The experience of attunement and misattunement in dance movement therapy workshops

Publication date: Available online 22 June 2018Source: The Arts in PsychotherapyAuthor(s): Tjaša Jerak, Alenka Vidrih, Gregor ŽvelcAbstractThis qualitative study was designed to investigate the moments of attunement and misattunement in the dance movement therapy workshops. The main research question was how do participants experience moments of attunement and misattunement in dance movement therapy workshops. The study uses a quasi-experimental design, with phenomenological inquiry, and a two part analysis: Laban Movement Analysis and grounded theory coding. Four students of expressive arts therapies attended four experimental dance movement therapy workshops, where the greatest emphasis was on the process of mutual attunement. All workshops were video recorded. Based on video movement analysis, key moments of nonverbal attunement and misattunement were selected, and then analyzed within group interviews with participants. The results of the study show that successful attunement in dance movement therapy draws the client’s attention to the present moment; it encourages individual spontaneity, playfulness, and creativity; promotes embodiment, and thus the integration of mind and body. Successful attunement to the other leads to an intersubjective interchange, where two people co-create an intersubjective experience. Successful attunement to the group leads to the experience of oneness with the group. Moments of misattunement trigger unpleasant feelings, and result in a la...
Source: Arts in Psychotherapy - Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research