Work with Survivors of Domestic Violence

Movement Practice for Domestic Violence Survivors is a community-based educational program that uses movement, sound, and somatic practice to support survivors in reconnecting with their bodies, voices, and sense of agency.

The program responds in “culturally resonant, trauma-informed, person-centered, and survivor-defined ways”(Module 1, NCDVTMH). It was developed in collaboration with the anti-violence center Rompi il Silenzio in Rimini, Italy, with training and guidance from the National Center on Domestic Violence, Trauma & Mental Health (NCDVTMH) in the United States.

Grounded in a multidisciplinary approach to dance, sound, and somatic practice, the program creates a space where participants can explore movement and creative expression at their own pace. Rather than focusing on performance or physical ability, the practice centers choice, consent, self-awareness, and connection.

Through guided movement, sound, improvisation, and collective exploration, participants are invited to notice how experiences of violence may live in the body and to explore new possibilities for expression, boundaries, connection, and self-reclamation.

The program places particular value on compassion, creativity, joy, and collective care. It recognizes that healing is not linear and that every survivor brings their own history, culture, needs, and relationship to their body.

At its heart, the practice asks:

What becomes possible when survivors are given space to listen to their bodies, move on their own terms, and be witnessed within a supportive community?

The program is not therapy or a replacement for clinical treatment. Rather, it is an educational and creative practice designed to complement existing survivor-centered services and create additional pathways for connection, expression, and agency.