What Is Dance Therapy?

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.

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.

What is dance therapy?

Dance Therapy offers expressive movement experiences that engage body, mind and emotion. Drawing on the therapeutic elements inherent in dance, therapists aim at restoring balance and integration in the areas of physical function, sensory development, emotional expression and mental functioning.

Dance therapy emerged as a profession in the 1960s in USA, and gradually became internationally established, beginning in Australia in the 1970s. It is an allied health profession that combines 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.

Australia's practitioners come from backgrounds in dance or the health sciences that include, for example, teaching, physiotherapy or psychology. They are required to undergo extensive dance therapy training together with supervised clinical practice. They may be employed solely as dance therapists, or integrate dance therapy within the broader context of their work.

The work of Dance Therapists is applicable to children and adults in diverse settings and can be adapted to the needs of clients with a wide range of specific and non-specific disorders and disabilities.

What do Dance Therapists do?

Dance therapists use observation and movement analysis to determine a dance-movement program to address client needs.

They typically move with a client to establish rapport, and facilitate the client to move in ways that express their inner experience and/or extend their range of movement capabilities. Suggestions are made, however work proceeds at the client's own pace.

Professional training equips dance therapists with high level skills, theoretical understanding and professional practice principles, to work with people in an ethical and competent way.

How can I use Dance Therapy after I finish the Certificate or Diploma Courses?

Dance Therapy is used in clinical and community contexts. Therapists work in health, welfare and educational settings with children and adults who have emotional and psychological difficulties ; sight, hearing or physical impairment ; autism ; learning problems ; relationship difficulties ; psycho-geriatric conditions ; chronic illness ; post partum difficulties ; and, in rehabilitation, with people recovering from substance abuse, head injuries, abuse and trauma, and accident injuries. Dance therapists also work with people for personal enrichment and increased well-being and with industry and management for stress control.