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Dance therapy, or Dance movement therapy is the psychotherapeutic use of movement (and dance) for emotional, cognitive, social, behavioural and physical conditions. It is a form of expressive therapy.

Dance therapy is based on the premise that the body and mind are interrelated, that the state of the body can affect mental and emotional wellbeing both positively and negatively. Dance therapists, with masters level training, assist clients with the mental and emotional problems that arise from muscle tension and constrained movement patterns and use these patterns to diagnose and treat life problems.

The name Dance movement therapy is more precise, as dance is usually concerned with the aesthetic results of movement, this intervention is concerened with any form of movement. Even standing still, sitting down, or moving hands in protest is considered an expression of movement in dance therapy. There are several different forms of application of dance therapy, including authentic movement, group work, individual clients, and individual forms generated by the therapist themselves.

Dance therapy is used to assist individuals using many the many forms of problems of living, with virtually any population. As any conscious person can move on some level, those movements are used as a basis for diagnosis and intervention using techniques of dance therapy.

Marian Chace is considered the principle founder of what is now dance therapy.

ecosomatics expressive therapy

• Meekums, B. (2002). Dance Movement Therapy: a Creative Psychotherapeutic Approach. London: Sage
• Chodorow, J. (1991). Dance Therapy and Depth Psychology. London
• Lewis, P. (1984; 1986). Theoretical Approaches in Dance Movement Therapy. Vols I & II, USA: Kendall/Hunt.
• Payne, H. (ed). (2006). Dance Movement Therapy: Theory, Research and Practice (2nd edn). Tavistock / Routledge.
• Siegel, E. (1984). Dance Movement Therapy: Mirror of Ourselves: The Psychoanalytic Approach. New York: Human Science Press.
• Stanton-Jones, K. (1992). An Introduction to Dance Movement Therapy in Psychiatry. London: Tavistock/Routledge.
• North, M. (1990). Personality Assessment Through Movement. Northcote House.
• Payne, H.L. (2000). Creative Movement and Dance in Groupwork. Oxon:Speechmark
• Hill, H. (2007)"Making our mark - an introduction to dance therapy in Australia" Arts Hub Australia - www.artshub.com.au
• McCormack, D. (2003) An event of geographical ethics in spaces of affect. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, 28, (4), 488-507

• The Association for Dance Movement Therapy in UK
• American Dance Therapy Association