physicalizing

Physicalizing involves putting into movement an idea, a memory, or a feeling that has been previously stored in a cognitive realm.

Rehearsing

Rehearsing involves an improvisation in which alternative responses are created and practiced in order to prepare for changes in behavior outside of the therapy session.
 
Question 6
 
3. In which way is improvisation important for the client's healing?
 
 
IV
 A Note to Remember
 
 Evan's objective was the integration of dance with therapy, so that it would become one.
 
 
 
 
 
V
 
Case Study
 
 
 

 (54:20 - 1:17:30)
 
 
 
VI

Activity
 
Students work in pairs. One plays the witness and the other the client.

Externalizing
Students write down a dream, fantasy of physical memory and then express it in movement or dance.
 
Enacting
Students write about a significant life experience and then recreate it in movement/dance.

Physicalizing
Students write about an idea, memory or a feeling previously store cognitively.

Rehearsing
Students write about the changes needed to creatively cope with a specific challenge. Then, they improvise alternative creative- responses in order to prepare for changes in behavior.
 
 
VII
 
Journaling
 
Students write a reflection on their experience with Evan's improvisation techniques. 


VIII
 
Glossary


IX
 
Student's Work


 
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