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Dance therapy, or dance movement therapy is the psychotherapeutic use of movement (and dance) for emotional, cognitive, social, behavioural and physical conditions (www.adta.org, 2008). It is a form of expressive (creative arts) therapy. Certified dance therapists hold a masters level of training.

Dance therapy is founded on the premise that the body and mind are an interrelated continuum (refer bodymind), that the state of the body may affect mental and emotional wellbeing in manifold ways. In contrast to artistic dance, which is usually concerned with the aesthetic appearance of movement, dance therapy explores the nature of all movement. Through observing and altering the kinesthetic movements of a client, dance movement therapists diagnose and help solve various psychological problems. As any conscious person can move on some level, this therapy can work with any population.

Marion Chace is considered the principal founder of what is now dance therapy in the United States.^[1] In the UK, the profession has been renamed Dance Movement Psychotherapy in order to reflect the psychotherapeutic nature of the work (see Meekums 2002 for a discussion).

Laban Movement Analysis (LMA) is also part of dance movement therapy as it used to categorise movements into efforts, which can be used as an insight to the patient's mental and emotional state.

See also

• ecosomatics
• expressive therapy
• process art

References

1. ^ Marion Chace biography

Further reading

• Meekums, B. (2002). Dance Movement Therapy: a Creative Psychotherapeutic Approach. London: Sage
• Chodorow, J. (1991). Dance Therapy and Depth Psychology. London
• Lewis, P. (1984; 1986). Theoretical Approaches in Dance Movement Therapy. Vols I & II, USA: Kendall/Hunt.
• Payne, H. (ed). (2006). Dance Movement Therapy: Theory, Research and Practice (2nd edn). Tavistock / Routledge.
• Siegel, E. (1984). Dance Movement Therapy: Mirror of Ourselves: The Psychoanalytic Approach. New York: Human Science Press.
• Stanton-Jones, K. (1992). An Introduction to Dance Movement Therapy in Psychiatry. London: Tavistock/Routledge.
• North, M. (1990). Personality Assessment Through Movement. Northcote House.
• Payne, H.L. (2000). Creative Movement and Dance in Groupwork. Oxon: Speechmark
• McCormack, D. (2003) An event of geographical ethics in spaces of affect. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, 28, (4), 488-507

Pat Fehr 2006 B.A. Psychotherapeutic Activities

External links

• The Association for Dance Movement Therapy in UK
• American Dance Therapy Association
• Coalition of Creative Arts Therapy Associations

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