The Origin And Development Of Movement Therapy

By Karen Carter


Movement/Dance therapy refers to the therapeutic use of dance and movement for the purpose of supporting emotional, motor, and intellectual functions of the body. The term movement/dance therapy is often abbreviated as DMT and is commonly used in the United States and Australia. In the United Kingdom, this therapeutic treatment is referred by the name dance movement psychotherapy. The abbreviated form used in the United Kingdom is DMP.

DMT is a form of expressive therapy. Movement therapy aims to identify the correlation between emotions and movement. DMP is one of the therapies that have a very long history. Dance has been used since early human history in healing rituals in death, sickness, fertility, and birth. The existence of the idea of dance not being simply an expressive art emerged in Europe and the US in the period between 1840 and 1930.

Although dance was used for healing purposes since a long time ago, its actual establishment as a therapy and a profession occurred in the 1950s. The founder of American Dance Therapy Association, Marian Chance was among the individuals that established dance as such. The development of DMT assumes two waves through history. The first wave was spearheaded by Chance, while the second one attracted a lot of interest from American therapists.

The belief that the body and mind are in constant interaction is the basis for the theory of DMT. The dualist mind body premise is what the unconscious and conscious movements people make are based. For that reason, therapists partly base their relationships with clients on body language among other non-verbal cues. Each participant receives a sense of wholeness from DMT session by exploiting the unity among the body, spirit, and mind.

The process entails four stages that must be completed. One must achieve the smaller objectives entailed in each stage. The bigger purpose of DMT is comprised of these smaller goals. Each individual has different goals and stages are customized for each person. Stages progress from one to the other. Where necessary, stages are revisited every now and then.

The therapy involves four stages, which include preparation, evaluation, incubation, and illumination. The name warm-up may also be used for the preparation stage. This stage entails preparation of adequate and safe room with no distractions or obstacles. Supportive relationships with the witnesses are also formed at this point. Participants need to close their eyes and still be able to move around.

The incubation stage involves the leader prompting participants to go into subconscious. The prompt is given verbally. The subconscious is an internal environment of relaxation and serenity that the participant needs in order to exploit their emotions. Incubation is followed by the illumination process, which is integrated through dialogue. The witness offers dialogue to the conscious awareness to allow for self-reflection.

Through self-reflection, participants can resolve and uncover motivations within their subconscious. There are both positive and negative aspects of excess self-awareness. The session is concluded with evaluation where insights are discussed to understand their significance.




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