Healing through dance

A LOCAL dancer has penned a book which she hopes will help people remove the 'skeletons' from their lives, through the art of dance.

Senta Duffield is a professional dancer, dance teacher, businesswoman, public speaker and author. She also runs a successful dance studio in Durban.

She is passionate about dance healing and helping people through dance.

Senta has always been interested in writing and has written articles and some unfinished stories in the past.

“I have been teaching dance for 10 years with the main emphasis on healing through dance, be it sub-consciously such as growing self-confidence, or healing in a real way. The idea behind putting together this book was to find a way to reach further than through classes at my studio in Morningside,” she said.

Senta feels that without even stepping into a dance class, you have access to one of the most powerful healing modalities and can benefit from the profound joy, strength, grace and love that dance offers you.

“We all have a skeleton in our closet. Something that we have done or that has happened to us that has made our lives difficult, has caused us pain and has left physical, mental and emotional scars. George Bernard Shaw said 'If you can't get rid of the skeleton in your closet, you'd best teach it to dance', and the book is based on this quote,” she said.

Senta's book, Dancing with your Skeletons, is a three part book, offering three different and separate ways to experience dance healing, or a book as a whole, giving you an amazing tool to gently and easily facilitate dance healing in your own life.

“Every dance begins with one step, reading this book is your first step in a new, beautiful and exciting dance. The first part is made up of 10 stories from local and South African dancers who have healed through dance, from 'skeletons' such as cancer, anorexia and abuse, which has held them back in their lives. The second part is finding ways to connect with this skeleton and 'dance with it' and the third part is a dance directory, where 44 popular dances are described, explained and the healing qualities are shown,” she said.

The book took Senta six months to put together. The first story in the book is about her 'skeleton', and she said it was a bit scary for her to know that her story is now 'out there', although she was very excited and proud of the finished product.

Now that the book has been published, she is hoping to put her creative talents into making 'angel cards' showing 44 different dances, which people could choose to learn each day.

“There were also a lot more than 10 stories out there about dancers who have healed through dance, and I am to put together a bigger dance story book. I will write more, the rest is still to come,” she said.

Senta is married to husband, Warren, who is also a dancer. While their lives revolve around dance, she still has time for her hobby of making porcelain dolls and attends classes on Wednesday mornings.

“When your hobby becomes your life, you need something else as an outlet!” she said.

The book has been published by American publishers, Balboa Press, which is a division of Hay House. Senta is working on a printing a more affordable South African copy, which she hopes will be available in a few weeks.

You can currently find the book on Amazon, where there is also an e-book version available.

Contact Senta on 082 829 3658.