Dance in psychiatric wards: freeing the mind through

the body 

Copélia Mainardi

Can dance relieve mental disorders? This is what Valvert University Hospital in Marseilles is betting on, working with local choreographer Julien Lestel’s company in a special collaboration. CN D Magazine attended a performance in which psychiatric patients and healthcare professionals dance together to relieve suffering through movement, and experiment with a different kind of caregiving relationship. 

Ravel’s Bolero fills the room as the ten of them, dressed in loose-fitting clothes and colorful T-shirts, criss-cross the stage, dodging each other to the haunting beat. It’s show day at the CHU de Valvert, a psychiatric hospital located in Marseilles’ eastern 11^th arrondissement. This wildly diverse group has been invited to present a performance of the artistic explorations they’ve done as part of a “guided dance workshop” led by Gilles Porte. 

Porte, a dancer with the Marseille-based company Julien Lestel, has been running workshops here two or three times a month for seven years. “This day is like a celebration of everything we’ve shared,” he smiles, visibly moved. His practice is similar to dance therapy, which uses dance movement as a means of expression, communication, and healing. This discipline stems from early modern dance history, taking inspiration from the free dances of Loïe Fuller and Isadora Duncan, the theories of Rudolf Laban, and workshops led by American Anna Halprin with cancer and AIDS patients in the 1980s. It’s a practice at the intersection of art and wellness that is now becoming increasingly regulated. 

In France a diploma in the field of healthcare or social work is essential to be hired in the vast majority of public medical institutions. Private centers are sometimes more flexible, but official training is still expected. Most specialized centers are based in Paris – such as Free Dance Song, Atelier du Geste Rythmé, or the Universite Paris Cite Lestel, who initially trained in classical dance, has proven an exception. “I incorporate different techniques combining contemporary dance and everyday movements,” he says. “It’s all about getting the body moving, using dance as a medium for our emotions,” 

A sustained focus on the body, often neglected during traditional psychiatric consultations that concentrate on the patient’s mental state, opens up new possibilities. This is what Lise Couzinier has been working on for nearly fifteen years, calling on professionals from different disciplines to make room for art in hospitals – particularly dance, which provides a welcome release from nervous tension. “I occupy a somewhat unique position, outside the caregiver-patient relationship,” explains Couzinier, who is head of cultural affairs at Valvert. “Over time, I’ve gotten to know the patients well, and they trust me. During a cigarette break or after soccer practice, I regularly manage to convince them to give it a try.” The current group has grown to include up to forty people, including patients and healthcare staff. With her infectious energy, Couzinier is the first to lead by example.

“It didn’t matter if you didn’t really know how to dance. I regret not trying it sooner!” Mathilde

The afternoon program includes a warm-up, followed by a choreography workshop to Ravel’s Boléro. Participants then perform a second exercise to the lively music of Bizet’s opera Carmen: crossing the room, interrupted when the instructor claps his hands. Afterwards, the team, along with other patients and some of the participants’ relatives, gather for a snack.

Mathilde, who has been hospitalized for several months, says she feels “recharged.” “I’m a very stressed person who overthinks everything, but here, I completely let go,” she says. Although she is not very tactile and has a conflictual relationship with her own body, the 32-year-old particularly enjoyed the physical contact exercises. “I felt a kindness that immediately reassured me. There were lots of women from different generations, and everyone could come as they were... It didn’t matter if you didn’t really know how to dance. I regret not trying it sooner!”

Medical secretaries, nurses, and doctors are also taking the plunge. “It was a real challenge for me, as I have no dance experience,” says Stéphanie Toy-Riont, a psychiatrist and the head of a full-time hospitalization unit. “I found it very interesting to be confronted with the same constraints as my patients, to overcome my fear of doing something wrong,” she says. “The exercises created trust and camaraderie, far from the hierarchical relationship our respective positions imply.” This, she continues,allows both patients and staff to put certain feelings into words during consultations and helps to release blocked emotional states, which would not necessarily have been expressed in this way during more formal consultations. 

Caroline, a 25-year-old patient, agrees: “Having doctors participate breaks down barriers.” This is undoubtedly because the workshops offered by Ballet Julien Lestel, which focuses on fluid, unrestrained movement, allows patients to let go in a way that most of them are otherwise unable to do, with real therapeutic benefits: “Everyone should have the right to be free and move as they please,” argues Frédérique, a patient on the verge of tears as she leaves a workshop that has clearly moved her. “I’m tired and very uncomfortable in my own skin, but here I feel at ease: it’s liberating, accessible, and non-judgmental.” 

A nurse at a day hospital in Aubagne, about 12 kilometers from here, Sabine Comiti retired in the spring but was keen to be part of the presentation to mark the end of an adventure that had occupied her for several years. To ensure her patients didn’t miss the event, she drove them there in a minibus. “On the way back, we felt a sense of pride and real pleasure,” she recalls. “I noticed how some autistic patients who had difficulty touching and being touched let loose during the exercise. By breaking down certain barriers, dance restores confidence and self-esteem.” 

The smallish group of people in this final staging is not representative of the average attendance at the workshop, as some supervisors believe that having a performance may have discouraged participants who were resistant to any kind of pressure. But others, such as Caroline, seem motivated by a public presentation. “Like end-of-year shows when we were kids: having a goal sometimes helps!” This patient admits that she sometimes finds time dragging, and sees these activities as a healthy distraction. “Right now, as I’m talking to you, I feel good about myself. So today is a good day.”

Copélia Mainardi is a journalist. She has worked with several big publications such as Télérama, Libération, Le Monde diplomatique and France Culture, reporting, investigating and making documentaries. She studied French literature and then worked in France Culture, the “28 minutes” program on Arte and the culture department of Marianne. She follows closely what is happening on the cultural scene, in the performing arts and literature.

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