Creative Practice Week 5

Part of University of Florida's Dance major curriculum includes two semesters of West African by the one and only Mohamed DaCosta.  One semester of the class I was apart of the show Agbedidi.

While I was very emerged in the dance class I never ventured into the most important part, the drums!!

So I decided to go back and see Mohamed and ask if I could play the drums, and was thrilled when he said I could.  I had always enjoyed the rhythms of the drums but had never sat behind one.  At first I was so nervous, luckily many of the drummers knew me as a dancer and encouraged me.  After a few minutes I was whisked away my rhythm and the drums.  I remember at one point thinking my hands were hurting but I just kept going.  It was such a crazy experience, I'm sure I was totally off the rhythm but I got lost in the moment. 

This sense of flow state brought me back to a personal memory of Mohamed, one day in class he seemed almost angry or upset, he sat down at the drum and before I knew it he was completely unconnected from the world and was in his own world.  I truly experienced him in a flow state. While I don't know if I accomplished that full sense of flow state, I do think that I got lost in world of rhythms and drums. 

Some ways I might adapt this model for participants in the health settings is introducing them to something that they have been around or always wanted to try.  Children are so good at doing this, I would love to challenge and engage adult patients in this idea.  The idea of trying something new with not only a musical interment but also a physical art form such as a new style of painting such as water color or pottery.  To invite these adult participants I would engage them with an art form they are comfortable with and then introduce these new experiences.  I am so intrigued to see their reflections after the fact.  I would also like to approach this with just asking the patient to try this new thing, and then compare their reflections. 

Sadly I was unable to get any media of me drumming, partly because the time went so fast it was over before I even knew it.

Here are some clips about Mohamed and the dance class and show I participated in!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-NwqWo_wh0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qH_c_3oeHfk

Health Blog Wk. 5

This week I heard about an interesting program called LSVT Loud and Big, this program is for people with Parkinson's

LSVT Big

Recently principles of LSVT LOUD™ were applied to limb movement in people with Parkinson disease (LSVT BIG™) and have been documented to be effective in the short term. Specifically, training increased amplitude of limb and body movement (Bigness) in people with Parkinson disease has documented improvements in amplitude (trunk rotation/gait) that generalized to improved speed (upper/lower limbs), balance, and quality of life. In addition, people were able to maintain these improvements when challenged with a dual task.

LSVT Loud 

LSVT LOUD™ is an effective speech treatment for individuals with Parkinson disease (PD) and other neurological conditions.  LSVT LOUD, named for Mrs. Lee Silverman (Lee Silverman Voice Treatment – LSVT) was developed in 1987 and has been scientifically studied for nearly 20 years with funding support from the National Institute for Deafness and other Communication Disorders (NIDCD) of the National Institutes of Health. Published research data support improvements in vocal loudness, intonation, and voice quality for individuals with PD who received LSVT LOUD, with improvements maintained up to two years after treatment. Recent research studies have also documented the effectiveness of this therapy in improving the common problems of disordered articulation, diminished facial expression and impaired swallowing. Additionally, two brain imaging studies have documented evidence of positive changes in the brain following administration of the therapy.

After doing some research about these techniques I hit the internet, and found this recent blog post about Linda Rostadt and how she thought that since she has Parkinson's she can no longer sing, the blog article discusses her vocal therapy, but I thought I would share this therapy that I had recently learned about. 

BLOG ARTICLE: 

http://blog.aarp.org/2013/08/27/linda-ronstadt-new-parkinsons-therapies-may-help-you-to-sing/

SCREENSHOT: 

REFERENCE: 
http://www.lsvtglobal.com/patient-resources/what-is-lsvt-loud

Wk. 4 Health Issue Blog

This week I chose another subject close to me, prostate cancer.  My dad was diagnosed with prostate cancer a few years back, luckily he caught it early enough and is still cancer free.  September is Prostate Awareness Month! I posted on a blog "Women Against Prostate Cancer" about my support of this, I think that women should encourage men to get tested, these men are husbands, fathers, brothers, and sons and early detection can lead to easy recovery.  In the blog I posted a link to an article with statistics of prostate cancer.

