The Shared Dance: dance therapy with mothers and infants in the hospital outpatient clinic

Keywords: Dance therapy, mother-infant, Winnicott, holding, affect attunement, aesthetic moment

Page #: 37

The article describes significant aspects of dance therapy for mothers and infants who are experiencing difficulties in their relationship. It examines how the pychodynamic notions of “holding” (Winnicott) and “selective affect attunement” (Stern) direct the dance therapy intervention. It outlines how Bollas’ transforming “aesthetic moment” may account for the emotional and different physical patterns of relating that occur within the shared dance between mother and infant.

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