How my dance career shaped my journey as a well-rounded OT student

Modern dance and occupational therapy (OT) may seem like two distinct realms, but for me, they are beautifully interconnected. As a professional modern dancer transitioning into the field of occupational therapy, I realize the invaluable lessons and experiences from my dance career have uniquely shaped my journey. My years as a dancer have laid a solid foundation for my growth in this rewarding profession, including but not limited to my adaptability, visuospatial skills, and cognition.

Modern dance demands a deep awareness of the body: its movement, timing, visuospatial awareness, and sequencing. In OT, the connection between the mind and muscles allows for my advanced kinesthetic understanding to observe clients’ movements with precision. My skill of learning a dance by copying another person has allowed me to provide feedback for posture and positioning with OT clients. My sense of physicality has been a tremendous asset in my OT studies as it helps me physically and intellectually assess clients’ motor and process skills, identify functional limitations, position my body during transfers, and develop tailored interventions. I was trained to run at my fastest speed offstage from a pitch-black stage, or even rehearse running through a group of other dancers at the front of a circular moving stage at the Metropolitan Opera House with the orchestra and a 15-foot drop just inches from me. When a client needs to use the bathroom at night, I can teach them to employ some of the same visuospatial skills that I needed when exiting the stage in the dark. These skill sets enable me to thoroughly develop interventions that enhance and promote independence in their daily activities.

Dance is an art of constant innovation and creative problem solving. Choreography requires thinking outside the box to create movements that convey emotions and narrative effectively. My director would give me a prompt and I would create 2-minute dance phrases off of an abstract idea. This creativity has seamlessly transferred into my approach as an occupational therapy student. I draw upon my dance background to develop imaginative and client-specific strategies to address functional limitations and promote engagement in daily activities. Dance requires precise timing, memorization of choreography, and adaptation before and during performances. These demands have strengthened my cognitive skills, including memory, attention, and executive functioning. While in an international touring dance company, I would have 12- to 14-hour days in a theater before the performance. Managing caloric intake, energy conservation, myofascial release, performance anxiety, jet lag, recovery, and warming up my body for high-intensity movements several times a day without exhausting myself was a skill I had 15 years to perfect. What I learned was that I would go in with guidelines for my day, but I couldn’t ever go in with a set plan. I had to adapt constantly, and this skill has been useful in terms of grading my interventions up and down to fit the client and circumstances.

Modern dance is a medium of expression that goes beyond spoken language. As a dancer, I have learned to communicate emotions, thoughts, and stories nonverbally through movement. This heightened ability to interpret non-verbal cues has been invaluable in my interactions with clients. For my OT community service project, I co-created an 8-week dance intervention “Tap Dance to Connect” at The Rebecca School, a private day school for people ages 5 to 21 with autism spectrum disorder. An autistic person may have difficulty communicating with others, avoid eye contact, require more time for visual spatial and cognitive processing, and/or have sensory challenges. What I learned in the tap dance group was that with the use of a visual board, many of the non-verbal students were able to participate by turn-taking; clapping for others; mirroring the dance steps; and communicating their desired steps, repetitions, and preferred regulation. Some of the students were able to communicate for the music or clapping to be quieter or that they wanted to be independent in going across the floor or to choose the songs we danced to. In these moments, I felt I could witness the multidimensionality of dance as an intervention, allowing the students to have autonomy and to find joy in the process. It looked like we were just tap dancing, but we were doing so much more.

Dance is a collaborative art form, requiring seamless coordination with fellow dancers, rehearsal directors, stage managers, wardrobe, photographers, and choreographers. This spirit of teamwork has translated into my role as an OT student, where I collaborate with colleagues, health care professionals, administrators, and even the cleaning crew to address the multifaceted needs of clients. There were times in my dance company when we needed every hand on deck to make sure the theater curtain went up, and I feel this same sense of humility in a hospital setting. Everyone’s role is important, even if it’s only the performers up on the stage. This mindset has helped me embrace interdisciplinary approaches, leveraging the strengths of each team member to provide comprehensive care.

I sustained injuries that affected my mobility and my mental health the last few years of my career. As an injured dancer, I understand the significance of maintaining a sense of independence, social participation, and self-expression. I aim to provide the services that would have helped me during that challenging time. During my second-year spring semester in my Master’s in Occupational Therapy degree program at SUNY Downstate Health Sciences, we learned about a dance-based intervention, Dance for Parkinson’s Disease. Through this program, many of the patients found a respite from their diagnosis through dance, and I began to see another way to use my experiences as a dancer to enhance my practice of occupational therapy. For example, one participant said, “When I am here, I see myself not as a patient, but as a dancer. I get to dance with my husband, not as my caregiver, but as my loved one.” This 1-hour online dance class can be a particularly meaningful way to connect, share provider resources, reduce anxiety and loneliness for people with mobility disabilities who are unable to attend a dance class in the community, as well as give their partners a support network.

In my dance career, I have had the privilege of exploring various cultural dance forms, exposing me to the richness of diversity. I grew up in San Francisco where Axis Dance Company has dancers of all abilities performing together, instilling in me a deep appreciation for cultural sensitivity and inclusivity. I wanted to highlight more ways in which dance can be an inclusive, cost-effective intervention for a variety of patients to my fellow students in occupational and physical therapy, physician assistants, nurses, and medical residents. I assembled a speaker panel titled, “Dance and Disability: Better Patient Outcomes” that included a physical therapist, occupational therapist, movement scientist, dance teacher, disability advocate, and registered dance therapist to discuss how they use dance as an intervention in various inpatient, outpatient, and community settings. A pre- and post-panel survey of the students noted a 19% increase of correct answers to the definition of a disability, from 56% to 75%. When asked about the value of dance as an intervention, there was a 31% increase from the pre-survey of 55% to the post-survey at 86%. During the hour-long panel, health care students, providers, and members of the disability community discussed ways to incorporate dance interventions to increase inclusivity and strengths-based plans of care for patients, including those with communication and cognitive challenges.

I hope to inspire others from different backgrounds and fields to enter OT and to bring their own fresh perspective. A few artists I’ve spoken to have felt that starting a second career in OT would put them at a disadvantage. I argue that life experience and creativity will make your toolkit as a practitioner even stronger, promote a strengths-based relationship where patients have an opportunity to integrate their whole selves, and help your patients reflect on OT differently.

Jane Sato, OTS, is a second year occupational therapy student from SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University and a member of the Phi Theta Epsilon Honor Society. Jane is the 2023 AOTA Future Scientist Award Winner, and SUNY ACT Excellence and Student Initiative Scholarship 2023 winner. She was a 2021–2023 NYSOTA student delegate and the 2022–2023 SUNY School of Health Profession’s secretary. She is passionate about occupational therapy and disability advocacy, neurological conditions, pelvic health, and dance-based interventions. Jane is a California native, professional dancer, and Juilliard Dance graduate. She can be found teaching Pilates on the weekends and baking. Her Instagram handle is @movewithjanenyc.