The Therapy of Dance Classes in Prison

Dancing is an art. It amazes me how our body can easily move to the beat of any music. If we really listen to music we can move every part of our body: feet, hips, shoulders, arms, etc., even our heart and soul to every note of a song like the stars in the sky.

I love to dance and I use dancing for therapy, especially in my last 10 grim years of incarceration. I dance in my cubicle by myself, I dance on the track when I am jogging or walking, I dance in my workplace (only when I am by myself and no police are around), I dance in the shower (without music), I dance everywhere and anytime that the notes of a song touch my heart. If I am feeling depressed, homesick or feeling miserable as a prisoner, I turn on my radio (with head-phones) and I dance. Within a few seconds, I am full of energy, happy and looking forward to the future. Dancing is better than Prozac, Xanax, Wellbutron, or any illegal or legal anti depressant drugs.

A few months ago I was reading an article in the newspaper about ballet classes being taught to female prisoners in Japan. In the picture, the faces of the female prisoners were so relaxed and peaceful while they were performing their ballet routine. Then a few weeks later, on the TV I saw a program that presented a dancing school for children with disabilities (Down Syndrome, Autism, etc) and a couple of children with Down Syndrome performed a dance. Their faces reflected concentration, pride and happiness and they performed perfectly. I said to myself: "Dancing is good for people, especially children and women with mental illness and disabilities". At that moment I made the decision to make a schedule in my busy life to volunteer myself to teach dance class. So on February 11, 2006 my Modern Dance class started: a two hour class on Saturdays (6-8 pm). I teach mambo, cha-cha-cha, samba, merengue, salsa and African beats. It is a hard routine.

Around the same time that my class started, a lady from Cuba self-surrendered to this institution. From the day she walked in, we all knew that she had mental problems: she did not sleep, she walked around all night, talked and walked tirelessly. One day she had a nervous break-down during mass. It is very sad to see a human being in that stage of mental disbalance-- she crawled on the floor, hung on the altar, was pulling at the priest's cloths, screaming incoherent words and crying like a child. We did not know what to do. She was taken to an isolation cell or watch cell, which is a cell with a big window that you are under watch 24-7. When she came back from the isolation cell she was like a zombie.

Some of my students invited her to my dance class and the first day that she came, she sat in a corner (holding her knees) and just watched me and the students. The second time she did not sit, she said she was going to try it, and stayed in the back of the class. When it was time to start I said to my students: "positions, on the count of 5 we will start with the right foot." I always turn my back to my students so they can see the movement and we can turn right and left together. After we started I said, "Get ready for the routine. Do not forget, back straight, suck your stomach in, breasts out, shoulders back, move your hips with elegance, your fingers softly extended. Now, travel to the right, to the left, getting ready to turn. When we turn, lift your leg with elegance, raise your arms and jump." I continued and said, "Do not forget your hips. Move your hips with the sound of the music." The music is on loud. I am giving the instructions louder. Everybody is sweating, so I turned to see how my students were doing and I saw the lady jumping, smiling and following the routine perfectly with such joy. I could not believe it. I started jumping and saying to myself, "I did it! I did it! I made her smile and enjoy life!" After the class was over, all my students congratulated her. She came to me and said, "Thanks Guanipa. This is the first time in my life that I did not need a pill to feel happy." I was convinced at that moment that a dance class is a good therapy, and if it takes us away from prison life for just a few short hours and makes us happy, maybe it is something to be considered as a positive activity in our meaningless prison lives.

I love you all. Yraida Guanipa (Leo)