The goal of Discovery Through Movement is to use natural movement to bond participants so that their shared movement experience becomes as productive, collaborative and creative as possible. The social interaction and sensitivity gained through DTM sessions allows individuals to feel safe expressing themselves creatively.

Using group movement collaborations as our medium along with small group dialogue, team members discover how to use the creative process to find unique solutions. This enhances teamwork and cooperation, and establishes a new level of mutual respect for participants in the groups that carries back in the workplace.

Each Discovery Through Movement workshop is created to uniquely address the group with whom we are working and can be customized to incorporate specific needs. A typical DTM workshop begins with introductions and icebreaking activities so everyone gets to know one another within a level playing field. We work with natural movement that is appropriate and accessible for every person – no matter what past physical experience they enter the room with – so each person will feel comfortable and accomplished.

Next, each person has the opportunity to create their own personalized movement phrase. Entering the world of physical movement breaks down professional and social hierarchies to create a shared space where all participants work as equals.

We then break into groups of two to four people who have to rely on one another to accomplish goals using balance and supportive exercises  These exercises are challenging but tackling them together becomes exhilarating and inspirational. This part of the DTM session is fun, inclusive and encouraging in a way that helps everyone feel comfortable just being themselves.

The groups are introduced to basic elements of choreography—such as tempo, direction, levels and repetition—that they will use together in the workshop. These shared elements serve as touchstones and creative tools for the groups as they problem-solve together.

Then we dive into what we think of as a creative mash up. Working with the basic choreographic elements taught earlier, each person takes a turn leading, as they collaborate on a group movement piece. Participants are up on their feet, thinking with their minds and bodies. There is no requisite skill level, natural movement is essential as the work is self-generated to ensure that everyone will be comfortable and secure.

To conclude, the groups share their movement studies. Afterwards, the participants are led through a discussion about their experiences, and discoveries, reflecting on the changes in group dynamics, the new ways they relate to their colleagues, and how to help problem solve as a team once they go back to the workplace.

In my experiences as a choreographer and movement director on hundreds of productions in dance and theater, I noticed the most successful creative teams I have been a part of are those that are able to optimize communication within the group. It’s the old notion: innovation happens when you bring diverse people together to bounce ideas off one another.

When every team member is engaged and making contributions, these cross team ties help to break down creative silos and increase the production’s productivity and the group’s ability to innovate and solve problems, and the production is very likely to be successful.

I have also seen repeatedly that the most effective information exchanges happen in small group face-to-face dialogue.  In this setting, all team members can more readily interpret intentions and get a sense of how decisions are unfolding.

After a work team participates in a DTM session, each individual feels more positive about belonging to the group. Being in a challenging but playful experience together, they develop greater trust with their colleagues and feel they are an equal part of the process.

To arrive at that bonding feeling, the best strategy is striking a balance between engaging with familiar practices and exploring fresh ideas. This is the essence of a DTM experience.