Naomi Aitchison – Bio
Author/s: Naomi Aitchison
Edition:
Naomi Aitchison was awarded Life Membership of the DTAA in 1997. Naomi worked for 17 years as a dance movement specialist with a variety of populations but largely in settings for elderly and psychogeriatric clients. She has also been an educator for other practitioners and students. She was one of the Victorian committee members of the Australian Association for Dance Education (now Ausdance) who in the early 1980s initiated a number of Dance Special Interest Groups, one of which was for dance teachers and others using dance with populations of disadvantaged people. She maintained her commitment to the growth and professionalism of dance as therapy, becoming a member of both the Working Party and Steering Committee which led to the launching of the DTAA in 1994.
As a founding member of the DTAA she remained on its committee for many years, taking on a number of duties including President, Librarian and Resource Officer. In addition she was co-editor of the DTAA’s newsletter from its inception and has continued her editorial role, fostering the newsletter’s development into the Association’s professional journal – Moving On – of which she is also co-editor. Together with others she helped to establish the Hanny Exiner Memorial Foundation, on whose Managing Committee she has remained since its inauguration and of which she is Convenor. In addition to her ongoing support for dance movement therapy, she has, since retiring from paid work, taught creative movement and dance at U3A Hawthorn, which she enjoys immensely.