ABSTRACT

Re-actualising through dance therapy of the situation in which the gaze of the mother was of crucial importance, transfer plays a key role. Psychoanalysis stresses the importance of the gaze which the mother fixes on the body and the performances of the child, who constructs its 'body image' in communication with this maternal gaze. Winnicott calls the space between two, the space of encounter of mother and child, reality and imagination, the place of passage between exterior and interior, 'transitional space'. The transitional objects, which have existed as long as humanity, allow the human individual to articulate its bond with its mother through activities and within spaces which bear the character of 'transition'. Rhythm dance therapy takes inspiration from the shaman and the mother, using the 'objects' of popular dance, with the firm conviction that their collective gestures, whether from Europe or beyond, harbour the ability to awaken vital forces and to re-organise disorder.