Weaving the Threads Conference

Conference Program

The conference included a stimulating program of speakers, formal, informal and poster presentations, workshops and discussion sessions, performances and opportunities for networking between colleagues from across Victoria, Australia and overseas, over welcome drinks, morning and afternoon teas and lunch.

The program included the DTAA the Hanny Exiner Inaugural Memorial Address presented by Dr Heather Hill, DTAA's Annual General Meeting, presentation of the Hanny Exiner Memorial Foundation Annual Award for Achievement in Dance-Movement Therapy and awards of DTAA Professional Memberships.

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Welcome Drinks: Bakery, Abbotsford Convent, St Heliers St, Abbotsford

Conference Dinner: Mamma Vittoria's restaurant, 343 Smith St, Collingwood

Homestyle Italian cooking, informal networking opportunities, performances including BAH movement collective, Egyptian Raqs al Baladi led by Maria Sangiorgi, Hilal contemporary Egyptian by Natalie Poole and barefoot flamenco with Marina Bistrin
Dinner flyer

International Keynote Presenters:

Sharon Chaiklin

Sharon Chaiklin, ADTR, is a dance therapy pioneer and founding member of the American Dance Therapy Association. She is currently president of the Marian Chace Foundation of the ADTA. Sharon studied with Marian Chace in 1964 at St. Elizabeth's Hospital in Washington, D.C. Her article, ‘Dance Therapy’, included in a 1975 edition of the American Handbook of Psychiatry, Vol. 5, was one of the first in the field to outline a theoretical foundation for the profession, and continues to be one of the most comprehensive statements available. Sharon’s experiences as a dance movement therapist includes work at Gundry Hospital, private practice and teaching and supervision at the Dance/Movement Therapy Program at Goucher College, USA. Her warmth, vitality, and dedication to the dance therapy field have made her one of the key figures in the development of the profession.

Peggy Hackney

Peggy Hackney, B.A. (Psych), M.F.A. C.M.A., well known internationally for her work in Laban/Bartenieff Fundamentals, graduated from the first Effort/Shape Cert. Program (NY), and was a colleague of Irmgard Bartenieff. Peggy's book, Making Connections: Total Body Integration through Bartenieff Fundamentals, 1998, is in its third printing. Peggy is Director of the Integrated Movement Studies (IMS) Laban/Bartenieff Certificate Program, at the University of Utah; Ass. Director Moving On Center - a Somatics and Participatory Arts training program, and she helped found the Intensive LMA Certification Programs in NYC, Seattle, Salt Lake, and Berlin.

National & Local Speakers included:

Jane Guthrie, President, Dance-Movement Therapy Association of Australia
Elizabeth Loughlin, Austin Hospital and Albert Road Clinic
Sandra Lauffenberger, psychotherapist, lecturer, Wesley Institute
Jennifer Helmich, Training Coordinator, lecturer, International Dance Therapy Institute of Australia
Robyn Price, lecturer, Wesley Institute and Sunnyfield Association.
Professor John Toumbourou, Chair of Heath Psychology, Deakin University
Dr Steve Harvey, Consultant Psychologist, Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service and dance therapist and
Connor Kelly, dance therapist, New Zealand