My goal this month is to ask as many of my friends if there Dad, Uncle, Grandfather ect has been checked for prostate cancer, no offense to men, but many times it takes someone asking more than once to get things accomplished ;)

I hope you will do the same.


Here is a link to the blog as well as a screen shot of my comment!

http://www.womenagainstprostatecancer.org/2013/09/september-is-prostate-cancer-awareness-month

Week 4 Creative Practice

This week for our creative practice we were asked to create a self portrait collage

As I started going through my magazines, I began to notice mouths....something I don't think I normally notice, and then it got me thinking about my personal self portrait.

I titled my work "You Can't Stop Talking"

My mouth is used in so many ways each day as a teacher, friend, mentor, student, girlfriend, daughter, sometimes bad words come out, sometimes good words, I change my tone,  I change my language its so versatile.  I try to always smile, even while being frustrated or upset.  I use my mouth to love, I use my mouth to correct, I use my own mouth to correct myself, since sometimes I have to say things outloud to myself.  I use my mouth to talk to much, or to little.  My mouth can hurt people, or help people, my mouth can bring random people joy by simple, thank you.

What is your mouth used for..................

Keep Searching It Will Be Found

WEEK 3 Creative Practice Blog:

Creative Practice Prompt: Take a Line for Walk

"Out beyond wrong doing and right doing, there is a field. I'll meet you there."

Rumi

• This week we are going to Take a Line for Walk.
• Please use a fresh white piece of quality art paper (any size will do) and a black Sharpie to begin.
• I invite you to take a line for a walk without lifting the marker from the paper.
• When you have completed your line or drawing path, you will invariably have a number of abstract shapes and spaces.
• I invite you to fill in the shapes and spaces with blocks of color. There is no right or wrong way to complete this work of art.
• If you are struggling to put pen to paper, you may begin by writing your name (or another meaningful word) in cursive without lifting the pen. Again, you will have many shapes and spaces to fill.
• Please title the work with a Six Word Title, and make sure you sign your name to the work!
• Please use audio, video, and photos to share your work on your Creative Practice Blog Post.

Additional Explorations:

• If you would like to complete a second work, you may Take a Line for a Walk Down Memory Lane, as one of my artist in residence colleagues, Dr. Rose Marie Prins, often does.
• What are some others ways you might adapt this model for participants in health settings?
• If you were to add a second artistic discipline to deepen this creative process, what might you add?
• If you were to adapt the creative prompt for a specific health population, what might you say to invite the participant into the creative process with you?

REFLECTIONS:

As I sat down to do this, I first thought, oh no I can't draw and then immediately withdrew that thought from my mind, I am so bothers when people tell me they can't dance.  So I have to imagine to a visual artist my statement was  just as annoying.  I put my pen to the paper and before I knew it I had my outline, now I wanted to ofcourse re do it since I have that type of personality, but I challenged myself and didn't.  I started to color and had a flashback of being in grade school when I had a substitute teacher that showed us how to color with small lines rather that scribble, I remember going home that day and sharing with my mom this discovery, while I don't think it was important to anyone I remember thinking I love how tidy this is...........I decided to title my work:

"Keep Searching It Will Be Found"

This title came to be when I was reflecting on my artwork and the continuous line, and that while we are all always searching along the way there is so much beauty along with chaos.

I think that I will use this Take a Line for Walk concept and use it in many settings including bed side at the hospital and with my younger dance students, I want to explore what can come from this a dance, a story, a song?  I think for all populations I want to explore this concept with I will start with just simple directions hand them a marker and paper and tell them to put their marker on the paper and start moving without taking it off the paper.  After that I would add in the color aspect or not.

Looking forward to explore this!!

Health Issues Blog: Parkinson's and Importance of Be Trials

I did it again....and yet I am still nervous but getting better about posting.

This week I decided to explore something very near and dear to my heart, Parkinson's Disease.  Three times a week I am fortunate enough to lead a class "Dance for Life" which is a hour and fifteen minute dance class.  The class is for people living with Parkinson's Disease and their caregivers, I started working with this program three years ago and my life hasn't been the same sense.  The relationships I have created are unforgettable.

