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Workshop

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Hilda Wengrower

Memory: a kaleidoscope

Memory and memories have been studied in psychology and psychotherapy. Both guide our being in the world and are part of our identity and experience of self. Contrary to what was supposed for years, memories are elusive, and different people may emphasize different perspectives of what might be presumed to be the same situation or fact, with no coincidence in these views. For many decades, psychotherapy based on Freudian theory set the unearthing of repressed memories as one of its main goals, in order to heal the patient. Due to our knowing and valuing the potential of the arts to contribute to this endeavour, arts therapies have also become involved in this process. It has been common ground that memories affect both the understanding of the world and of one’s life, it is part of the moulding of one’s personal future.

Postmodernism brought several changes to psychotherapy, among them, the narrative models inspired by research and the work of Jerome Brunner. Narrative psychotherapy adds another stage to the process of excavating memories: to scrutinise those memories with which the patient lives and, where needed, to introduce some transformation.
Another source for this new standpoint emerges from the work of the Argentinian psychoanalyst, Fiorini: The Creating Psyche. Based on Freud, Winnicott, phenomenology and an extensive research of the creative process in artists, Fiorini points to an open attitude that challenges classical psychological determinism, thus leaving space for exploring the Possible (Heidegger) and hope.
The workshop will offer participants the opportunity to share a personal memory in small groups, allowing the experience of working creatively with it through movement/dance, looking at memory as a kaleidoscope.

La Memoria: un caleidoscopio

La memoria y los recuerdos han sido estudiados en psicología y psicoterapia. Ambos guían nuestro estar en el mundo y son parte de nuestra identidad y experiencia de self. Al contrario de lo supuesto durante años, ambos son elusivos y las personas tienen versiones diferentes sobre lo que supone es el mismo hecho. A lo largo de décadas la psicoterapia basada en la teoría freudiana se propuso como uno de sus objetivos desvelar los recuerdos reprimidos de los pacientes. A partir de nuestros conocimientos y el potencial que reconocemos en las artes para contribuir con este empeño, las terapias a través de las artes se han envuelto en este proceso. Sabemos que los recuerdos afectan no sólo nuestra comprensión del mundo y de nuestra vida, también son parte del modelado de nuestro futuro personal.
El postmodernismo trajo varios cambios a la psicoterapia, entre ellos la terapia narrativa inspirada en el trabajo de Jerome Brunner. Este tipo de terapia añade otro paso en el proceso de excavación de las memorias: el escrutinio de aquellos recuerdos con los que el paciente vive, y cuándo es necesario, propone la búsqueda de una transformación.
Otra fuente para esta postura emerge del trabajo del psicoanalista argentino Fiorini: El psiquismo creador. Basado en Freud, Winnicott, la fenomenología y una extensa investigación del proceso creativo en los artistas, Fiorini apunta a una actitud abierta que desafía el determinismo freudiano y abre un camino para la exploración de lo Posible (Heidegger) y la esperanza.
Este taller ofrecerá los participantes compartir un recuerdo en pequeños grupos, abriendo el trabajo creativo a través del movimiento/danza con el mismo y observar al recuerdo como un caleidoscopio

Hilda Wengrower, Ph.D., DMT, teaches and lectures in Israel at the School for Arts and Society-Ono Academic College and internationally. She maintains a private practice that includes supervision. Hilda has published papers and chapters in several languages on subjects related to arts therapies in educational settings, dance movement therapy (DMT) with children with behavioural disorders, migration, arts-based research and DMT, DMT and psychiatry. She is the Head of the DMT section at the Israeli Association for Arts Therapies and is delegate to several international associations. She is book reviews editor of the International Journal Body, Movement and Dance in Psychotherapy.

Recent publications and conference presentations
2018: The dance movement therapist’s awareness in the trans-cultural encounter. Workshop at the 3rd conference of the European Assoc. of DMT, Athens. Sept. 2018

Publications
Hougham, R., Pitruzzella, S., Scoble, S. & Wengrower, H. (2019). Traditions in transition in the Arts Therapies. Plymouth. UPP.

Wengrower, H. & Chaiklin, S. (Eds.) (2020) Dance and Creativity within Dance Movement Therapy. International Perspectives. New York, Routledge.

Wengrower, H. & Bendel Rozow, T. (2020). Integration in motion. In: Volpe, U. (ed.), Arts-therapies in psychiatric rehabilitation – evidence and experience. New York, Springer.

Panel for the 3rd edition of the book The creating psyche. Presenters from Barcelona, Basque Country, Buenos Aires, Madrid, Tel Aviv. Oct. 2020.

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