INTRODUCTION

There has been a fair amount written about Dance Movement Therapy (DMT)—often about its connections with various branches of psychology as well as psychotherapy, neuroscience, education, and other disciplines. DMT practitioners have written about their ideas and techniques while working with people of all ages with various physical and emotional needs. With other disciplines making use of movement in various ways, it becomes important to differentiate more clearly what is unique about Dance Movement Therapy and its applications, since there are other therapies that also make use of the body but with a different focus.¹ The questions to be answered are: What is the practice of Dance Movement Therapy? What makes it different from other therapeutic techniques, and what is its importance in working with different therapeutic need or age groups? DMT practice is growing in range and international scope. Is there a commonality among practitioners that identifies them as belonging to the same profession, even with cultural differences? What is the core of the practice and would those practicing agree upon basic concepts from which we all work? Allowing for different theoretical bases and techniques, is there an agreement as to what is necessary in order to practice the profession of Dance Movement Therapy?

DMT is continually expanding and developing internationally. In reviewing its many aspects and locales, we became aware that therapists become interested in new ideas and related disciplines that support the dance therapy work done in the profession. However, we are also aware that these ideas frequently subsume the basic core of our work so that the strength of what we do becomes lost, less defined, or underestimated.

It is important to cast aside the viewpoint of dance as frivolous and unimportant and to identify its many attributes so that its vital connection to growth and healing is recognized. The art of dance as a root of the DMT profession, the creative process, and aesthetics as well as the necessity of mind-body-spirit integration have to be fully recognized. It is the art form contained within the therapeutic relationship that both the therapist and the individual/group make use of in DMT and which enables the therapeutic process. The art of dance is profound in its many aspects, and these are discussed by all the authors throughout the chapters of this book. The authors also explore variations in DMT’s use as viewed through cultural differences and the specific needs of the patients and settings.

This book examines these issues through the input of practitioners from several countries. Included are three sections which comprise theory, research, and practice based on case studies to illustrate basic concepts that support new ideas. It is our hope that these many varied accounts lead to a broad understanding of how the creative processes in dance and dance in its many forms suggest interventions that enable therapeutic change. We believe dance to be a powerful and sometimes, a joyful modality that needs to be better comprehended. This book is addressed to dance movement therapists (dmt), students, and colleagues in the health professions as well as dance scholars, performers, and choreographers who may find interest and inspiration within these diverse chapters.

Being an international book, there are various ways to designate the profession: dance/ movement therapy, dance therapy, dance movement psychotherapy, and so on. These differences may relate to legal or licensing issues or to how the profession developed in each country. In order to simplify reading, the term Dance Movement Therapy is denoted frequently with the initials DMT. The clinician, the dance movement therapist, is indicated by the lowercase initials dmt.

OVERVIEW OF THE CHAPTERS

The chapters in this book will provide different experiences to the reader. Some of them will inspire action as a professional; others will challenge well-established ideas and practices; several may open paths of personal reflection. The reader may not only find material to think about but may also encounter material that elicits emotional responses.

We are very happy that Sondra Fraleigh accepted our invitation to write the Foreword. Her life trajectory integrating dance and the study of the phenomenology of the dancing person, make her very suitable person for introducing this book.

Consistent to the purpose of the book, the first chapter, by Hilda Wengrower, focuses on dance and aesthetics through phenomenological and psychoanalytical theories, including the contributions to DMT stemming from the perspective of positivity in psychoanalysis. Its purpose is to look at and think about dance as well as its intrinsic aesthetic and creative potentials, connecting the former with psychological life and highlighting specific factors that promote (mental) health and well-being.

Rainbow T. H. Ho takes the reader into a voyage through the planet and along history to learn how cultures have been using dance for healing. Ho distinguishes three movement attributes that are effective in DMT: aesthetics, contemplation, and poetics. She notes that they converge with some of the healing factors in arts therapies identified by Koch, that is also mentioned by Wengrower’s chapter. Ho supports her text with references from the fields of cognition, neuroscience, clinical research, and vignettes from her own work.

