English 122 - Visual/Multi-Media Project Double Entry Journal
Name: Aaliyah Michel
Essential Questions:
1. How can dance affect brain development?
2. What are the physical, emotional and intellectual benefits of dance?
Text Title and Author/Speaker/Originator:
My Journey with Dance and Mental Health | Kevin Turner |
TEDxLancasterU
Quotation/Visual Feature
“I was hiding the biggest secret of my life and
that was that I was struggling with my mental
health. I didn’t know what depression was, I
just knew something was wrong.”
“I decided to make a piece about it called
Witness. I chose to call it that because the
audience would witness what I and my my
family went through. I took the small snippets
of what I remember and put it into a number.”
The dance video shows characters crying and
screaming for help, and friends coming as a
group to help certain individuals. The facial
expressions made by the performers really
express the mood of the story being shown.
How it sheds light on my essential
question
It did not make it any easier for him as he was
uneducated about the possibilities of what he
could of been struggling with. Mental
disorders can be a result from anything,
trauma or a small incident that wouldn’t affect
just everybody. Along with all the research
that is being done to figure out more
disorders, they should focus more on actions
that could be done to help.
As I can not completely relate to all he has
been through, I understand why he chose to
make this number. Many would think that him
putting thought in making the piece seeing the
end results would do nothing but upset him,
but we must look at the bigger picture. He
found dance as his way of coping with all that
was flowing through his head, and he chose to
make this number to allow others to either see
themselves, or to see the perspective of one
that may be experiencing these things,
Hearing the speakers story and watching the
piece he put together to represent it was
extremely inspirational. Many of those who
are suffering choose to focus on themselves
getting better which is entirely
understandable, but he chose to not only work
on himself but to work on those who surround

“After one of our performances, this lady
came up to thank me and she told me that it
made her think twice about killing herself. I
wasn’t expecting that this piece would have
such a big impact on people.”
“I think dancing about mental health is a good
way to help people because it shows that you
can say it without actually speaking.”
him and that may see his work.
It is crazy how a choreographer can make a
piece expecting the audience to get a certain
message, and it come out telling each
individual a different story. I personally think
that people are more affected by something
that they see whether than something they
hear. Reflecting on my first essential question
about the brain and how we think, we have all
gone through different things. Dance is a
language you cannot hear, therefore it allows
us to express our own individual emotions and
take it how we feel.
A young boy said this during the project video
shown at the end of the Ted Talk. I respect the
fact the children are being educated about
mental health at a young age and I am glad to
see that they are already being offered coping
and therapeutic activities at a young age, as it
may lower mental disorder rates in the future.