“From an early age, I have been interested in dance and movement, and especially in their expressive qualities. Personally, I have often experienced the healing effects of dance and movement on my physical and mental health. For instance, when I feel unsure dancing helps me feel comfortable in my own body again and, consequently, regain my self-trust. What’s more, my body has developed into a fine “detection device” in a variety of situations: if something’s off, or when vigilance is called for, my body tells me instantly. I wish the same for my clients. “~ Romanie Bosman
About Romanie
"From an early age, I have been interested in dance and movement, and especially in their expressive qualities.”
Romanie Bosman
Beyond Dance, Practice for Dance and Movement Therapy, was founded by Romanie Bosman. Romanie is a qualified and experienced dance therapist. She obtained her Master’s degree in Dance Therapy at Codarts in Rotterdam. She’s also a Certified Movement Analyst according to the Laban / Bartenieff Movement System (LBMS), for which she received her training at the source: the Laban / Bartenieff Institute of Movement Studies (LIMS) in New York.
Romanie uses the Laban movement analysis as a clear framework within her dance therapeutic sessions, from which she developed her own Laban-based Grounding Practice: “The Laban movement analysis systematically focuses on a wide range of movement-related aspects. It has proved a powerful diagnostic tool in my work. Further on in my specialization, I have been hugely inspired by the works of trauma therapists and researchers like Dr. Peter Levine, founder of the Somatic Experiencing Trauma Institute, sensory motor therapists such as Pat Ogden, PhD. and Dr. Stephen Porges, psychiatrist, neurophysiologist, director of the Brain Body Center at the University of Illinois (US) and developer of Polyvagal theory.
For the essence of my therapeutic work, I always return to the scientific framework within which therapeutic work can be understood. I have an undiminished interest in objective and systematic research opportunities, in which the “how” is equally important as the intuitive and experience-based value and validity of dance and movement therapy. Hence my interest in the work of Levine, Ogden and Porges “.
The added value of dance and movement therapy in trauma treatment.
Romanie: As part of my Master program, I did a research internship in which I set up a single case study about dance therapy with a client suffering from PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder).
During these dance therapy sessions I found strong evidence that various PTSD related ailments and symptoms had to do with a disturbed body experience. There also appeared to be a direct correlation to the traumatic experiences of this client. This inspired me to further deepen my knowledge of body experience and experience of the ‘Self’ phenomena with regard to PTSD. Another treatment program, in which dance therapy was combined with EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing), gave such encouraging results, that I decided to further specialize as a Certified Movement Analyst (CMA). In my practice, I started to focus on clients with trauma-based ailments and symptoms. It is important to note that not only major trauma, as recognized by most people, can be seen and/or felt as a traumatic experience, but that also less obvious traumatic experiences can lead to PTSD. For me, it is an irrefutable fact that movement therapy based on the Laban analysis method can really be most beneficial for healing trauma.”
