Paneurhythmy exercises for developing partner and social skills

Abstract

Paneurhythmy is a group psycho-physical practice created in Europe, involving marked social interaction. The purpose of this paper is to provide information about Paneurhythmy, and to discuss its potential as a means of development of partnership and social skills. This article offers a brief introduction into Paneurhythmy. The basic characteristics of Paneurhythmy practices providing appropriate conditions for the improvement of partnership skills are formulated and explained. By means of analysis, discussion and examples, it is shown how Paneurhythmy for beginners and its further practice can develop skills for successful partnership with children and adults. The existent empirical and theoretical studies on the subject to date have been specified, confirming the cultivation of partnership and social skills through Paneurhythmy. Paneurhythmy has an extremely big potential for the development of partnership skills and for the improvement of social functioning. In this respect, the most important characteristics of Paneurhythmy are the following: group practice in pairs, an appropriate aim of the practice, the right music, common rhythm and synchronization of movements, specific distances between participants, typical characteristics and expressiveness of participants’ movements, Paneurhythmy philosophy, sharing space, suitable lyrics of Paneurhythmy songs, figures for the arrangement of participants, acting social roles and broadening the range of awareness. Paneurhythmy is a widely-accessible new instrument for personal and social development. This is confirmed by the existent scientific studies, revealing that, with children and adults, both initial training and further practising Paneurhythmy leads to the improvement of interpersonal relations and social skills.