Rona Cohen was invited to write an exploration of the concept of the authentic in the form of Authentic Movement and the homonymous term in Heidegger’s work. Especially since the rise of the paradigm of social constructionism (Guba & Lincoln, 1994), the psychological meaning of authenticity has been debated. This chapter offers an introduction to the core concepts of Heidegger and links them to Authentic Movement and DMT. The chapter by Ruth Ronen focuses on the visual experience of the onlooker and is based mostly on French perspectives in the aesthetics of dance. This chapter is thought-provoking because it challenges the strongly grounded holistic idea of the visual experience of a dancing body through concepts such as “detachment”. Part I of the book, then, not only presents the work of contributors from different parts of the world but also brings different philosophic considerations most relevant to DMT.

Part II of the book collects research papers. Iris Brauninger and Ulf-Dietrich Reips investigate how new therapists appraise the importance of dance in their work and profession, comparing their answers to those offered by more experienced colleagues. The researchers also contrast the situation from the first decades of the development of DMT to its current state. Then, Zeynep Qatay and Marcia Plevin, who created Transformational Body Tracings (TBT), discuss how this method enhances embodiment in training and in practice of DMT. TBT takes two to three long sessions or more and entails the integration of drawing a full body outline, coloring it, moving, reflecting, and writing. TBT becomes a kind of visual diary, a facsimile of the self upon which the participants are able to reflect and understand many issues about themselves and their bodily experience. The authors analyze the process through multidisciplinary knowledge.

Continuing with her research on the aesthetic factors active in DMT, Sabine C. Koch presents the construct of being moved, the study of which is being developed as an emotion in aesthetics and psychology. In DMT there is a feedback process between moving and being moved that deserves to be looked at carefully in order to deepen knowledge of DMT’s specificities and workings. Some of the aesthetic aspects presented in the first chapter from phenomenological and psychoanalytic theories can easily be compared with some of the aesthetic factors identified by Koch through the lens of social and cognitive psychology, thus strengthening their validity.

Next, Rosemarie Samaritter and Marja Cantcll select published studies to identify the varieties of information brought by the therapists when describing methods and specific interventions in DMT. Based on the reviewed data, they offer a structural and conceptual outline that allows for systematizing the material in order to thoroughly describe, understand, apply, and teach interventions and their theoretical/meta-theoretical foundations.

Since DMT’s are connected to theories and concepts, Susan Dee Imus’s chapter offers a taxonomy of the structural components of clinical work. She goes into detail about how to look at one’s practice and to describe it in order to establish a meaningful communication with colleagues and students. Her discussion also enables practitioners to look at their methods of working and the methods’ relationship to their goals. The author also introduces a theoretical framework for teaching denominated A-FECT, which illustrates the use of her model.

After looking at interventions and the process of DMT sessions in the previous two chapters, Kristine Purcell guides us to stare at the creative process of the patient during the therapeutic process. Although it is considered a core aspect of DMT, we do not yet have a model of its elements, stages, and how they manifest themselves. Purcell’s model is based on her scrutiny of theories on creativity that contemplate both unconscious and conscious material, delineating how stages and components of the creative process lead to therapeutic change. A case study about a group in an inpatient psychiatric unit demonstrates the application of her model.

Beatrice Allegranti’s chapter opens Part III of the book. She extends the clinical perspective of DMT to its use for social and cultural change. Based on her knowledge of dance and choreography, she describes her work with families in which a member has early onset of dementia. Her unusual methods engage dancers who collaborate with her and the families. The next chapter delves into work with persons in the advanced stages of dementia. The reader will find Donna Newman-Bluestein’s courageous sharing of her own process undergone after many years of work with this population and her judicious and sensitive working through it. Her chapter is a testimony to her integration of art and science in DMT. She uses the term aesthetics as a cluster of principles in the work of an artist, and from there she takes us through her journey with this special population. Therapists working with other kind of clients will also profit from this text, because the issue of personal aesthetic preferences is dealt with, as they exist ubiquitously even without our noticing them. The contribution of Emiliejauffret-Hanifi, Svetlana Panova, and France Schott-Billmann on dance-rhythm therapy with patients with Parkinson’s disease describes the use of rhythms, drumming, movement/ dance, and voice to enable these patients to deal with their motor and non-motor, as well as with the psychological/emotional.

