From hell into healing- dance therapy gives hope to women in prison

I recently had the opportunity to watch a dance teacher intently trying to help heal women in prison. Leslie Neal is a former choreographer and associate professor of dance at Florida International University in Miami who works with women at Homestead Correctional Institution and other prisons in South Florida. It was both unnerving and moving to see how founder of ArtSpring's Inside Out Program Leslie Neal guides these women on a journey toward self exploration and wholeness. She has been going to the prisons once a week for over 14 years, working with many women who are incarcerated for life. 

It's not an easy task... the prison system has not always supported Leslie's work, and the inmates themselves often wore Leslie down. But Leslie has persisted... teaching them to focus on their breath, forming a sacred circle through which they could move their bodies freely, and speak about their past... the violence, abuse, rape. And what has emerged is transformative -they release, forgive, understand, bond and more. Leslie Neal is an example of one woman and her pure desire to help bring about change through the arts...

For more information about Leslie Neal and Artspring, visit www.artspring.org