WHY WAS I BORN AMONG MIRRORS - THERAPEUTIC DANCE FOR TEENAGE GIRLS AND WOMEN WITH TURNER SYNDROME

A therapeutic dance program was offered to teenage girls and women wit h the chromosomal disorder Turner Syndrome whose main clinical feature s are short stature, failure of pubertal development and infertility. The program aimed to improve the participants' self esteem and confide nce and to provide a medium in which to address specific psycho-social issues raised by the clients and informed by the research literature. The dance project was held within the context of social work practice in a hospital paediatric endocrinology department. It was shown to be a useful medium to observe significant habitual physical behaviour wh ich was not always observable in the clinical consultation. Video reco rdings were made. Difficulties in participant assertiveness and decisi on making in group dance and some difficulties in reading the body mov ement cues of others were observed, suggesting a starting point for fu ture research. The paper considers societal attitudes which may affect these girls and women achieving the status of the confident woman.