What is Dance Therapy?

The American Dance Therapy Association defined dance therapy as “the psychotherapeutic use of movement as a process which furthers the emotional and physical integration of the individual. Dance/movement therapy is practiced in mental health, rehabilitation, medical, educational, and forensic settings, and in nursing homes, day care centers, disease prevention, and health promotion programs. The dance/movement therapist focuses on movement behavior as it emerges in the therapeutic relationship. Expressive, communicative, and adaptive behaviors are all considered for both group and individual treatment. Body movement as the core component of dance simultaneously provides the means of assessment and the mode of intervention for dance/movement therapy” (Dance Therapy).

Since this original definition, many dance therapists have gone on to expand the definition. Many say it is “an expression of the inner self through the medium movement” (Bergmann, “The Process/Product” 103).