Self-Assessment Essay for apply a Master in Dance/Movement Therapy Department
Hello everyone!!
Here is the questions that i need to answer in me self-assessment essay, the questions as follow:
- Write about any Dance/Movement Therapy and Counseling experiences (courses, workshops, etc.) in which you have participated. Also include your interest and background in the behavioral sciences including volunteer work, and describe your motivation to become a dance/movement therapist. Under a separate heading of "Dance Experience," please briefly answer the following questions:
- Approximately how many years of dance experience do you have?
- What is your primary dance style?
- What styles of dance have you studied?
- What performing experience do you have?
- What teaching experience do you have?
- What choreographic experience do you have?
- A separate page titled "Prerequisite Fulfillment" should list and briefly explain your completion of the prerequisites. We require applicants to have taken at least three undergraduate courses in psychology. Recommended courses include General Psychology, Abnormal Psychology, Personality Development and/or Psychophysiology. Anatomy and Kinesiology is also required (other names for this course include Biomechanics, Anatomy/Kinesiology, Anatomy for Dancers, and Introduction to Exercise Science). Unlike the psychology prerequisites, the anatomy/kinesiology course can be one course covering both topics and can be a certificate (perhaps taken online, at a community college or through a massage/yoga studio). Finally, we require at least five years of dance experience. Experience teaching dance, choreographing and performing is preferred.
----------------------------------------------------- Here we go!
I saw dance as my lifelong career since I was in high school, what I can only imagine a role to display in such carrier is very unitary , not even more than this three types: dancer, choreographer and dance teacher. So after I finished my study in university I tried to get any access to achieve my goal as much as I can, I went to Germany in order to see the different dance environment as well as in whole Europe and under a big dance ecosphere I experienced more contemplative understanding of faith. After seeing too many people who love dance are more passion, more aggressive , better technique or even have perfect posture then I do, I can't stop asking myself: Do I have bigger ambition than they do? And those doubts or facts I observed are somehow mirror my mentality in dance, which I was never found before. I am an introvert, I am calm and can be very focus on one thing to make it perfect, even though I know how to choreographed and I do like it, but when it comes to a profession carrier which I have to live on it, then it will become a pressure for me. Besides I don't have such a strong desire to express the story inside of me or project any idea inside of me , so compare to be a speaker I would rather being a listener.
So I found out there is a program called Dance/ Movement Therapy in Columbia , which is beneficial to both physical and mental health , improve the sense of body-image and self-esteem. The creative expression of dance therapy is attractive to me and the most important is I can help people to go get their difficulties by dancing . I had read a book from the principal who taught at National Chung Cheng University he said, "Before fifty years old used to be trying to prove that they are useful to the people, after fifty years old they should strive to be the useful person to society," when I was teaching 成人律動in a community the most concerned topic to do is how to digest the professional knowledge that I have learned and use a straightforward , simple way to communicated with them, also letting go of the attitude of being an artistic dancer . However, there are many definitions of success, to their advantage called "successful", only to others but also beneficial to be called "achievement", both of which are different. I know exactly what I want to achieve is not just for myself but to do some things are more permanent than life, to share the joy of dance with people so I would like to get more information about this field.
So In the November of this year I had a chance to observe an Assessment of Movement class with Lisa Goldman in Columbia. Through Coco Chen and Sara Ogawa I had the chance to observe Dance/Movement Therapy group processes In New Focus Anixter Center and Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center, which were leaded by Lisa Goldman and Brandy White . In the begin of this session all the participants were sat in a circle, the therapist first let everybody to create a movement of stretching ,which should be a whole new stretching movement different from their Inertial motion慣性動作. The propose of a new stretching movement was able to assist the participants in accessing their inner creativity and enjoying the free movement, they can felt more grounded and even calmer when they were confronting the challenges. I found this is very beautiful that through promoting emotional, cognitive, physical, and social integration of individuals to help people or even improve their life. In the next month I participated a self-expression session, which was held by Kristina Fluty. In that session I moved and danced to discover the authentic patterns inside of my body ,mind and bone; using not only body but also through drawing and discussing to further express our unique idiosyncrasies. I saw this tranquil and healing experience as a creative outlet of a release valve to wash my the inner distractions and let my body and mind find a balance.
Also When I was in senior high school I had a Somatic course, it is an interdisciplinary field involving the study of the body and the embodied self, including therapeutic and holistic approaches to body. From the course I got an idea of Somatic, So-Tai Technique, Exploration of Body Function and the observation on self-breath and as well as on people's movement. This Somatic Experience helps me to come out of states of freeze, hyperarousal or constriction by giving self-corrective experiences that enable to regain my sense of safety, power, and orientation. I enjoy the feeling of viewing my living body through the experience from within, It is attractive to me very much and I treasure the assessment that I received from myself or from the partner.
