Today we’d like to introduce you to Dee Wagner.
Hi Dee, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I am a native Atlanta creative therapist and originator of a multi-generational trauma healing method called Chi for Two® – The Energetic Dance of Healthy Relationship.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
I started my own trauma-healing journey in college at Georgia State University. My undergrad degree is theater. During the summers, I started performing with The Atlanta Street Theatre, doing outdoor theatre for children and families, which was very meaningful.
Several of my fellow performers went on to become pretty well-known. One of my photos includes Kenny Leon who became the Artistic Director for the Alliance and the founder of True Colors. Also, Monty Ross who is known for his work on the Spike Lee films She’s Gotta Have It, Do the Right Thing, and Malcomn X.
After I graduated, I began teaching expressive arts while continuing my own trauma healing in therapy, I saw the role of expression in the healing journey. One of the photos is me dancing with students back in 1982, connecting all the arts for everyone’s well-being.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
From 1978 to 1993, I taught expressive arts in many settings. With colleagues, I created many theatre productions. Much of my work focused on therapeutic topics like the dance of relationships. In the concert Thicker Than Water, I did a piece with my infant son and two other mothers and their babies. I also did a dance with a dancer, her romantic partner, and their dog. I remember an intense wish to understand how the dance between mother and child differs from the dance of lovers. One of my photos is a flyer from that concert.
I dug deeper into that topic in a musical I co-wrote called The Big O. I did a mime piece about romantic dances called In-dependance. I did a masked piece in which I played a child growing up in a dance with her mother. One of my photos is from that performance.
Can you talk to us about how you think about risk?
In 1993, I got my Master in Counseling and Psychological Services from GSU. I worked as a Counselor for 28 years at The Link Counseling Center and during my time there, became a Board-Certified Dance/Movement Therapist. Working with couples, I began inviting them to explore palm-to-palm dances I called Press, Patty Cake and Play. One of my photos is my romantic partner and I practicing Patty Cake.
In 2013, I discovered scientist Stephen Porges’ polyvagal theory of nervous system functioning and everything came together—everything I had ever done in my personal therapeutic journey and holding space for clients’ journeys made sense. I could picture what happens in all kinds of trauma and the path to healing.
My romantic partner John Cargile is an artist so I asked him to create a version of this drawing that had the feel of all my hand-drawn efforts with clients. This picture is now a “Map” in a textbook called the Neuroeducation Toolbox: Practical Translations of Neuroscience in Counseling and Psychotherapy. One of my photos is that drawing.
My romantic partner thought of the name Chi for Two, which plays on the old American song Tea for Two. My son Stephen Wagner, who teaches tai chi, helped us (along with Atlanta therapists Caroline Gebardt and Mary Lou Davidson) develop the partner practices that makeup Chi for Two® – The Energetic Dance of Healthy Relationship. There are 40 partner practices—35 for helping professionals to do with clients and 5 for romantic partners.
In Chi for Two training, we invite awareness of the difference between relationships in which there is a power differential (parent/child, teacher/student, boss/employee, helping-professional/client) and those where there is ideally power equality (lovers, friends, colleagues, friends). Now I know what the difference is between the dance of mother and baby and the dance of lovers.
I have taught Chi for Two in South Korea, Israel and Australia as well as places throughout the US. In the Stone Mountain corner of Atlanta, Harbor of Dreams Art (home of Chi for Two) offers Chi for Two embodiment coaching. Chi for Two Embodiment Coaches works with clients at Harbor of Dreams Art. One picture is me and Trecia Lyon, LMSW. Trecia is a licensed social worker and Chi for Two embodiment coach. In the picture, we are talking about using a practice called ArtMoves.
In ArtMoves, you mindfully explore the connection of art utensils and paper, letting the paper catch the movement that flows whenever the utensil moves making a connection with the paper. You can be mindful of any difficulty you feel in moving and thoughts that arise. Having a helping professional trained in Chi for Two holds a Circle of Support for your help. It provides a symbolic redo of parent/infant dances.
Understanding of multi-generational trauma helps us awaken cranky baby feelings designed to target the body we come out. Doing expressive arts practices held in a Circle of Support helps us integrate these important moves into our movement vocabulary. We honor and heal the trauma that got patterned into our family dance and our culture over centuries.
Contact Info:
- Website: harborofdreamsart.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chifortwo_the_energetic_dance/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/chifortwo
