AMWA ‘s initiative to promote Dance, Theater, and Medicine creates a platform for the exchange of research and ideas to blend the performing arts with the practice of medicine. We hope that this initiative improves our understanding of the human experience, leading to a more equitable and diverse system of healthcare.
This initiative was created for and by women who blend performance of narratives to better the practice of humanism in medicine. By exploring the intersection between dance, theater arts, and medicine, we enhance our understanding of the human experience through performance highlights and research database cultivation. Through performance of dance and the theater arts, we understand how our bodies tell stories, revealing our values and our individual perspectives on healing. It is this knowledge that leads the transformation for equity-based, narrative driven, and diverse medical care.
Current Leadership:
Co-Chairs: Andrea Samson, Jasmine Thomas
Research Subcommittee leads: Lekha Vuppalapati, Andrea Samson
Programming Subcommittee leads: Jasmine Thomas
Spotlight Subcommittee leads: Amy Pham
Founding Committee:
Shilpa Darivemula, MD (Co-Chair)
Roshni Prakash (Co-Chair)
Lara Rostomian (Social Media & Recruitment Chair)
Maya Roytman (Spotlight Features Chair)
Emily Chen (AMWA Project Coordinator)
Eliza Chin, MD, MPH (AMWA Executive Director)
Questions? E-mail [email protected]
Dance in Medicine Programs
Foundation for Embodied Medicine
International Association for Dance Medicine and Science
NYU -Internships for Dance Medicine
Stuck at Home? Learn to Dance from the Best (CNN)
Theater in Medicine and Science
No Joke, the Serious Role of Improv in Medicine (Sarah Mahoney, AAMC)
What Improv Can Teach Tomorrow’s Doctors (Anu Atluru, The Atlantic)
Medical Improv Putting Physicians to the Test (Lydia Coutre, Modern Healthcare)
Engaging hard-to-reach populations in research on health in pregnancy: the value of Boal’s simultaneous dramaturgy (Smyth, McClements, and Murphy, Arts&Health)
All the World’s a Stage: Integrating Theater and Medicine for Interprofessional Team Building in Physician and Nurse Residency Programs (Salam T, Collins M, Baker A, The Oschner Journal)
Improvisation and the Art of Medicine
Mayutica: Discover What You Know
Alan Alda Center for Communicating Science
Using improv to improve life with Alzheimer’s
African Dance as Healing Modality Throughout the Diaspora: the Use of Ritual and Movement to Work through Trauma (Monteiro & Wall, J of Pan African Studies)
Therapeutic Potential of a Drum and Dance Ceremony Based on the African Ngoma Tradition (Vinesett et. al., J of Alt and Comp Med)
Grounding: Theoretical Application and Practice in Dance Movement Therapy (de Tord & Brauninger, The Arts in Psychotherapy)
Structured Dance as a Healing Modality for Women (Stringer, JOGNN)
Addressing OB/GYN Care Access for Refugee Women Using Traditional Dance Exchanges (Darivemula, Medical Humanities BMJ Blog)
Effects of Dance Therapy on Cognitive and Mood Symptoms in People with Parkinson’s Disease: A systematic review and meta-analysis (Zhang et. al. Complementary Therapies in Clinical Practice)
Dance as Therapy for Individuals with Parkinson Disease (Earhart, European J of Physical and Rehab Med)
The Effectiveness of Dance Interventions to Improve Older Adults’ Health: A Systematic Literature Review (Hwang and Braun, Altern Ther Health Med)
The Effect of Chinese Yuanji-Dance on Dynamic Balance and the Associated Attentional Demands in Elderly Adults (Wu et. al., J Sports Science & Medicine)
Dance Training is Superior to Repetitive Physical Exercise in Inducing Brain Plasticity in the Elderly (Rehfield, et.al, Plos One)
Evolution of Neuroplasticity in Response to Physical Activity in Old Age: The Case for Dancing (Muller, Front Aging Neurosci)
Effects of Dance Activities on Patients with Chronic Pathologies: Scoping review (Bryuneel, Heliyon)
Effectiveness of Dance Movement Therapy in the Treatment of Adults With Depression: A Systematic Review With Meta-Analyses (Karkou et.al., Frontiers in Psychology)
Emotion Regulation through Movement: Unique Sets of Movement Characteristics are Associated with and Enhance Basic Emotions (Shafir et. al., Frontiers in Psychology)
Effects of Cognitive Leisure Activity on Cognition in Mild Cognitive Impairment: Results of a Randomized Controlled Trial (DOI, J of Post Acute and Long-Term Care Med)
Leisure Activities and the Risk of Dementia in the Elderly (Verghese, NEJM)
From Depression to Parkinson’s Disease: The healing power of dance (Mendrek, The Conversation)
Dance
The Aseemkala Initiative: Transforming Medicine Through Traditional Dance
Kolkata Sanved Dance Movement Therapy for Change
BodyWise Dance (Greenlee)
Evidence Map of Arts-Based Health Interventions:Results of a Community-engaged Scoping Review of the Literature (Arts and Health)
Theater
B!RTH: 7 Countries, 7 Plays, 1 Global Controversy. Watch the trailer.
