Integral Dance
Integral Dance（由 亚历山大·吉尔松 创建）是一种引领我们走向更完整自我的舞蹈。它有助于我们与自身（在身体和意识层面）保持深层的联结，以一种特殊的方式将我们与他人连接起来，帮助我们感受到我们与世界（自然和艺术）的归属感，以及与某种难以言喻的更高存在（精神层面）的联结。此外，这些联结本质上是动态的。
“‘PH0’的诞生源于将舞蹈实践视为通往身心完整的途径，并认识到这条途径远不止于疗愈。我喜欢这句话：好的疗愈会结束，但舞蹈永无止境。”
“在我看来，治疗目标应该是有目的的、情境性的、明确的——但舞蹈可以伴随人的一生。”
“一种能够伴随整个人生，包含人生所有阶段的舞蹈——那就是Integral Dance。”
——A. 吉尔森
Integral Dance 的核心原则
1. 身与心不可分割
任何有生命的人，无论其表现形式如何，都始终有其身体层面的体现。我们所经历、所想、所做的一切，都与身体息息相关。大脑是身体的一部分——这是一个简单却至关重要的认知。
当一个人展示自己、讲述自己的故事或表达自己的感受时，我们总是会观察这些在身体层面上的表现——通过面部表情、小手势、姿势变化、肌肉张力变化或语调变化。
2. 人是一个过程，而非一个物体
必须将人视为一个不断发展的多维过程。
由此原则得出的第一个结论是：此时此地存在的每一种情况都有其特定的历史——一个人也经历过特定的阶段、发展阶段和成长历程。第二个结论是：这种情况还会继续下去，这个故事还没有结束。
从某种意义上说，这与存在主义对人作为未完成项目的理解不谋而合。
我们不禁要问：什么在持续发展？什么在持续变化？正在发生怎样的变化？
3. 万物皆有其舞，皆有其舞伴
这第三个原则源于前一个问题：这究竟是什么过程？由此，我们便能领悟到舞蹈的真谛。
如果我们把舞蹈理解为一个多维度的、协调的过程，那么为任何体验找到合适的场所就变得非常重要。
例如：“这种情况不适合我，因为我内心深处无法接受它。”
或者：“我目前的处境限制了我，让我无法接受正在发生的事情。”
从整体、综合的角度来看，我们不能舍弃任何事物。从这个意义上讲，我们对舞蹈的理解非常宽泛，我们可以将生活中的任何情境都视为一场舞蹈，将参与者视为舞伴。
Integral Dance 中的四个整合层次
与自己共舞
Integral Dance 的核心价值观是自由、创造力、完整性和关爱（首先也是最重要的——自我关爱）。
倾听自己的节奏，倾听自己内心深处的渴望，倾听自己真实的内心——这些都是一个人需要学习的品质。
当然，当一个人学会照顾自己时，他们与他人建立关系的方式也会发生质的改变。
真正的自我关爱是拥有自由和创造的能力。
与他人共舞
从最基本的层面来说，每个人都有一种深刻的存在感：“我存在，我有存在的权利。”
我存在，这就足够了。
从这里出发——只要我存在，我就能感受，也能行动。我有感受的权利，也有行动的权利。
下一个整合循环是与他人建立联系。
There can be no integration that is purely individual.
It cannot be that I am whole by myself, but in relationship with others I immediately lose this state.
If a person is truly whole, this extends to the quality of their relationships with others — in which, if one wishes, one can always see partners for movement.
Dance with the world
This means that I have my own place in the world, and I am at peace with it — my place in society, in culture, and in nature.
It means that I have a certain connection with nature — one that feels right for me.
These can be very simple things: for example, a person enjoys walking in the park and intuitively knows when it’s time to go there.
Or perhaps they feel a deep connection with a certain element or force of nature.
Connection with the world also manifests as connection with culture — in the sense that I truly understand which culture influences me, which culture I belong to, and why my tastes and preferences are what they are.
This is what integration means: what I do in society corresponds to my inner sense of self, and there is no strong contradiction between them.
There may be compromises or crises that I go through, but strategically I am in my right place in this world.
Dance with eternity
Most people who practice dance note that at times they encounter an inner experience that is difficult to express in words — as if part of it cannot be verbalized and lies beyond our consciousness.
If a person has experienced a powerful, vivid state through dance, it needs to be integrated — to find its place and meaning.
What place does it occupy? Where can it be of use, and what nourishes it in return?
Integral Dance provides space for this sacred side of the dance experience, creating a field for calm and clear understanding — where it leads and why it is needed.
Main Tools of Integral Dance
- Integral Dance-Movement Therapy
- Integral Somatics
- Integral Performance and Improvisation
- Dance as a Spiritual Practice
The foundation of Integral Dance is built upon several different schools of improvisation and improvisational performance on one hand, and body-centered therapy on the other. Dance therapy itself treats movement as a language of communication between therapist and client. Establishing non-verbal therapeutic relationships is the essence of classical dance therapy.
Another cornerstone of Integral Dance is Authentic Movement. Interestingly, Authentic Movement is both a separate discipline and, at the same time, already carries a sense of integrality. It can serve as a therapeutic tool, it can be a personal practice—sometimes for stress management, sometimes to support creativity, sometimes to address personal challenges, and sometimes simply because the process itself is valuable. It is also a spiritual practice. At least in the form practiced by Janet Adler, the Discipline of Authentic Movement is a modern mystical practice. Both aspects—the therapeutic and the spiritual—are explored in A. Girshon’s book Stories Told by the Body.
A significant body of knowledge emerged after classical dance-movement therapy, particularly in the 1970s–1990s, through somatic techniques. These, on one hand, share much with dance-movement approaches but are positioned under a different label. Somatic therapists often have separate professional associations, use somewhat different tools, and draw on a distinct knowledge base. Yet the foundations and goals are very similar. The somatic approach has significantly enriched the understanding of dance, movement, and human development. It also integrates well with discoveries in neuroscience—a field that must be incorporated today. Naturally, dance therapy and psychotherapy in general strive to understand and integrate this knowledge, relating it to practical therapeutic techniques.
Additionally, there are practices not focused on creativity or therapy per se, but rather on dance as ritual or prayer—dance as a form of spiritual practice.
Thus, Integral Dance draws on many foundations: improvisation, therapy itself, authentic movement, dance as a spiritual practice, and somatic or body-oriented approaches. Integral Dance is a process that helps us understand how all these elements relate to one another. By combining these forms of knowledge, we can more clearly and accurately—and most importantly, while staying connected to ourselves and our intentions—use Integral Dance for self-discovery, personal development, and enhancing our engagement with life.
