St. Mira’s College along with CMTAI and Artsphere hosted the 6th Annual International Dance Movement Therapy Conference called “Movement and Other Arts for Well-being” on Nov 30th and Dec 1st, 2019. The Conference brought together the views of experts, researchers, academia and students to the forefront, with the purpose of creating substantial positive change in the field of the therapeutic use of the arts. The conference witnessed a participation of nearly 200 delegates from various institutions and organizations across the country.
The conference began with the traditional ritual of lighting of the lamp by all dignitaries, followed by the welcome by Principal Dr.G.H.Gidwani. The highlight of the inaugural was the keynote address by Prof.Helen Payne, a pioneer in the field of dance movement therapy, senior researcher and faculty at the University of Hertfordshire, U.K. The keynote titled “Group work in Dance movement therapy” focussed on the body-mind approach in group therapy theory and practice. The two days of the conference were packed with over 50 facilitators from across the country and internationally addressing the audience and sharing their knowledge and rich experience of the application of the value of Arts in wellbeing. The evening of the first day ended with an amazing drum jam session, with everyone moving energetically to the rhythmic beat of the drums.
This year’s conference theme highlighted and created discourse on the pivotal role of creative movement therapy and other expressive therapies to work with and across populations/sectors such as child psychopathology, adult psychopathology, gender, corporates, and education. The conference was divided into 4 sections: Creative Arts Therapy, Therapeutic arts, Arts in training and advanced sessions for practitioners who have been in the field for more than two years. Through experiential sessions and discussions, the conference successfully opened up awareness and encouraged collaboration for those within the field(s) and related fields to work together for the betterment of mental, emotional, and physical wellness of society. The conference ended on a high note with the graduation ceremony of the First Diploma batch of Dance therapy practitioners The Diploma program is jointly run by the Department of Psychology, CMTAI, and Artsphere.
