The Rhythm of Life
Organization Uses the Arts to Heal the Homeless

By Jan Engoren

Dance is the hidden language of the soul. - Martha Graham 

Charmille Walters, founder of the non-profit arts organization Rhythmic Rapture

Home is something we all take for granted.  It is the focus of our lives and the center of our activities. It is where we raise our families, spend our leisure time and unwind. It is our sanctuary, our escape from the pressures of the outside world, a place where we celebrate rites of passage and memorable occasions.

Imagine if you did not have a place to call home.  Currently, in the United States, approximately 150,000-200,000 people do not have a place to call home and are classified as chronically homeless, according to the National Alliance to End Homelessness. Reasons vary for living on the streets, including the rising cost of housing, low wages, increasing unemployment rates, mental illness, domestic abuse, interpersonal problems and health and disability-related issues.  In addition, there is a growing willingness over the past 25 years to criminalize the homeless and make it a crime to live in a public space.

Many of us see these people day after day. Can we ignore them, walk by them, give them a few dollars? Complain that they are unsightly, bringing down the neighborhood? 

If you are Charmille Walters, and see these people every day in your community, you take action.

Charmille Walters’ home in Overtown, Miami, is one of the poorest neighborhoods in Miami.  An immigrant to this country and an educated woman working as an artist, struggling to make ends meet, Walters wondered who these people were.

Charmille Walters (the blonde at center top) conducts a bonding exercise at HEAL training

Due to the gentrification Overtown is experiencing and in conjunction with a tough job market, more people are living on the streets. Walters realized something was really amiss when she was approached for money and help more and more urgently and frequently.

“I decided I could no longer ignore the issue of homelessness,” says Walters.

Walters and her family immigrated to South Florida from Jamaica when she was in middle school. She lived in different areas of Broward County and moved to Miami in 1996. She studied ballet and graduated from the Dillard School of Performing Arts, where she was introduced to modern dance. Walters graduated from Florida International University with a degree in Theatre and Dance and went on to become active in the local Miami arts scene and a member of the Miami Emerging Arts Leaders Task Force.

Now 35, and a struggling artist herself, working multiple gigs, including working as a project coordinator for the International Dance and Music Institute at FIU and teaching part-time at Arts for Learning/Miami, an arts-in-education nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing teaching and learning through the arts, Walters realized she needed to do something for these people who did not have a place to call home. 

After hearing on the news about two homeless men beaten to death in Broward County, Walters decided she could no longer ignore the issue facing her every day. She felt nostalgic for the Miami of her childhood and channeled her frustration into an arts-intervention program she calls HEAL – A Place to Call Home. 

Two students at summer HEAL training

HEAL is an acronym for “Human Emotions through Artistic Living.” Under the mentorship of the Arts at St. John’s (an organization affiliated with St. John’s Methodist Church to promote local artists and to build community through the arts) who received a grant from the Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs to train and place artists within various needy populations, Walters founded the non-profit arts organization, Rhythmic Rapture, Inc. to empower homeless and displaced women and to use art as a means to uplift, nurture and spur emotional, cognitive and spiritual growth. This initial pilot program will culminate the last week in September with a variety of programs which are free and open to the public. There will be an experiential dance demonstration, an art exhibit and lecture and a documentary film.

“Homelessness is a very timely issue and I wanted to bring visibility to this subject,” says Walters.  “I know personally how dance and music can transform and heal you. I’ve seen homeless women dance, giggle and laugh. It is extremely encouraging to see and I am excited to continue with this program.”

Walters, along with Carol Hoffman-Guzman, the executive director of the Arts at St. John’s, made the decision to start working with local shelters, and people who are actively working to get themselves off the street. They started at Safe Space, a shelter for victims of domestic violence, and Lotus House a shelter for homeless and displaced peoples.

Carol Hoffman-Guzman, executive director of Arts at St. John’s, which is co-presenting the HEAL project events

“'I cannot solve the problem of homelessness, yet I can help empower these people and lessen their daily burdens and give them some sustenance and self-respect,” Walters says. “We have them repeat empowering statements while they are moving and dancing to reinforce these feelings in their bodies. It makes me feel good to see their faces and body language and know that dancing is having beneficial effects on their psyche.”

