ABSTRACT
The undulating tune of a silky tango song fills the Baby Cues Baby Moves class, where four-month-old Lily and her mother, Helena, are dancing. Lily, attentive and alert, is lying on her back on the floor in front of Helena, who is also sitting on the floor with her legs folded underneath her. The vision of a loving mother and baby absorbed with each other is as much a felt experience for the onlooker as it is for the couple. The power of the body and of nonverbal experience to evoke emotions has been known to dancers throughout history. The creative arts therapies exist within the mental health field. Dance/movement therapy is defined by the American Dance Therapy Association as "the psychotherapeutic use of movement as a process which furthers the emotional, cognitive, social and physical integration of the individual".
