Body language, dance and multiple sclerosis: emotional benefits in an intervention during the COVID-19 contingency

Abstract

Body language and creative dance are areas of practice that can offer multiple health benefits in people with multiple sclerosis, what involves a neurological disease that causes physical, emotional and social impediments. Motivated by a person who suffers from this disease and who was willing and in the need of feeling more active and emotionally better, a program of expressive and dance activities was designed, taking into account her particular context and the need to maintain a social distance to preserve her health in times of COVID-19, being a challenge to design the intervention to be done independently and remotely. The present study explored the experience of this person while she was participating in this six-week program of expressive-corporal practices with the aim of knowing her emotional well-being during the proposals. After each session, virtual interviews were conducted with the participant to understand how she had felt, using visual narratives from photographs as metaphors. In general, the participant agreed that the experience made her feel better, especially from an emotional point of view. Specifically, the program provided her with the opportunity to share new ways of communicating with her family, to feel physically active again, to take an interest in artistic body practices, and to become aware of her emotions.