What is Dance/Movement Therapy?

Learn more about becoming a Dance/Movement Therapist

From the American Dance Therapy Association (ADTA):

What Do Dance/Movement Therapists Do? Dance/movement therapists work with individuals of all ages, groups and families in a wide variety of settings. They focus on helping their clients improve self-esteem and body image, develop effective communication skills and relationships, expand their movement vocabulary, gain insight into patterns of behavior, as well as create new options for coping with problems. Movement is the primary medium dance/movement therapists use for observation, assessment, research, therapeutic interaction, and interventions. Dance/movement therapists work in settings that include psychiatric and rehabilitation facilities, schools, nursing homes, drug treatment centers, counseling centers, medical facilities, crisis centers, and wellness and alternative health care centers. Dance/movement therapy can be a powerful tool for stress management and the prevention of physical and mental health problems. Dance Movement Therapy Fact Sheet Dance/Movement Therapy is the psychotherapeutic use of movement as a process which furthers the emotional, social, cognitive, and physical integration of the individual. Dance/movement therapy is an effective treatment for people with developmental, medical, social, physical and psychological impairments. Dance/movement therapy is used with people of all ages, races, and ethnic backgrounds in individual, couples, family, and group therapy formats. . . . (More...)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:

Dance therapy, or Dance movement therapy (sometimes referred to as choreotherapy), is the psychotherapeutic use of movement (and dance) for emotional, cognitive, social, behavioural and physical conditions. It is a special form of creative therapy. Dance therapy is based on the premise that the body and mind are interrelated. Mental and emotional problems can result in muscle tension and constrained movement patterns compounding the original condition. Conversely, the state of the body can affect mental and emotional wellbeing both positively and negatively. The name Dance movement therapy is more precise, because this form of therapy is not about achieving defined forms of dance. Even standing still is considered a dance. Among therapists there is still a debate whether music should be used. Dance therapy can be applied to all form of psychic and psychosomatic disorders. Through the experience in movement and dance, patients are not only touched physically but also emotionally, mentally and spiritually. Marian Chace is one of the founders of modern dance therapy. . . . (More...)

From StudyOverseas.com Performing Arts:

The use of dance as a therapeutic tool is founded in the idea that body and mind are completely integrated. While the relationship between the mind and body is constantly being explored, theorised and discussed, the whole area certainly highlights the ingenuity of the creation and masterpiece in the human being . . . (More...)

From Allied Health Profession of the Month: April 2005:

Dance/movement therapy, a creative arts therapy, is rooted in the expressive nature of dance itself. Dance is the most fundamental of the arts, involving a direct expression and experience of oneself through the body. It is a basic form of authentic communication, and as such it is an especially effective medium for therapy. Based in the belief that the body, the mind and the spirit are interconnected, dance/movement therapy is defined by the American Dance Therapy Association as "the psychotherapeutic use of movement as a process that furthers the emotional, cognitive, social and physical integration of the individual" . . . (More...)

From the National Coalition of Creative Arts Therapies Associations:

Dance is the most fundamental of the arts, involving direct expression through the body. Thus, it is an intimate and powerful medium for therapy. Based on the assumption that body and mind are interrelated, dance/movement therapy is defined by the American Dance Therapy Association as "the psychotherapeutic use of movement as a process which furthers the emotional, cognitive and physical integration of the individual." Dance/movement therapy effects changes in feelings, cognition, physical functioning, and behavior. . . . (More...)

From LearnDirect:

Dance movement therapists (DMTs) use dance and movement to help people with a wide range of emotional, social, psychological and physical difficulties. They work with individuals, groups and families, helping them to improve their self-esteem and body image, develop effective communication skills and gain insights into their patterns of behaviour. They assist clients to develop strategies to manage their lives. . . . (More...)

From Eating Disorder Referral and Information Center:

For someone with an eating disorder the bodily-felt sense of self is distorted, frozen, traumatized or too filled with shame to be known or seen by another person. One of the ways DMT helps is through the development of mindfulness of bodily sensations leading to more realistic sense of body boundaries. Because this development happens within the safety of the therapeutic relationship, it can be emotionally corrective. The dance/movement therapist helps the client to pay attention to bodily-felt experience which have emotional significance leading her to experience, trust and know herself in a safe un-traumatizing relationship with the therapist. This can lead to greater ability to know herself and recognize physical cues such as hunger and satiation. Dance/movement therapists help clients to name and modulate strong emotions. That is, by attending to a bodily felt sensation, the individual can start to notice different intensities of the sensation and through attention to breath and movement, notice what changes occur. Many patients are than better able to self-soothe anxiety and other feeling states on their own outside of the therapy session. . . . (More...)

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