What Is Dance-Movement Therapy?

History

Dance has been fundamental to human life and culture since the time of our earliest ancestors; a form of self-expression, communication and celebration of life and community. However, by the turn of the 20th century, the potential for dance to promote healthy growth and change was also recognised. This recognition came with the development of more expressive and improvisational forms of dance popular at that time, as well as the acceptance of the integral relationship between mind and body.

Perspectives on the Profession of Dance/Movement Therapy: Past, Present, and Future
Article by Robyn Cruz, Ph.D., ADTR, President of the American Dance Therapy Association
(from The Bright Side website)

Philosophy

Dance-movement therapy emerged as a profession in the US in the 1960s. By the 1970s it had reached Australia, and is now an established vocation, combining the creative process and the study of human movement into a holistic approach that draws upon the elements inherent in dance. Programs are designed to meet specific goals and bring about therapeutic change.

Australian practitioners

Dance-movement therapists are drawn from backgrounds in dance, education or the health sciences including, for example, teaching, physiotherapy and psychology. Practitioners are required to undergo extensive dance-movement therapy training together with supervised clinical practice. They may be employed specifically as dance-movement therapists, or integrate dance-movement therapy within the broader context of their work.

Dance-Movement therapists:

• appreciate the therapeutic value of aesthetic and artistic experience of dance
• understand the interrelationship of the physical, emotional, and cognitive dimensions of human behaviour
• use their skills in movement observation and analysis to assess individuals, develop and evaluate therapeutic programs
• recognise body movement as the basis of human interaction and communication
• are trained in counselling skills and group facilitation
• design and implement programs for diverse client groups.

The dance-movement therapy profession in Australia consists of an ever-growing number of practitioners working in clinical, educational and community settings with individuals or groups of all ages including:

• special schools
• rehabilitation centres
• hospitals
• aged care facilities
• prisons
• psychiatric clinics
• community health centres
• private practice

Research and writing about dance-movement therapy

Information about dance-movement therapy in Australia is available
- in our Collections series
- our bi-annual journal 'Moving On', which is available by subscription and back copies of single issues

Articles about dance-movement therapy in Australia

The development of dance therapy practice in Victoria: the status quo and the future, presentation by dmt Andrew Morrish at AADE Conference, Adelaide, 1989, available by kind permission of the author.

Dance-movement therapy in Australia; one page flyer describing DMT in Australia, DTAA 2008

Making our mark – an introduction to dance therapy in Australia; article by dmt Dr Heather Hill, first published in 2007 on artshub.com.au and presented here by kind permission of artshub.

Joan Chodorow's presentation at the 2000 DTAA conference

The website of the American Dance Therapy Association has an extremely comprehensive list of publications and research about dance-movement therapy. www.adta.org