Image by Hingis Chang
A dance theatre experience created by Leah Cox, Kristen Osborn, and George Staib
*Completion of Intake Form required for attendance. Because this is Group Therapy, after all.
**well maybe just a little vulnerable but it won’t be traumatic. ***
***hopefully no childhood trauma will be triggered but you never know what someone’s trauma is, do you?****
****hugs and kleenex will be provided just in case.*****
*****ok we’ve really gone too far now.
GROUP THERAPY
Tell your kids you’re going to adult daycare.
GROUP THERAPY
Don’t be afraid. It’s all pretend.
(A dance-theater performance)
group therapy
dance. performance art. dance. messes.
because we’re all a work in progress.
GROUP THERAPY
You told your spouse you’d go. This could count towards that promise. (And she doesn’t have to know that what you actually attended was a piece of dance theatre.)
GROUP THERAPY
All you’ve ever wanted in a live art experience: adult daycare, art nap, dance, and theatre!
GROUP THERAPY
Crayons, markers, feelings, toys, time outs, Simon Says, story time, crafts, and more! Leah might even dance. A little bit.
GROUP THERAPY
I don’t know, I guess it couldn’t hurt?
Group Therapy:
We’re all a work in progress and so is this performance.
GROUP THERAPY
it’s actually dancing and make-believe
but…how does that make you feel?
group therapy
it’s not real therapy, it’s dance theatre.
but it might still help you.
give it a try. what’s the worst that could happen?
Those are all the tag lines we could come up with.
We’ll eventually figure out the right one,
but for now, we’re giving you all we’ve got.
A Message from the "Therapist"
Therapist’s note about the therapist’s note: The video says the same thing as the words below. Think of these as options for digital and non-digital natives.
Hi! I’m Leah. I decided to become an experimental experiential dance theatre therapist and open my own performance practice after a forty-eight-year apprenticeship with myself and a thirty-year tour of duty as an expert therapy-goer. (I believe I am very, very close to giving six figures to the therapy industry!)
About a year ago, after a day of teaching dance partnering and advising students in one-on-one discussions at the institution of higher education where I worked, I realized that I had done a damn good job, except for two small problems:
1. we were at week seven of the semester and no one had touched one another in the partnering class,
and
2. my box of tissues—sent to me by my therapist for use in our zoom therapy sessions—had been depleted by students who had exclusively talked to me about the latest adulting issues they were experiencing.
“Self,” I said, “It seems you are confused. You are not a dance teacher. Somewhere along the way, you became a dance therapist.”
I walked to my car, too unsettled to listen to my Taylor Swift/Harry Styles/Beyonce playlist on the way. After a few deep breaths, I put my lunch bag on the ground and realized that all I wanted was
!!! TRIGGER WARNING !!!
PHYSICAL CONTACT PREVIOUSLY UTILIZED BY ALL KINDS OF PPL
—INCLUDING STRANGERS—IN THE LATE 20th CENTURY ABOUT TO BE MENTIONED
All I wanted was a hug.
But I couldn’t figure out who to ask for such a thing that would not risk a Title IX violation or extreme social awkwardness for ppl who might happen to view such an exchange of nonverbal affirmation happening in the heavily trafficked walkway. So I lay down on the lawn in front of my parking spot and gave myself a COVID hug.
It almost worked.
Almost.
But when I was down there, laying on the grass, I smelled the dirt, and it reminded me of playing in the woods behind my house when I was little, getting really dirty while my dad puttered around in the back yard and my mom made dinner inside and my little brother did whatever my little brother did back then. It reminded me of how the smart ppl at Harper’s magazine once printed something about how the smell of dirt makes ppl happy. As I lay on the ground, giving myself that big, long COVID hug, I checked in and concluded that I felt happy. Or happy-ish.
This dance therapy theatre show won’t have any moments of playing in the dirt, but it might make you feel a little bit okay about being a mess, or it might make you remember what it felt like to get your fingernails dirty because you played with real dirt, or it might make you want to reach out to that college friend who used to always show up to your apartment to wash their dirty clothes in your washing machine. Seems to me that any of these experiences are worthwhile. Or at least offer an interesting departure from whichever Netflix series you’re currently watching while you fold the laundry.
NONCOMMITTAL ENDORSEMENT:
A NOTE FROM THE “THERAPIST’S” THERAPIST
Leah is persistent. She consistently blows past the subtle hints that it’s time to wrap up her monologue and let me talk for awhile.
She’s also consistent. I can count on her to listen. On occasion, she even stops listening to herself long enough to hear what I’m trying to tell her.
I am sure that you’ll find her entertaining. She has been known to pull my attention from the Ken Burns series I’m watching on split screen during our Zoom sessions.
Above all, she’s a financial win. Thanks to her, I’m able to write this from my second home in the Cayman Islands.
DIY GROUP PLAYLIST
Add a tune to this playlist and play it whenever you want.
We might use it, too!!
DRAW
Art is therapeutic! Draw your feelings!
Here are some images for inspo.
JOURNAL
Journaling increases well-being. Use any of these prompts to get started. They’re almost as good as the prompts on the complimentary journaling app you got with your latest iPhone software update! (If you have an Android, we’re not sure what free therapeutic resources you’ve been given.)
What’s one idea you thought of in the shower that you’re really proud of and why? Or, what’s a role playing scenario you’ve recently realized in the shower and did it help?
If a plastic bag could do something other than carry things, be recycled, sit in a landfill, or choke unsuspecting marine life, what do you wish it could do?
Which public figure do you think would give an awesome hug and why?
For one week, if you did not have to dress a certain way for work, or contend with environmental factors like heat, snow, rain, humidity, etc., what would you wear or how would you dress?
If you could be a baby toy for one day, which one would you be and why?
What’s the dirtiest you’ve ever been and how did you get that way?
When did you learn to tie your shoes and where were you when you finally figured that out?
ASK ENDURING QUESTIONS
You can be a therapist, too! Help us create our client intake form here by adding a question that you think any person attending Group Therapy should be prepared to think about.
CONGRATULATIONS!
YOU’VE MADE IT TO THE END OF THIS WEBPAGE!
If you’ve read this far, you have a longer attention span than the average bear, and I know a lot about you. I think you could be:
not paying attention to the content and are just looking for pictures
a child who has gotten hold of a parent’s device
lacking in apps on your device to distract you from what you’re supposed to be doing
-my copy editor.
a finish-it-no-matter-what kind of person
No matter…
Welcome! We are kindred spirits and I can’t WAIT to meet you IRL!
You’re gonna love Group Therapy
