ABSTRACT
In selecting movements, feelings, memories, and images to bring into the foreground or leave in the background, dance/movement therapists are making aesthetic as well as therapeutic choices. As an adjective, Oxford University Press On-line Dictionary (2005) defines aesthetic as “concerned with beauty or the appreciation of beauty”. As a noun, aesthetic is defined as a set of principles underlying the work of a particular artist or movement. In the following chapter, I explore my personal aesthetic in dance and how that aesthetic influences my choice of interventions as a dance/movement therapist leading groups with older adults and people with dementia. How does my artistic sense as conveyed through dance help elicit from my elderly clients the aspects of self that they most need and are ready to express for their personal growth and healing?
