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“Therapy through Dance”

As a professional danseuse Dilshad Patel needs no introduction. She is among the first Indian dance professionals to combine dance with creative movement therapy and exercise in a unique wellness experience.

Her twenty year career has seen her grace the stage as a national level Bharat Natyam dancer in India, followed by specialized training in Afro Caribbean, Contemporary, Salsa and Jazz in New York.

Dilshad has trained in Dance and Movement therapy at the Harkness Dance Centre in New York, where she taught at schools, colleges, psychiatric departments in hospitals and residential treatment centers for emotional and behavioral disorders.

She also earned a scholarship in the Work-Study Program at the Garth Fagan Dance School in New York. Garth Fagan is the celebrated choreographer of the Broadway musical “Lion King”, which won him the Tony Award. She was also chosen to be part of an artist-in-residence program by the city school District of Rochester, New York.

Her years of experience and her in-depth knowledge of dance have led her to make an entrepreneurial interpretation of her artistry and expertise.

This unique fun filled class integrates structure through various styles of dance and encourages the mind and body connection through unstructured movement. Using elements such as effort, space, flow and time and various qualities of movement, students are encouraged to explore their bodies and emotions in relationship to their surroundings. Personalized training is available through group classes or private sessions.

Dilshad spoke to Yourstory and explained how one may benefit from her teachings saying “Creative dance and movement therapy helps those who are generally healthy as well as those with mental illnesses and with physical or mental disabilities to regain a sense of wholeness by experiencing the unity of the body, mind and spirit. Children, teens, adults as well as senior citizens and special populations can all benefit from this form of alternate medicine.”