Day3
Time’s so fast! It is already the third day and a half of the project is over. I’m feeling quite nervous since the day of the practice of the workshop is near, while feeling a bit sour at the same time since I’ll have to leave the place filling with warmth and happiness in two days.
We watched a documentary about dance therapy in the morning. It talked about how people suffering from different mental illnesses, such as depression, anxiety, dementia, Parkinson’s, and Asperger’s disease, benefit from dance therapy. A grandma with Parkinson’s disease left me a deep impression: At first, she wasn’t even able to go shopping independently because of the disease, but through dance therapy, she felt the freedom of moving once again. In the interview, she said: “Every time the music plays, I feel like I’m going to jump gently and fly over all these shelves in the supermarket. And when I finally came back to the reality, I found myself walking——something I couldn’t do for years.” Eventually, even the mere imagination of dancing enables her to walk. For her, dancing is far more than a tool to excite endorphins, but a true spiritual pillar that provides them with ceaseless energy.
The discussion of the workshop continued after the documentary. I came up with the idea of making a “guide paper”, that helps elderly people to turn their vocal expression to artistic expression, therefore to guarantee that they won’t be too bewildered while being asked to start their artwork. I just finished these guide papers (all drawn by hand!) before I wrote this diary late at night, and all my groupmates complimented my creativity.
The teacher said that the first two days were too tiring and stressful for us, so she decided to allocate an afternoon for relaxation. We embraced nature all together——I missed this feeling so much, being away from the worries and pressure or addiction to electronic devices, paying all attention to the contact of my body and the masterpiece of the nature. Of course, this activity is not solely for rest, though. We were also asked to observe the elements in nature that can be used in any form in our workshop. Our group played a small game during the activity: half of us will look for leaves, fruits or other elements and take them to the other half of people, and the other half will have to feel the texture of these things and guess what they are. What this game inspired me is the power of sense of touch. After the activity, I also checked for information on tactile sensation playing a role in therapies, emphasized the importance of it to let patients calm down or relax, and added small parts about touch in the design of our workshop as well.
In the winter, the trees in the forests were just baked branches decorated with sporadic falling leaves. They reminded me of the elderly people. Maybe they recognize them as falling leaves, as withered, as inanimate, and are going to fall due to the disconnection from the tree trunk of society. However, their destination can still be that warm and fertilized soil——the service centers, the nursing homes, or a lot of other organizations, people who would like to take care of them, understand them, and help them from the bottom of their hearts, somewhere as warm as a home.
I love this small trip in the afternoon! Although the weather is freezing cold, nature made me feel refreshed, energized, and really comfortable——Me in nature is like a leave in the stream, being washed, and refreshed.
Almost forgot, it’s my birthday today!!!! And all the teachers gave me a BIG surprise! So considerate that I feel like crying. Since I was too shy, I didn’t tell anybody in the project that the third day of this activity is my birthday. However, the teachers still got it when looking at the personal information I handed in before the project started. In the evening we were taking a course about field research and interviews to prepare for the research we are going to do tomorrow. And when the class finally ended, the teacher surprisingly said: “Last but not least, it is a really special day today, which is——Jessica’s birthday!” And then all of a sudden, all the other teachers came out, playing the “Happy Birthday” music and holding a huge cake. They even prepared small presents for me!! All my groupmates complained about me hiding this “serious secret” since they did not have time to prepare for the present. All of them were so cute and warm, I love them so much!
And the discussion at night was about the questions for the interview tomorrow. Tomorrow we are going to visit a nursing home nearby and perform there, and in the afternoon we will complete our field research. The schedule’s kind of full and busy, but I’m still looking forward to it.