The next three contributors speak about the need for cultural specificity and sensitivity in DMT by examining how they have transformed DMT practices through specific cultural values in their home countries of India, South Korea, and Japan. India is known for its important contributions in spiritual practices and classical dance, but as with every country, it also has social problems. Sohini Chakraborty has spent many years working at combining her experience in dance in order to respond to the needs of victims of sexual trafficking and abuse. Her chapter describes a unique rehabilitation center she founded with a group of survivors that enables change and support for women and children who have gone through traumatic experiences. Through the use of dance and self-reflection, her model enables participants to be accepting of themselves and reintegrate into society.

The two following chapters from South Korea and Japan open our eyes to their ways of understanding, living and making use of body, dance, and communicating emotions. Both chapters delineate the meaning of body and mind, psychotherapy, verbalization, culture-specific emotions, and traditions. Knowing a different culture allows one to ponder about similarities and divergences with one’s way of life. Through the presentation of a case study, Kyung Soon Ko portrays the use of Salpuri, a traditional Korean dance, in the treatment of a woman suffering from haan, a specific Korean feeling. It was through her joining to her patients’ culturally embedded way of feeling and behaving that the therapy developed and effectively helped the woman. Yukari Sakiyama speaks of the influence of Japanese body culture as well as its rituals and imagery related to nature and how they merge in DMT practices. Traditionally, the body is not sinful but respected, she explains. Also discussed is the effect of Butoh and other dances upon DMT’s practice. The concept of Hogushi relating to the passive stance of the body in order to let it be what it is, is thought-provoking, and we can see some link to this attitude in the practice of Authentic Movement. Sakiyama gives us a culture-based explanation to the avoidance of verbalization: Japan as a homogeneous nation permits individuals to share common meanings of many symbolic events. They have the same understanding of events that do not demand verbalization; they are conveyed through nonverbal processes.

Transitioning from East Asia to Spain, we learn of the integration of flamenco’s dance/ culture in DMT work with persons with chronic and severe mental disorder. Elena Cristobal Linares brings to the sessions her comprehensive, embodied knowledge of this culture and describes moments imbued in flamenco’s poetry. In this case, the inclusion of flamenco for the patients is also a way to strengthen their belonging to society. The therapeutic use of the structural/aesthetic components of flamenco rhythm, weight, and space can inspire dance movement therapists in other parts of the globe.

David .Man Harris developed dance/movement therapy to assist former child soldiers in war-torn African Sierra Leone. His understanding of how dance and movement were employed within the culture and his awareness of the trauma in these youths’ lives enabled the development of creative and therapeutic movement. He further narrates how this was later used to enable the community and the youths to gather and facilitate transformation among themselves through symbolized and ritualized action.

Although many dmts start as relatively young dancers in the profession, persons of course age, and their bodies change. Jane Wilson Cathcart describes nicely and openly the process she underwent and how she dealt with some of it. She gives valuable information about some of the early dmts and their work as elders. Her vignettes talk about her fully embodied presence as a “dancing” dance movement therapist that can be inspiring also for young therapists.

We are hopeful that the material within the book will create a dialogue among colleagues to further build our knowledge. The pronouns —they/themselves- are used instead of she/he, according to the most recent changes in linguistic use instituted by the American Psychological Association.

Hilda Wengrower and Sharon Chaiklin

NOTE

1. Sec the journal Body, Movement and Dance in Psychotherapy, 2016, Vol. 11,2 3.

REFERENCES

Guba, E. G., & Lincoln, Y S. (1994). Competing paradigms in qualitative research. In N. Denzin & Y. Lincoln (Eds.), Handbook of qualitative research (pp. 105 117). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.