My house burned down

Home and relinquishment

Abstract

This article, originally presented in the context of and following a dance performance, discusses how the author, also the choreographer/performer and a dance therapist, works with movement and meaning as part of the therapeutic journey. Following some discussion about dance, the language of dance, and dance therapy, the article presents the view that the concept of relinquishment, as represented by the title of the paper, is intrinsically linked to the concept of home, and that, without recognising the significance of relinquishment, we cannot fully know or understand the concept of “home”. Both the dance work, represented in pictures in the text, and the paper itself explicate this link between home and relinquishment: presenting the idea that by recognising and embracing relinquishment we come closer to knowing wholeness and wellness. The article also describes how the performed dance My House Burned Down can be interpreted as a therapeutic process and, as such, can be seen to move through struggle to a new perspective on presently held ideas about ‘home,’ ‘self’ and the capacity and potential of one’s self.

Ko tēnei tuhinga, taketake ake i whakaatuhia i roto i te horopaki whakaari kanikani, ā, whai muri mai i matapakihia i pēhea tā te kaituhi, me te kaiwhakarite/kaikanikani me tētahi kaiwhakaora kaikanikani, whakamahi i ngā oreorehanga me ngā tikanga hai haerenga whakaora. I muri i tētahi matapakinga kanikani, ko te reo kanikani, me te whakaoranga kanikani, ka whakaatuhia e te tuhinga te aroro tuku, e ai ki tā te ingoa o te pepa, e mau pū ana ki te aroro mō kāinga , ā, inā kore e mōhio i te takenui o te tuku, kāre tātou e mōhio whānui, e mātau rānei ki te aroro o “kāinga”. Takirua ko te mahi kanikani whakaahuahia nei i roto i ngā whakaata kei roto i te kupu, me te tuhinga tonu e whakamārama ana i tē hononga o te kāinga me te tuku: he whakaaturanga i te ariā mā te kitenga, tauawhinga tukunga ka tata atu tātou ki te mōhiotanga o te kotahitanga me te oranga. Ka whakaahuahia anō hoki e te tuhinga me pēhea te whakaaritanga kanikani I Wera Taku Whare e taea ai te kī he takinga oranga ā, ka kitea te wheta ki tētahi tirohanga hou tae atu hoki te tētahi whakaarohanga hurihanga.