Reflections from a dance movement therapy workshop with young refugees

In the last few years, we had the chance to work with young people who had to leave their country of origin and move to western Europe because of war and other traumas.

Our dance/movement workshops aimed at helping them to build their resilience and confidence within themselves. During our single 3-hour interventions, we danced, we painted, we wrote poetry, we laughed and cried.

These young people were survivors, dreamers and active agents of their lives. They were the proof that human beings have extreme inherent abilities to bounce back and reinvent their lives if they are given a chance. 

We would like to share some of the young people’s reflections that show how much they benefited from a single dance/movement therapy session. 

Following a group choreography created by the participants and inspired by the words dream, home, loss, war, confidence, acceptance and letting go they wrote collectively the following:

“Leaving alone with nothing, gaining self-confidence and becoming someone by being with others”

“ In our lives we have experienced fears and losses. We have not been accepted …but through this exceptional experience that gave us hope we can dream from now on”

“We can now have dreams. By developing trust in ourselves and others, it's easier to share moments without the fear of losing ourselves and giving up on our dreams”

Just before the end of one of our workshops, all participants offered a word and a movement that showed how they felt following our 3-hour intervention:

A young woman said dream whilst flapping her arms as if she was flying. Another young woman who had to flee her country to rescue herself from a violent husband said freedom and walked displaying an open and proud posture. A young man said discovery allowing for a deep exhale of relief; he had previously shared with the group that when he had heard about this workshop he said “no” to himself but by actually participating in it, he felt that all his shyness went away. A gay young man who was rejected and punished by his family because of his homosexuality said confidence and engaged in a proud rhythmical walk. A young woman who had suffered from extreme emotional deprivation in her childhood said love and opened up her arms and then placed her hands on her chest as if she gave a big hug to the whole group. All participants expressed a word associated with positive experience and emotions. 

To close our workshop, we all sat down in a circle and participants shared anything else they they needed to express about how they felt in that moment. These were some of the participants’ final reflections regarding their experience of this dance movement therapy intervention:

"For me, it was a very good experience…We will dare to do things, we won’t hide anymore"

"A real moment, it allowed me to relax… to relax for me it's like therapy"

"This experience will help us grow"

"I have the right to reject what is bad and to keep what is good"

"I keep the power generated by this experience for the rest of my life"

“It was letting go, we were flying, we were free to follow our own journey”

“There are no more limits in our heads when we engage our bodies. When we stop thinking with our heads, we can achieve many things, the body feels free to do all these movements that we want to do”

“I have a lot of energy trapped in my body. This experience allowed me to relax, to forget everything and to fly like a little bird”

Maybe their words can inspire you too, to trust the wisdom of your moving bodies and the transformative power of artistic expression. Sometimes all we need to do is to step out of our heads and into our bodies.

Moving bodies create flexible and creative minds.

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Note: images distorted to protect the identities of those participants.