ABSTRACT
Payne writes that ‘at its very simplest, dance movement therapy is the use of creative movement and dance in a therapeutic relationship’ (Payne, 1992:4). Stanton-Jones (1992) and Meekums (2002) have attempted to summarise the theoretical principles underlying dance movement therapy. Their definitions include the following:
• The mind and body are in constant interaction • Movement reflects personality: this includes psychological developmental processes as
well as psychopathology and interpersonal patterns of relating • The therapeutic relationship includes a non-verbal dimension • Movement is symbolic, and evidences unconscious processes • Improvisation in movement allows clients to experiment with new ways of being and
relating • Creative processes in free movement are inherently therapeutic
(Stanton-Jones, 1992:10; Meekums, 2002:8)
The UK Standing Committee for Arts Therapies Professions (SCATP) defines dance movement therapy (DMT) as focusing on the use of movement and dance as a means of engaging in ‘personal integration and growth’. At the heart of the discipline is the notion that ‘there is a relationship between motion and emotion and that by exploring a more varied vocabulary of movement people experience the possibility of becoming more securely balanced yet increasingly spontaneous and adaptable’ (SCATP, 1989). An oftenstated notion is that the ‘inner world’ of the client is expressed through dance and movement, and that things that might be difficult to say become visible through dance. The therapy space becomes one where these areas can be discovered, expressed and worked with. This is often accompanied by the idea that aspects of the client’s experiences or identity that have become split or buried can become integrated. Both the Irish and American Associations use this idea. For example, the American Dance Therapy Association (ADTA) defines DMT as ‘the psychotherapeutic use of movement as a process which furthers the emotional, cognitive, social and physical integration of the individual’ (ADTA website). The Irish Association of Creative Arts Therapists’ (IACAT) definition echoes this:
Dance movement therapy is a means of expression within a psychotherapeutic relationship, founded on the principle that movement reflects an individual’s patterns of thinking and feeling-the person is enabled creatively in a process of personal integration and growth. In acknowledging and supporting the movements of clients, therapy
encourages development of new, adaptive movement patterns, together with the emotional experiences that accompany such changes.
