Equine Assisted Psychotherapy
Refugee Transition
English Literacy teaching in community: Lisa is working with a refugee family from Karen State in Burma. Many from their tribe had to flee Burma, and they lived in a refugee camp in Thailand for 17 years before coming to Oakland in America.
Originally from Arizona, Lisa began working intensively at Wesleyan University with Mickey Davidson in Horton, jazz and tap. Branching out from her roots in ballet, she also trained in West African dance, living in Ghana. In New York, Lisa studied at Merce Cunningham’s studio while training with Ilana Suprun and Sara Neece (ballet) and performing with Danzahora Dance Company (grounded in Martha Graham technique). Moving to San Francisco in 1996, she choreographed and performed in her own work at Alice Arts, Dancers Group, Studio Valencia, and the Cowell Theater. She has danced professionally with Courage Group, Jenice Acosta & Dancers, Milk (Samantha Giron Dance), Landini Dance Company, Liminal Dance Theater, the Shook Dance Troupe, and Sarah Moss. Lisa earned her MA in Clinical Psychology from New College in 2006. This is her first season with Labayen Dance/SF. (2010)
Resources
Being a dancer, I hold a deep love and respect for the human psyche and draw upon my awareness of non-verbal communication, how emotional states are expressed physically. I began studying dance therapy and somatic movement therapy, working with breast cancer survivors, and this led me to train in a body oriented psychotherapy model called Hakomi, helping people sequence through the potential anger, addiction, and dissociation involved with past traumatic events by following neurological impulses while remaining in contact in the present moment with sensation in the body.