The Alchemy of Dance

This has been an amazing year for all of us, with our many dances, our new friendships, and all the special events celebrating our uniqueness and the Nia practice. As many of you may remember, the founder and director of KiVo, Lis Addison, led an introductory workshop event in March, with much success. Speaking of events, I wanted to mention how exciting it was to welcome in October my teacher and trainer Ann Christiansen for her first ever big Nia event in Geneva.

Alchemy of the Dance

There will be two Nia workshops at Ecole-Club Migros, please sign up directly at the reception. I have partnered up with Mildred under the umbrella of Colibri Movement Club, please check out our website! I hope to see many of you there! Nia combines three types of dance, three types of martial arts and three types of healing arts including yoga.

1. The Seeds of the Storm (The Song of the Ferryman Book 1).
2. The Alchemists | Dance Alchemy?
3. MHPE: The Ghosn Factor.
4. Vagabond Songs;

I love the fact that the Nia Technique is based on 52 moves, and that our bodies can move in an unrestricted and limitless manner that allow for personal and imaginative interpretation. Visualize a session where we are dancing a well-known program focusing on yoga arts, then we delve into the same program in a follow-up session but this time the focus is on Jazz Dance.

Although both classes may be based on the same moves, they deliver a completely different feel.

Fitness * health * power * beauty

We should imagine the energy and excitement that JAZZ dance can generate; the fun, sassy and sexy look-at-me kind of energy, at times bouncy like popcorn, other times sudden and unexpected like a bolt of lightning. Jazz energy teaches us how to get on the stage of life if we need to. It drives us to show our individuality and helps us to be more outspoken and less restrained. This particular energy will especially benefit people who wish to practice free self-expression in a relaxed environment, like the one that a Nia class can provide. Through JAZZ dance, I was able to teach myself how not to shy away from being in the spotlight, which in turn led me to guide others and become a Nia teacher.

1. The Alchemy of Stillness!
2. Antología (Spanish Edition).
3. Offshore Oil and Gas Development: Legal Framework.
4. Notre communauté Nia de la région de Genève accueille une nouvelle Nia teacher..

For those who feel at ease with the unique energy that JAZZ Dance creates, your Nia workout will prove to be an even more playful and childlike experience. Are you a JAZZ-y person? We engage the group in trust-building and team-building exercises and share healthy breakfasts and lunches. At every stage the aim is to develop a strong sense of community as a dance company. Touch, connecting with and trusting other people is key, Dr Lauren Gavaghan explains: At the end of the four weeks participants confidently stand on a public stage as dancers and perform together as a dance company.

The Alchemy Project | Arts Health and Wellbeing

They are seen and witnessed by an audience comprising healthcare professionals, families and friends in a new light; capable, confident, expressive and dynamic. All interventions had a mix of male and female young adults recruited; in particular there was an emphasis on ensuring males were engaged in the project. At the start of the intervention, many of the individuals referred to the project felt isolated and struggled with interpersonal relationships; they also struggled with their bodily awareness and physical fitness which tended to have a negative impact upon their overall levels of confidence and as a result, many often found it hard to get up in the morning and maintain energy and optimism.

Alongside the participants referred were a small number of peer mentors, individuals with an interest in this area of work and some background or training in dance. Peer mentors provide support, focus and energy. No distinction is made between the peer mentors and the participants, with all group members being considered as equals throughout the project. Clinicians and vocational support workers were also involved, helping to ensure individuals were supported, in order that ongoing longer term dialogue could be facilitated, focusing on individual goals and ambitions.

Key roles within The Alchemy Project are that of The Project Director and Executive Producer who jointly oversee its development and delivery; the first from an artistic and procedural perspective and the latter from a financial and operational perspective. Technical and creative team members interface with the project to deliver the concluding performance. Quality is assured through the rigorous and consistent application of the core methodology, careful recruitment and comprehensive induction procedures for project personnel and associates, meticulous planning and setting up of the project infrastructure and resources; and a defined set of rules that everyone has to observe when at work or in the project space.

Activity is monitored and reviewed on a daily basis by the project team. EIS team Care Coordinators work in partnership with The Alchemy Project delivery team to support the promotion of attendance and punctuality, which are essential for individual and collective success. Potential participants are identified and referred from the caseloads of EIS Team Care Coordinators; they are encouraged to attend a recruitment session with a member of staff at the Early Intervention Team offices or through a home visit, if appropriate, where they can meet a member of The Alchemy Project team and find out more about the project.

Referral and consent forms are completed. Potential participants are then invited to come along to a taster session before starting the project.

• Hopes and Fears for Art?
• Little Prelude, No. 1 from Six Little Preludes, BWV 933.
• Leopardi e Poe (Gli emersi narrativa) (Italian Edition)?
• To Perfect This Feast: A Performance Commentary on the Gnostic Mass.
• School Of Movement Medicine | Movement Medicine Intensive Workshop - The Alchemy of Stillness!
• Secondary menu.

There is also an opportunity to meet and talk with project alumni who are available to share their experiences and answer any questions. The final performance is to an invited audience to assist in preserving the confidentiality of the participants and photographs and any documentation are for internal use only, unless consent has been given otherwise.

Currently the intervention is free to participants and current funding allows for their daily travel to the project base to be refunded by the project. They are also provided with breakfast and lunch each day of the intervention. Taking into account the contributions made by a wide range of healthcare professionals across the service this has been very much a joint venture with everyone playing a crucial role. The interventions have been independently evaluated by public health consultants Optimity Matrix.

The Alchemy Project

The research has demonstrated that the dance methodology at the heart of the intervention in the early stages of psychosis delivers clinically significant results in terms of demonstrating increased well-being of participants. These findings are consistent with those of the Pilot scores from There were also improvements in other measures including communication skills, resilience, concentration and focus, level of trust in others, working with others as part of a team and in quality of life EQ-5D.

These findings are vitally important, given that improving wellbeing through recovery after episodes of psychosis is a common goal of Early Intervention Services. I think there are two key issues to be borne in mind with its interpretation. Exercise groups run by MIND and Rethink for people with a mix of mental health problems achieved an increase of three points over three months. In that context increasing WEBWBS wellbeing scores up to the mids for three separate cohorts is a particularly striking achievement.

The Alchemy Project is offering something that is not provided by conventional services, and it seems to be getting results that other approaches do not deliver. Involvement in The Alchemy Project does not define participants by their illness and instead provides a focus, structure and process that enable people to move beyond the typical lived experience of this constituency and challenge their expectations of themselves.

If we truly want to change the life course for young people who develop a psychotic illness, then we must think of the longer term. We must aim to engage young people in ways that are both acceptable and exciting for them, and through means that will truly reconnect them, not simply with healthcare professionals, but with others, their peers, their own families, networks and communities, which sadly tend to fragment in the midst of what can often be a very challenging time.