3/18/2026 - Week 10 / Meeting 16: Blanche Evan / Enigma Project
HOOK
Understanding Emotional Regulation
A regulated nervous system develops when your body has repeated experiences of safety that are real, not conceptual. That means environments where threat is low, pace is manageable, and your signals are not ignored or overridden. It also means learning to notice early signs of overload and responding sooner rather than pushing through. Regulation is not staying calm all the time. It is the capacity to move through activation and return, over and over, without getting stuck.
An integrated brain, in interpersonal neurobiology (IPNP) terms means that one's sensations, emotions, thoughts, and actions can stay linked rather than splitting off from each other under stress. (Does this sound like integration?) That happens when your lived experience in named accurately and met with respect. When someone helps you make sense of what your body is doing without pathologizing it, those internal systems start working together again. (They begin to integrate). This is why relational support matters more than insight alone. (This is why therapy makes sense. In the past, when we used to have a healthy and strong family unit, relational support came from a granny, an uncle, a family friend.)
Secure attachment emerges from having enough experience, past or present, where connection is predictable, respectful, and responsive. That can come from friends, partners, mentors, community, or even animals and nature. (When does secure attachment takes place?). Over time those experiences teach your body that closeness does not automatically mean danger or loss of self (DMT helps with this when using movement metaphors and/or dancing images).
These are shaped in relationship and environment. Healing looks less like fixing oneself and more like gradually surrounding one's body with conditions where it not longer has to stay on guard (Are we referring to our fight-flight mechanism?). When those conditions are present often enough, regulation, integration, and attachment start to arise on their own.
About the Shadow
Sunlight shines on us and casts our shadow on the earth. In the same way, the inner light of consciousness shines in each of us, and casts an inner shadow wherever we're not transparent. Any act thought or feeling we perceive as "not right" casts a shadow. So, it is true that "if you spot it, you got it." (6) Thus, we all know at some level that "pulling a geographic" is ineffective, "we cant run away from our problems because we are their source."
Still, most of us stay blind to our shadow, which we readily project onto others "partners, parents, strangers on the street, media personalities. We all project our most negative and positive traits outward, even though to others the are as "as plain as the nose on your face." Trouble is, we can't see our own nose without s mirror. Life is that mirror. If we look into our life, we can develop personal and relational consciousness. (Which is what we aim to do in therapy).
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Unit: Blanche Evan
Theme: Enigma Project
Introduction
Blanche
Evan believed in the use of dance as a creative way to transform the
individual. There is so much to learn from this pioneer of
Dance/Movement Therapy. In this interview she shares her methodology
through important advice about how to lead a therapy session using dance.
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Learning Objective
- Understand the learning history of Evan from her beginnings as a dancer to the moment she became a therapist
- Explain the focus of a dance/movement therapist and the use of functional technique
- Gain an awareness of the neurosis suffered by urban dwellers
- Experience the design of a dance/movement therapy session using Evan's ideas
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Check In
IV
Main Lesson
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4
ENIGMA PROJECT
An Interview with Blanche Evan
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A Note to Remember
Blanche Evan, a dancer and choreographer, was a pioneer in the development of dance therapy. Her psycho-physical method refers to an experience that occurs concurrently on psychological and physical levels and describes the complex impact that the body has on the psyche, and that the psyche has on the body.
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Case Study
Students and Faculty discuss the MA in Dance Movement Therapy and Counseling at Antioch New England. Dance/Movement Therapy integrates the mind, body, and spirit through verbal and non-verbal treatment approaches to wellness. The program is approved by the American Dance Therapy Association (ADTA).
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Activity 1
Students gather in groups. There will be a total of 6 groups. Each group will address 2 of the questions listed below by presenting on their answers.
STUDENT'S WORK
1. Students answer all their group questions
2. Create a Bibliography on Evan's work (links, books, videos)
3. Present their answers
4. Answer new questions to the rest of the class
Questions
GROUP 1
Page 6
1. When trying to establish a lineage in Evan's dance training, who was the teacher that influenced her most in the use of dance as therapy?
