Our mission is to help girls and women develop body trust and autonomy during the major reproductive health transitions of our lives. We do so by networking, researching, developing and updating programs, consulting, and educating and training dance/movement/fitness instructors. All of our work is aimed at improving health and well-being for girls and women as we travel through the mental and physical changes that mark our experience .
Our programs focus on three things:
1) The Global Trainers Project, which centers on training and updating of dance/movement/fitness activities during the major reproductive health transitions.
2) Creating a DTP5 Research Endowment to provide stipends to midwifery, ob/gyn and women’s health student researchers studying the effects of dance/movement-based activities during the various life stages.
3) Operations, or the necessary functions of a non-profit charity including reports, fees, supplies, communications, fundraising, and accounting.
Girls and women deserve state-of-the art activities to learn how our bodies work, a friendly and fun community, and psycho-social support with appropriate cultural grounding. Our identities as girls and women, whether or not we choose or are able to have children, are strongly affected by the reproductive rhythms of our lives. We believe that engaging in physical activity, especially dancing, promotes success during times of reproductive transition.
While it is critical to have laws that assure autonomy, ultimately the greatest power we own is achieved by actualizing body trust at a profound level – something we learn through movement and acknowledgement of the circular rhythms and power of our lives. The term embodied knowledge describes the wisdom we develop as our physical experiences speak to our self-awareness. Our programs are aimed at providing dance-based activities and research that supports this goal.
Research shows that dance promotes social bonding, mental acuity, well-being, and improves measures of health and self-advocacy throughout the life-span. As the importance of the arts in mental and physical health continues to be recognized, the impact of dance grows in value.
DTP relies on established evidence-based dance and neuro-somatic training methods for creation of programming. These methods include Demonstration/Return Demonstration (the perceptual and motor skill divide in attention), Centering (balance, deep breathing, and parasympathetic flow state), Ideokinesis (external imagery and interoception practices), Alexander technique (natural posture), Feldenkrais (awareness through movement), and Effort/Shape (perception of how people use space, time and energy).
…about our Global Trainers project
…how to become a DTP Pre/postnatal Instructor
…how to join our network
…how to contact us
…how to help us grow our Research Endowment!
Bookmark our site and return to find updates about new training, networking or research. Let us know what we can do for you!
Selected References on pertinent research findings are near the bottom of this page.
Brand C, Leite N, Lopes WA, Dias AF, da Silva LR, Araujo Gaya AC, Mota J, Cavaglieri CR, Gaya AR. Adiposity and adipocytokines: the moderator role of cardiorespiratory fitness and pubertal stage in girls. J Pediatr Endocrinol Metab. 2019 Mar 26;32(3):239-246. doi: https://10.1515/jpem-2018-0407. PMID: 30844760.
Chaplin LN, Norton MI. Why we think we can’t dance: theory of mind and children’s desire to perform. Child Dev. 2015 Mar-Apr;86(2):651-8. doi: https://10.1111/cdev.12314. Epub 2014 Nov 9. PMID: 25382670.
Ishikawa S, Kim Y, Kang M, Morgan DW. Effects of weight-bearing exercise on bone health in girls: a meta-analysis. Sports Med. 2013 Sep;43(9):875-92. doi: https://10.1007/s40279-013-0060-y. PMID: 23754172.
Akin B & Saydam BK. 2020. The effect of labor dance on perceived labor pain, birth satisfaction and neonatal outcomes. Explore 16(5):310-31. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1550830720302044?via%3Dihub
Alfdaniels Mabingo (2022): Decolonizing Assessment in Dance Education: Ubuntu as an Evaluative Framework in Indigenous African Dance Education Practices, Journal of Dance Education, DOI: https://10.1080/15290824.2021.2004313
Basso JC, Satyal MK and Rugh R (2021) Dance on the Brain: Enhancing Intra- and Inter-Brain Synchrony. Frontiers of Human Neuroscience 14:584312. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnhum.2020.584312/full
Cowlin AF, Tefler M, Kennedy HP. 2022. Body-Trust: Women’s Experience and Outcomes in a Dance-for-Health Pregnancy Program. Poster for 67th American College of Nurse Midwives Annual Meeting.
Cowlin AF. 2002. Women’s Fitness Program Development. Human Kinetics. Available via Amazon.
Gönenç IM, Dikmen HA. 2020. Effects of Dance and Music on Pain and Fear During Childbirth, JOGNN 49:2. March 2020. Pp. 144-153. https://www.jognn.org/article/S0884-2175(20)30002-2/fulltext
Hanna JL. To Dance is Human; A theory of non-verbal communication, U of Texas Press, 1979.
Tarr B, Launay J, Cohen E, Dunbar R. 2015. Synchrony and exertion during dance independently raise pain threshold and encourage social bonding. Biol. Lett. 11: 20150767. http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2015.0767
Wray H. All together now: The universal appeal of moving in unison. Scientific American Mind. April 1, 2009. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/were-only-human-all-together-now/
Janyacharoen T, Phusririt C, Angkapattamakul S, Hurst CP, Sawanyawisuth K. Cardiopulmonary effects of traditional Thai dance on menopausal women: a randomized controlled trial. J Phys Ther Sci. 2015 Aug;27(8):2569-72. doi: https://10.1589/jpts.27.2569. Epub 2015 Aug 21. PMID: 26357441; PMCID: PMC4563316.
Pichierri G, Murer K, de Bruin ED. A cognitive-motor intervention using a dance video game to enhance foot placement accuracy and gait under dual task conditions in older adults: a randomized controlled trial. BMC Geriatr. 2012 Dec 14;12:74. doi: https://10.1186/1471-2318-12-74. PMID: 23241332; PMCID: PMC3538689.
Teixeira GR, Veras ASC, Rocha APR, Chedid SS, Freitas Júnior IF, Neto RAF, Gobbo LA, Buonani C. Dance practice modifies functional fitness, lipid profile, and self-image in postmenopausal women. Menopause. 2021 Jul 19;28(10):1117-1124. doi: https://10.1097/GME.0000000000001818. PMID: 34284435.
Singh B, Olds T, Curtis R, et al. Effectiveness of physical activity interventions for improving depression, anxiety and distress: an overview of systematic reviews. Br J Sports Med Epub ahead of print: 16 February 2023. Accessed 5 March 2023 doi: https://10.1136/bjsports-2022-106195.