Says Hoffman-Guzman, “We support arts intervention – using art as a way to address social issues.  We look to see what the community’s needs are and what artists can do to help. We like to try cutting-edge therapies and we look for opportunities that present themselves. Over the past decades there have been many cutbacks in funding for the arts. We believe that art is not just a luxury, but there are many ways that the arts can integrate into the fabric of our lives and effect positive changes. Art can be an influential change agent to society, sometimes more so than other efforts.”

Creative arts therapies, such as dance, music and art therapy first emerged in the 1940s and 1950s in the United States, often used with patients who cannot express themselves verbally. In many cases, these nonverbal therapies make a strong impact on self and body images when they’re presented. Bodies possess a muscle memory and these new ways of being can be stored in the body’s memory. These interventions can increase self-awareness, self-esteem and personal autonomy, help people connect with their inner resources and develop more trusting relationships.

Dance therapist Ana Miranda

Ana Miranda, MA, ADTR, is a dance therapist with 15 years experience and a local South Florida artist. She is a teacher, therapist, and performer who runs a non-profit organization called “Art Works for Us” which uses dance as a means of expression for children with developmental disabilities. Miranda has joined with Rhythmic Raptures and the Arts at St. John’s in working with the women at Safe Space.   As a professional flamenco dancer, Miranda thought it would be empowering to teach flamenco dance to these women.  The body language and body postures of flamenco dance are empowering and the staccato footwork helps release pent-up emotions.

Robin Sawyer* is one of these women. Along with her 13-year old son, Sawyer has spent approximately two months at the shelter and is ready to transition to outside living. Sawyer fell in love with the flamenco dance and especially the colorful shawls that the dancers wear. Now 57 and college-educated, she experienced domestic violence with her husband of eight years.

Her experience with the dance therapy made her realize that she had been too accommodating in her marriage and had subsumed her identity into her husband’s.

“I don’t want to be the type of person I was before,” says Sawyer.  “I know now I can use my body language to be more assertive and say ‘no.’ I can state what I want and what I mean. Now my mind and body are in agreement.”

Psychotherapist Dr. Elsa Orlandini speaks to students about how to work with homeless populations and how to keep one's own boundaries

Sawyer found the strength to move on with her life.  She does not plan to reunite with her husband and she hopes to find a place to live for her and her son and find a full-time job in her field of allied health care.

Explains dance therapist Miranda, “I am helping these women find their inner diva. I’m helping them feel what it is to be strong. I try to tell them they are already strong; the feeling is already inside them. I help them reconnect to that feeling and experience of strength.”

Through her dance therapy with these women, many of whom have young children with them in the shelter, Miranda hopes to raise consciousness about the issues of homelessness and domestic violence and to raise funds to support this on-going work.

“Teaching and working with these women is an uplifting experience for me,” says Miranda. “I can see the difference in their beings after only one session.”

For more information, call Rhythmic Rapture at 305-776-5003.

*Name changed to protect anonymity

Schedule for HEAL Events
Location: Soya & Pomodoro, 120 NE 1st Street, Downtown Miami.

Exhibit Opening Reception – Friday, September 28, 7-10 p.m.  Participating artists include: Xavier Cortada, Luis Valle, Diego Romero, Francesca Lalane, Eric Walton, Scott Hickey, Jamie Crooke, Ignacio Font, Ed King, Matt Stock, and Jean Villamizar, who also curates the show.

Experiential Demonstration – Friday, September 28, 8 p.m. Led by Ana Miranda of Art Works for Us, Inc. and Lela Lombardo of Higher Ground.

Exhibit Times – Monday-Thursday 10 a.m. - 5 p.m.; Friday 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Film Documentary – Tuesday, October 2, (Time: TBD). The Dark Side of Boom by Major Minorz.

Artist Talk – Wednesday, October 3, (Time: TBD). Visual artists discuss their work and views about the theme of the art exhibition, “A Place to Call Home.”

Film Documentary – Thursday, October 4, (Time: TBD). West Coconut Grove – A Sense of Place

Exhibit Closing Reception & Panel Discussion - Date and time TBA. Panelists include: Carol Hoffman-Guzman, Director of Arts at St. John's and Dr. Elsa Orlandini, psychotherapist.