Page 8
2. Tracking Evan's experience in dance as therapy, what was her first time working with a special population?
GROUP 2
Page 9
3. When was Evan's turning point from creative dance to dance therapy? Explain.
Page 10
4. According to Evan what should be the focus of the therapist?
GROUP 3
Page 11
5. What did Evan do when the client never danced before?
6. According to Evan what is Functional Technique?
GROUP 4
Page 12
7. According to Evan, what is the role of intuition in therapy?
Pages 12-13
8. How does Evan describe the "urban neurotic" from NY and elsewhere?
GROUP 5
Page 13
9. Which are Evan's recommendations for those interested in becoming a dance therapist?
GROUP 6
Page 14 - 15
10. Why was Evan so in favor of using words in her dance therapy?
GROUP 7
Page 15 - 16
11. How did Evan summarize her objectives in dance therapy with her clients?
GROUP 8
Pages 16 - 17
12. What is your reflection on Evan's poetic description of a neurotic person? Using the concepts related to neuroticism in the introductory videos, how would you translate Evan's metaphors into actual ideas about people with neurosis. Based on your previous discussion, explain Evan's idea of the "urban neurotic."
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5. Each group develops a dance/movement self-therapy session based on/inspired-by the ideas expressed by Evan during her interview.
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Journaling
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Glossary
1. Neuroticism is a personality trait characterized by a heightened sensitivity to negative emotions and a tendency to experience them more intensely and frequently than others
2. Psychosis is a mental health condition characterized by a loss of touch with reality. It can manifest in various ways, including hallucinations, delusions, disorganized thinking, emotional disturbances and changes in behavior.
3. Interpersonal Neurobiology (IPNB), pioneered by Dr. Dan Siegel in the late 1990s, is a groundbreaking interdisciplinary framework that seeks to understand the mind, brain, and relationships. IPNB offers integration with findings from neuroscience, psychology, cognitive science, and attachment/ relational studies.
4. In 12-step groups, they often call it “pulling a geographic.” This is when you move from place to place to try to escape or run from your problems or circumstances. Living a life of adventure, I could probably be considered the “Geographic Queen” of recovery.
5. 12 Steps: While the methodology of each program differs, the purpose of a 12 step program is always the same –to help people struggling with addiction. The process includes different steps and goals that each member adheres to and accomplishes. According to the American Psychological Association, some common steps in the twelve-step process include:
- admitting that one cannot control one’s alcoholism, addiction or compulsion
- recognizing a higher power that can give strength
- examining past mistakes with the help of a sponsor (experienced member)
- making amends for these errors
- learning to live a new life with a new code of behavior
- helping others who suffer from the same alcoholism, addictions, or compulsions
The Principles of the Twelve Steps of AA:
6. "You spot it, you got it" syndrome: In other words, whatever we criticize most harshly in others may be a hallmark of our own psyche; what I hate most in you may actually be what I hate most in me.
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Sources
3. What is Interpersonal Neurobiology (IPNB)? Play Strong. https://playstronginstitute.com/play-therapy/complete-guide/neuroscience/what-is-interpersonal-neurobiology-ipnb
4. Vanessa (2013). Pulling a Geographic. Heroes in Recovery. https://heroesinrecovery.com/pulling-a-geographic/
5.
a) 12 Steps of AA and NA Explained in Simple Terms. https://www.holdfastrecovery.com/blog/12-steps-of-aa-and-na-explained-in-simple-terms/
b) Types of 12 Steps Programs. https://www.therecoveryvillage.com/treatment-program/aftercare/types-12-step-programs/
c) 12 Principles (Virtues) of AA: A Guide to Recovery. https://fherehab.com/learning/the-12-principles-of-aa/
6. Beck, Marthe. You Spot It, You've Got It. https://www.oprah.com/spirit/martha-beck-you-spot-it-youve-got-it
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