Body Ego Technique Applied to Belly Dance Therapy for Survivors of Sexual Assault

Body Ego Technique is a predominantly non-verbal educational method that concentrates on learning and experiencing a variety of goal-directed physical movement patterns that use the elements of bodily movement (rhythm, space, and force) “to facilitate the development of self-identity, body image and ego structure, and to bring about changes of experiences that are necessary for ego growth” (Salkin). Jeri Salkin developed Body Ego Technique after becoming aware that “as she experienced changes in movements, these changes actually caused her to feel differently about herself and her environment and seemed to have an effect upon her behavior.”

In Body Ego Technique, movement and dance are appreciated beyond their aesthetic worth, for their educational and therapeutic, as well as developmental and diagnostic, value. The elements of dance are used to build up a sense of body image and self identity, therefore helping one to develop physical and emotional confidence. This confidence is reflected in body posture, movement manner and vocabulary, as well as overall behavior. Body Ego Technique is utilized to guide children in establishing those attributes, to help adults in maintaining and properly utilizing them, and to treat individual with psychiatric, psychological and/or developmental afflictions in re-establishing a healthier body image, self identity, and relationship to their bodies.

One of the basic assumptions behind Body Ego Technique is that body image is indeed “derived from internal sensations, postural changes, contact with outside objects and people, emotional experiences and fantasies”, as defined by the Comprehensive Dictionary of Psychological and Psychoanalytical Terms. A person’s concept of body image can in fact be modified by stimulating diverse emotional sensations and by creating changes in posture and movement experiences.

According to Jeri Salkin, standard Dance and Movement Therapy methods tend to utilize movement expression to generate catharsis as a purging of emotions through art comparable to a toddler’s temper tantrums, which release tension but do not necessarily create an experience that brings about ego growth. In contrast, in Body Ego Technique, catharsis is dealt with in a controlled way that has a beginning, middle, and end. The beginning consists of the teacher stimulating the student to begin to express the experience through verbal encouragement and nonverbal communication. During the middle component, the teacher redirects action into change. Towards the end, the teacher encourages the new expressive movement so that it may become the default movement pattern and brig about enduring emotional growth.

In constructing Body Ego Technique, Jeri Salkin utilized the principles of human movement and the fundamental elements of dance to create a method that uses body posture and movement changes to help develop the ego. The Belly Dance lessons for survivors of sexual assault focus on the aspects of Body Ego Technique that center in emotional change based on bodily experiences, than in developing identity or building body image. The therapeutic focus behind the class structure and movement exercises will concentrate in healing the students’ relationship with that part of their egos and identities called sexuality, through their relationship with their bodies. The class will also focus on emotional healing from trauma by working with the body areas and movement styles associated with sexuality and/or trauma in the student’s mind, as well as with the movement patterns, body posture, and attitude that are or could be a consequence of the sexual trauma, that have the ability to recall the mind-body pathways associated with that trauma, or that have become a two-way stimulating cycle of the body-language and emotions associated with the trauma.

Each person is the product of all his/her experiences and of the way in which he/she has coped with these experiences. Movement and posture are the externalization of that product, which we call ego, identity, self, or personality. In fact, observers tend to quickly judge a people’s personality by their body language and posture, i.e. arrogant versus insecure, sexy versus shy, rebellious versus polite, etc. Additionally, posture is virtually always a response to an emotional state of being. It is often quite easy to deduce someone’s mood through his/her body-language and posture. Furthermore, body posture might reinforce or even trigger a particular mood, thus starting a vicious cycle. Therefore, becoming aware of, or consciously avoiding, a particular body posture might help prevent or break such a cycle.

The correct posture for effectively performing Belly Dance moves requires certain features which are also characteristic of a sexually confident body posture: tilted hips, raised chin, and open lifted chest. The Belly Dance lessons for survivors of sexual assault will not only emphasize the correct posture for performing Belly Dance, but contrast it to that of a droopy, retracted body posture with features such as an inwardly contracted chest, sagging shoulders and head, and curved back, which are characteristic of low self-esteem or over-self-protective behavior caused by trauma.