Regeneration: The Play (Rappaport)
Dance
Pas De Deux, (Ofri)
Sati’s Surgery: An Exploration of a Surgeon’s Vulnerbaility through Kuchipudi Dance (Darivemula, Association of Women Surgeons)
Educational Opportunities in Dance Medicine and Science
Harkness Center for Dance Injuries Education and Research (NYU)
Dance in Medicine for Humanism in Medicine Course (Ohio State Medical School)
Theater
How Theater Training Can Improve Your Doctor’s Empathy (Jafine, The Conversation)
I Learned How to Be a Good Doctor in Theater School (Klingman, KevinMD)
Can Acting Classes Help Physicians Learn to Show Empathy? (Bernard, Medical Economics)
The Use of Theatre in Medical Education in the Emergency Cases School: An appealing and widely accessible way of learning (Keskinis, et al; Perspec Med Edu)
Using Theater to Teach Clinical Empathy: A Pilot Study (Dow et al, J Gen Int Med)
Theater Training Helps Doctors Enhance Patient Care with Clinical Empathy Skills (Gresham, VCU News)
Inside the Theater of Medicine Where Actors Help Train Future Doctors (Park, TIME)
Performing Medicine: The Role of Theater in Medical Education (Kohn, J Med Ethics)
Using Theater to Increase Empathy Training in Medical Students (Reilly, et. al, J for Learning through the Arts)
Serious Play: Teaching medical skills with improvisational theater techniques (Watson, Acad Med)
Active Learning on Center Stage: Theater as a Tool for Medical Education (Hobson, et. al., Acad Med)
Medical Readers’ Theater: A Guide and Scripts (Meyer, et. al., JAMA)
Medical Education Empowered by Theater (MEET) (Antonio, et. al., Academic Medicine)
Engaging Physicians in CME: The power of theater (Health Partners Institute)
Medical Readers’ Theater: Relevance to Geriatrics Medical Education (Shipiro & Cho, Gerontology & Geriatrics Education)
What do you get mixing medicine, theater and communication? (Tinklepaugh, K-ute Radio)
New doctors polish communication skills through theater arts (Upstate Medical University)
I Learned to be a Good Doctor in Theater School (Klingman, KevinMD)
Medical Theater: An artist and physician team up to examine the role of acting in the clinical setting (Hoffman, Proto: Dispatches from the Frontiers of Medicine)
The seeing place: Talking theatre and medicine (Bowman et al, Arts and Humanities in Higher Education)
A Critical Review of the Characteristics of Theater-Based HIV Prevention Interventions for Adolescents in School Settings. (Taboada, Taggart, Holloway, et al., Health Promot Pract.)
Dancing and the Brain (Edwards, Harvard Medical School)
Dance / Movement Therapy (Good Therapy)
Dance Medicine: Current Concepts (Miller, Physical Med & Rehab Clin of N Amer)
Dancing Intercorporality: A Health Humanities Perspective on Dance as a Healing Art (Purser, J of Medical Humanities)
What is Dance Medicine? (Keay, British Journal of Sport Medicine)
Dance for Neuroplasticity: A descriptive systematic review (Teixeira-Machado, Neurosci and Behav Rev)
Choreographing Lived Experience: Dance, Feelings and the Storytelling body (Eli & Kay, BMJ Med Hum)
Decolonizing Dance Pedagogy: Application of Pedagogies of Ugandan Traditional Dances in Formal Dance Education: Journal of Dance Education: Vol 15, No 4 (tandfonline.com)(Mabingo, Taylor & Francis)
Rehumanizing Clinical Language Through Classical Indian Dance | Journal of Ethics | American Medical Association (ama-assn.org) (Darivemula et. al, AMA Journal of Ethics)
Dancing During Labor: Social Media Trend or Future Practice? (nih.gov) (Toberna et. al, Journal of Patient-Centered Research and Reviews)
Performing My First Caesarean: A Reflection on the Intersection of Dance and Surgery (Darivemula & Prakash, Intima)
Dancing doctors: exploring the potential of cultural dance education to improve cultural competency and clinical communication – ScienceDirect (Darivemula, Bhatia, & Bhumi, Royal Society for Public Health)
Dance Therapy For Dementia (LivingHealthyChicago)
Clinical Basics of Dance Medicine (NYU)
The Aseemkala Initiative Mahavidyas in Medicine Danced Narrative Medicine Series (Aseemkala)
Health care workers are dancing on social media to cheer up the quarantined and relieve stress (CNN)
Dance to Battle Cancer: A Story by Ananda Shankar Jayant (TED)
Dancing for Health: Conquering and Preventing Stress (Hanna)
The Art and Science of Dance / Movement Therapy : Life is dance (Chaiklin & Wengrower)
Finding Balance: Fitness, Training, and Health for a Lifetime in Dance (Berardi)
The Oxford Handbook – Dance and Wellbeing (Karkou & Lycouris)
Dance as a Healing Art: Returning to Health with Movement and Imagery (Halprin)
Reimagining Medicine Festival
Panel Discussion: Pathways to Careers in Dance Medicine and Science (22nd Annual Meeting – IADMS)
Dance, Theater, and Medicine Panel – Dec. 4, 2021