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Early Thoughts on Dance as Therapy

Before developing dance movement therapy in the 1940s, Marian Chace reflected on how she came to understand the significance of nonverbal communication in therapeutics.

Out of observing the non-verbal communication of individuals taking their first classes, I began to understand and meet the needs for which they were asking help. Instead of feeling frustration when they lagged behind the more adequate pupils, I tried to empathize with them as people.

Obviously, my teaching was undergoing change. Unconsciously, my centering for all pupils became a support of them as people as well as dancers. While the students at the school found satisfaction in various ways, I think of the whole period of the 1930s for me as one of intense absorption in learning about non-verbal communication.

Source: Marian Chace, quoted in Marian Chace: Her Papers, edited by Harris Chaiklin, 1975. 15-16.

Complementary & Alternative Medicine

Dance movement therapy

by Eugenia M. Valentine, Ph.D.

Category: Therapies and techniques

Related terms: Dance, dance therapy, bodily movement therapy, movement therapy

Definition: A body-based technique to enhance emotional and physical well-being.

Principal proposed uses: Depression, eating disorders, physical therapy, psychotic disorders, schizophrenia

Other proposed uses: Autism, head injuries, learning and mental disabilities

Overview

One of the creative arts therapies, dance movement therapy is defined by the American Dance Therapy Association (ADTA) as “the psychotherapeutic use of movement as a process that furthers the emotional, cognitive, social and physical integration of the individual.” Many practitioners consider Marian Chace to be the pioneer of dance movement therapy.

Chace began teaching dance in Washington, D.C., after retiring from the Denishawn Dance Company in 1930. She had noticed that some of her students were more interested in the emotions that they felt while dancing than in learning the techniques of modern dance. Intrigued, Chace learned that they valued the catharsis of feelings they experienced while dancing. Some of these students were concurrently undergoing traditional psychotherapy with psychiatrists, who noticed that their patients felt more refreshed and unburdened after their lessons with Chace. The psychiatrists began to send other patients to Chase’s classes, and they noted the positive change that dance appeared to inspire.

Chace was then invited to volunteer with those considered too disturbed to participate in therapy. The nonverbal approach of dance elicited improvement, and by the 1950s, Chace’s methods were subjected to serious study.

Mechanism of Action

The principle behind dance movement therapy is that dance is the most fundamental of all the arts, requiring no external materials. It is a communication of the psyche, expressed through self-directed movement. Dance movement therapists assume that the body, mind, and spirit are interconnected, allowing for direct access to feelings, cognition, and behavior. Bodily movement simultaneously provides the means of both intervention and assessment in this mode of therapy. Participants are encouraged to choose their own music and to begin moving to it in their own ways.

The dance movement therapist begins by empathically mirroring the participant’s actions, and then extends and expands them into a nonverbal statement of emotion that can release the participant from any fixed muscular patterns. Next, participants are gently coaxed into a circle and led into movement extensions with verbal narration. Once the group is a more cohesive unit, the therapist notes the styles of the participants and leads into the development of a global psychological theme for the session, with questions to shed light on individual conflicts. The session ends with communal movement from all participants to provide closure.

Uses and Applications

Chace believed that dance served as a medium for communication for the most disturbed psychiatric patients, such as schizophrenics. However, today dance movement therapists work with groups and individuals of all ages who have widely differing problems. They may work in private practice, wellness clinics, rehabilitation centers, nursing homes, and schools. The focus on positive body movement may help clients with eating disorders and body issues. The nonverbal conflict revelations and resolutions may help dysfunctional families develop communication skills, and those who have been through trauma such as abuse or violence may find a new mode of constructive coping. The physical therapy uses of dance movement therapy are self-evident, and it is often used with the frail and elderly.

Disease prevention and health promotion, a new area of specialization in dance movement therapy, is beginning to be used in programs for people with chronic medical conditions such as cardiovascular disease, chronic pain, and hypertension. Research on the effectiveness of dance movement therapy has investigated certain settings, such as prisons and homeless shelters, and specific populations, such as the mentally disabled, suicidal persons, the visually and hearing impaired, and autistic persons.

Scientific Evidence

A 1993 study suggested that dance movement therapy improved balance, rhythmic discrimination, mood, social interaction, and energy level in older persons with neurological damage. A 2010 study evaluated the influence of dance movement therapy on the perception of well-being in women with chronic fatigue syndrome. Seven persons attended a four-month program and were tested both before and after the program. Their perceptions of physical well-being improved by an average of 25.8 percent, and their perceptions of psychological well-being improved by 22.7 percent.

A 2008 dance movement therapy intervention group of persons with dementia improved in a task of visual-spatial ability and planning, whereas the control group either remained unchanged or deteriorated slightly. Dance movement therapy appears to be effective in treating cognition and self-care abilities in dementia.

A 2006 study assessed mildly depressed adolescents after twelve weeks of dance movement therapy. All self-report measurements of distress decreased significantly after the twelve weeks. In addition, both serotonin and dopamine levels increased in that group. Thus, dance movement therapy may help to decrease depression both by relieving perceptions of distress and by lowering neurotransmitter levels.

Choosing a Practitioner

Chace helped to organize the ADTA in 1966 and served as its first president. The ADTA has a code of ethics and standards for professional clinical practice, education, and training. Course work for dance movement therapy includes classes on theory and practice, observation and analysis, human development, psychopathology, cultural diversity, research, and group therapy. The ADTA maintains a registry of dance movement therapists who meet these stringent standards.

Persons certified (as Dance Therapist Registered, or DTR) have master’s degrees and seven hundred hours of supervised clinical internship. The certification Academy of Dance Therapists Registered (ADTR) is then awarded with the completion of 3,640 hours of supervised clinical internship. Persons interested in dance movement therapy can find qualified practitioners through the ADTA Web site (http://www.adta.org).

Safety Issues

There are no known safety issues with dance movement therapy.

Citation Types

Type

Format

MLA 9th

Valentine, Eugenia M. "Dance Movement Therapy." Complementary & Alternative Medicine, edited by Richard P. Capriccioso & Paul Moglia, Salem Press, 2012. Salem Online, online.salempress.com/articleDetails.do?articleName=CAM_0211.

APA 7th

Valentine, E. M. (2012). Dance movement therapy. In R. P. Capriccioso & P. Moglia (Eds.), Complementary & Alternative Medicine. Salem Press. online.salempress.com.

CMOS 17th

Valentine, Eugenia M. "Dance Movement Therapy." Edited by Richard P. Capriccioso & Paul Moglia. Complementary & Alternative Medicine. Hackensack: Salem Press, 2012. Accessed December 14, 2025. online.salempress.com.

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