According to Body Ego Technique, body part isolated movements create awareness. The Belly Dance movement vocabulary is heavily marked by isolations (movements in which the head, shoulders, torso, or hips move independently from each other). These movements require kinesthetic coordination and propioceptic awareness of these specific body parts, while inducing attentiveness to the qualities applied to the movements, such as whether the involved body part moves smoothly or jerkily, fluidly or awkwardly, with wide movements or hardly moving at all, etc. These movement qualities can be indicatives and consequences of the dancer’s personal relationship to the body part being moved and all that is associated, consciously or unconsciously, to that body part in the dancer’s mind. By either 1) making these associations, indications, and cause-consequence relationships conscious, or by 2) creating them from scratch, the dancer fabricates a tool for change, empowering herself to consciously change movement patterns and/or movement qualities deliberately aiming for a consecutive emotional change. This concept is applicable to the Belly Dance movement vocabulary when one considers, for example, the shoulder and hip shimmies - small rigid tight and stiff vibrations are to be associated with nervousness and tension and therefore avoided; on the other hand, relaxed fluid vibrations are to be associated not only with proper Belly Dance technique, ease of execution, and wider range of motion, but also with tension release and enjoyment.

The sequence of guiding survivors of sexual assault through this type of contrasting movements and postures will constitute exercises in what may be termed Movement Catharsis Process. This Movement Catharsis Process reflects not the traditional definition of catharsis as might be exemplified by the release of anger through feet stumping, but the Body Ego Technique definition of catharsis which produces and encourages a new movement pattern or quality that reflects and fosters an enduring emotional change.

Another Body Ego Technique concept easily applicable to the Belly Dance Therapy for Survivors of Sexual Assault lessons is its purposeful make-believe quality. According to Jeri Salkin, “the Body Ego Technique instructor deliberately utilizes the fantasy world and imagination to stimulate the exploration of a wide range of experiences” (Salkin). Role-playing the archetype of the Belly Dancer, through the usage of costumes, and the acquisition of her movement attitude and vocabulary, will allow the dancers to embody characteristic traits of the Belly Dancer archetype, such as secure femininity, awe of fertility and womanhood, acceptance and love of her body, and sexual confidence.

Rhythmic repetition is yet another concept of Body Ego Technique that is also characteristic of Belly Dance. According to Jeri Salkin, “rhythmic repetition is a satisfying way of learning and helps to establish a feeling of organization and accomplishment”. Repetition helps dancers, just like children, in mastering movement. In the Belly Dance lessons, rhythmic repetition of movements derived from a Movement Catharsis Process will help the dancers not only in mastering the movement, but in gaining that same feeling of mastery over their bodies and emotions.

The teaching style for Belly Dance Therapy for Survivors of Sexual Assault will keep in mind concepts from the Body Ego Technique teacher training, such as Empathy not Sympathy, Movement Motivation, and Expression over imitation. Empathy not Sympathy refers to the instructor’s responsibility for accepting and understanding the students’ emotions, but maintaining herself aside so that she may help in directing the student into change. If the instructor leans towards sympathy and begins sharing the students emotional feelings, she will no longer be able to remain objective, and will indubitably help the student in expressing her emotions, but remain incapable of guiding change. Movement Motivation refers to the teacher’s ability to see movement qualities as clues to the motivations behind the movement and as tools for guiding the students through a Movement Catharsis Process. Expression over Imitation refers to the teacher’s difficult responsibility in encouraging the students no to exactly imitate her movements but to aid them in the process of allowing themselves to move in manners that express their individual and unique feelings. As Jeri Salkin states: “It takes much courage and confidence to voluntarily expose one’s inner thoughts and feelings by externalizing them into dance and movement.”