Sylvia Staehli (1954 – 1999), Co-Founder and Co- Director of Dancehouse, performer and dance therapist, made a great contribution to the dance arts in varied ways. As both a dance teacher and dance therapist, she held a deep understanding of the power of the body movement process in developing personal awareness and bringing healing to the mind and spirit. She was an early DTAA professional member and early diploma graduate and lecturer of the IDTIA training in Melbourne. She believed passionately in the necessity of training for the therapeutic use of dance.

In her memory and in celebration of her work the IDTIA established a Sylvia Staehli Memorial Fund in her honour to support individuals in their training.

 

Keywords
felt sense, internal landscapes, maladaptive patterns, Laban movement analysis, code of ethics, clinical work

We are pleased to be able to reprint the following article on Dance Therapy in Australia in this focus on Elizabeth Loughlin. It was published in the Currency Companion to Music and Dance in Australia in 2003 and is reprinted here with the kind permission of Currency House Inc. NSW, the publishers. It provides a valuable record and commentary on the development of dance movement therapy in this country.

This article gives a description of dance therapy and wide array of medical and psychological conditions it can be beneficial for as well as the settings it is offered within. Following this, is the historical development of the profession in America and Australia and the training pathways that have emerged to align the profession with a psychotherapeutic approach, with training options at post graduate levels. (pp 14-16)

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