During my undergraduate work I volunteered with the program, and this June I was honored to be offered the position as Dancer in Residence with UF Health Center for Arts in Medicine.  I have had such a journey leading this class, I don't like to say teaching because truthfully they are the teachers and I am the student many times, but it is a collective journey together.

Part of this class I lead is a Case Study ongoing, while my involvement with this is not large, I found as I was reading through some blogs the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Disease website and from there the blog.  It is so great, this week I commented on a blog post about the importance of participating in Clinical Trials, which I find so important, not just because I am indirectly part of one, but also because of the people I work with. These people are so willing to try and explore anything that may help them with this disease.

After reading the blog I did some more research on the benefits of Clinical Trials for people with Parkinson's and came across this very interesting paper titled "Power of the mind The effect of placebo on primary dysmenorrhoea" by Naomi Lagerweij and Nienke Schalij, at first I was wondering what this paper had to do about people with Parkinson's but after reading it found some very interesting points, one of my favorites was:

"Parkinson's disease offers an interesting model to understand the relationship between expectations and neuronal systems. "

I hadn't even thought about anything in regards to that, this is just showing more and more how importance participation in Clinical Trials are, I am excited to add this blog to my list (which is getting quite long) and hoping for a response so that I can engage more in conversation about this. I also can't wait to share this site with my dancers, and see if they have been using it?

Below is a short video with Michael J Fox discussing his journey and how his name can help find a cure: 

Here is a link to the blog I responded to:

https://www.michaeljfox.org/foundation/news-detail.php?clinical-trial-participation-is-easier-than-you-think-says-one-volunteer



Reference:

Lagerweij, N., & Schalij, N. Power of the mind. (2012)

http://www.knawonderwijsprijs.nl/upload/werkstukken/2012_NG_Power%20of%20the%20Mind.pdf

Six Word Memoir

Our creative practice this week was to write a six word autobiography, narrative of the present moment, vision statement and to explore these in another aspect of life work or health.  When I first read this assignment and article, I was so intrigued but then as I sat down to write I was lost.

Why is it so hard to be simple and concise, it reminds me of the Albert Einstein quote "If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough." Which made me question, do I not know my self well enough or my present moment? After some journaling and using more than 6 words I got into the groove.

Some of my samples:

25 years young, 25 years old
Standing leg independent, working leg dependent
Plie tendu my life's to do
Make the list remake the list
Always searching for more, never less
Always be present always be change
Crossfit strong, children happy, always moving
Early bed early rise happy place
I talk but I should listen
"Perfect Life" not so perfect person
Failure ok but wished I believed
Six words makes you explore
Limitation create boundaries that you destroy
My Indian name "runs with scissors"
Fewer words, bigger thoughts, try it
Movement explore life movement creates life
STOP IN THE NAME OF LOVE
Explore more, question more, doubt less
My mom is my best friend

With reflection of these I started working on this phrase that I taught my intermediate/advance modern students at the dance studio.

This is the article for reference: 

Six-Word Memoirs: LIfe Stories Distilled

Look Me In The Eye: My first Health Blog Respone

Can I really be doing a real blog....yes yes I am

I just responded to my first blog, let me tell you I was nervous, some people say talking on the internet is easier, I disagree.  I don't want to sound stupid or uneducated but I also understand that this is a learning process, just like doing a crossword  you don't pick up the paper and say hey I just finished the crossword.  It takes time and practice, just like blogging does I think.

I wonder if anyone will ever respond?  I am so happy that I found this blog though, and now 5 hours later, I need to be productive with other parts of my life :)

One thing I find so interesting about the Autism spectrum is the unknown, every single person is so different, in life and in the spectrum.  This is just a small bite I think of the controversy in this discussion. I commented on this article with another article I find very interesting.

http://nymag.com/news/features/autism-spectrum-2012-11/

See the blog I responded to here:

Look Me In The Eye: Autism and Asperger's - points on a curve, or different conditions?http://jerobison.blogspot.com/2013/08/autism-and-aspergers-points-on-curve-or.html