"The Spirit Thickened": Making the Case for Dance in the Medical Humanities

Area of Science:

• Medical Humanities
• Embodied Cognition
• Dance Therapy

Background:

• Dance and movement arts are underrepresented in medical humanities curricula.
• Perceived lack of direct applicability to patient care limits engagement.
• Medical education can benefit from incorporating movement arts for skill development.

Purpose of the Study:

• To introduce and advocate for the subdiscipline of Movement and Medicine.
• To demonstrate the value of dance-inspired pedagogy in medical education.
• To enhance clinically relevant skills such as self-awareness, observation, communication, and mindfulness.

Main Methods:

• Development and piloting of a dance-inspired pedagogy, Movement and Medicine.
• Integration into medical humanities curricula within a medical education context.
• Focus on promoting awareness of personal movement and embodiment tendencies.

Main Results:

• Movement and Medicine enhances learners' physical self-awareness and embodiment.
• The pedagogy fosters deeper sensory insight into patients' embodied experiences of health and illness.
• A pilot course was developed and described for implementation in a medical school.

Conclusions:

• Movement and Medicine offers a novel approach to medical humanities education.
• Engaging with movement arts improves essential clinical skills and patient empathy.
• This subdiscipline holds significant potential for enriching medical training and practice.