Later on I had a volunteer experience on helping out the session of an parent-children dance workshop at Taipei Fine Arts Museum in 2008. The french choreographer Cécile Proust and the Multimedia artist Jacques Hoepffner created a serious of dance and combine our five sense: Smell, Touch, Hearing, Sight, Taste into the design of whole choreography. So my task was interacting with all the participants from different ages to guide them into a group or leading the motion to help them to go to the next process, for most of the parents and children it was an opportunity to re-examine the relationship between the mind, body ,rhythm and arts ,giving themselves more keenly felt about the exploration of dance in its physical, intellectual, creative, and therapeutic aspects.
Those were my experience of DMT I really interested and fascinated in how a therapist share their nonverbal observations with the team to encourage all the participants, I hope I can study in your department so that I can contribute to the whole society.
Dance Experience
Dance has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember , At the age of five I started my first dancing lessons 兒童律動, since that I became more comfortable with my physique than I had been, I began to act with much more confidence and enjoy the joy of dance was infused into my bod. So I keep dancing in a dance studio, where they taught me the introduction of Ballet, Modern dance ,Chinese Folk Dance, Marital Arts, Tap Dance and the Dance of the Chinese Minorities( The Dance of Dai, Miao and Tibetan Nationality ). In my childhood I was performed for different events in Taiwan annually, from student achievement exhibitions學生成果展 to the community activities社區活動 or even performed for the veterans home榮民之家. However , it makes me get to know with the people in different levels and wide my vision though dancing, it was the most valuable experience that I had learned in my child hood.
In my junior high school I attended the elite class of dance舞蹈資優班 and had gained more formal ,systematical education on Chinese Folk Dance ,Ballet, Martial Arts, dragon and lion dancing and Modern dance, which the technique was based on Martha Graham. In the whole studying period I had been performed once a year for the student achievements exhibition, sometimes school provided a special project for students during the summer , such as Dragon and Lion Dance, environment improvisation環境戶外即興.
In my high school -Tsoying Senior High School I was in the dance division, in this three years program we had learned more technique and attitude of details of how to become a real profession performer. We have yearly two performances, first one is selections of seniors creating their thesis and the second one is mostly for residency choreographers who are experienced and professional. This two performances were the main part of my study and it had challenged me emotionally, physically, technically and mentally. During the three years program I strengthen international integration and vision to an international level, such as the Hong Kong dance festival in 2007 and we cooperated a performance with the students of a dance division of the New World School of the Arts in Miami. In my senior year I started organizing my first choreography, a piece for an open ceremony for Museum of Kaohsiung Literature in 2006. I used a poetry from a native Kaohsiung poet to be the main structure of my inspiration in this choreography. The result was very successful, and through the process I discovered the value of dance that can bring out the connections between the performers and audience without words or acting.
So I decided to take dance as my major in National Taiwan University of Arts,
during this four years program I was even more exposed to diversified dance knowledge and virtuoso technique, expanding my expertise of dance on a practical level. Such as Cheerleading , Yoga, Pilates, Theatrical Art, Ethnic Dance, Dance and Multimedia, Movement Analysis, Prevention and Treatment of Dance Injuries and Dance Anatomy. After I finished my bachelor degree of Fine Arts, I participated the training for Ballet teachers and got a Ballet Teacher Certification (Level 1.2.3 ) from Beijing Dance Academy in 2011 ,then I started my teaching career for two years. At first I taught幼兒律動in a kinder garden to let those children know the joy of moving body and bring up their interest in dance, then I taught ballet, modern dance and improvisation for the children and teenagers in a dance studio. Also I taught成人律動 in a community and choreographed several shows for the seniors in order to perform for the activities in their community . Being a dance teacher require both patience and good communications skills , and that requirements makes me know how to deal with the population differently and see what they need. Meanwhile I performed with Assembly Dance Theatre and Sun-shier Dance Theatre, also cooperated a Site-specific Dance with an interdisciplinary artist: Isak Immanuel at Treasure Hill Artist in Residence. In the year of 2011 and 2012 I performed my individual choreography <Room> and <Inside, outside my heart> in Sun-Shier Dance Theatre and <在永康,飲料這種東西> in Century Contemporary Dance Company.
In 2013 I had a chance to work with Urban Reflects Dance company in Germany and performed contemporary dance at different cities of Germany for one year. Then in 2014 I studied the Bachelor of Dance at Folkwang University(Folkwang Universität der Künste) in Germany. As contemporary dance and dance theatre training in Folkwang, I am not pursing to be a dancer but a human being who dance, developing my individual way . The pioneer of dance education at Folkwang such as: Rudolf von Laban , Kurt Jooss and Pina Bausch have laid the foundation for dance education early years, therefore the dance theater is the main style of dance that they taught in Folkwang.
After many years of performing on dance and choreographed I am not interested in telling a dramatic or pretty story to embellish but to express myself, observing, searching for the relationships between human beings and environment as the transformation into movement of the invisible forces that surrounding my life. Therefore, my dance style is about recalling my own conscious of the impulses without the need to create a codified technique.
