What is dance movement therapy

Dance/Movement Therapy (DMT) is a form of psychotherapy that uses movement and dance to promote emotional, social, cognitive, and physical integration, with the goal of improving health and wellbeing. It is based on the principle that body and mind are interconnected, and that movement can be a powerful tool for self‑expression, healing, and growth.

How it works

Therapist role: The therapist observes and engages with the client’s movement, offering reflection, mirroring, or guided improvisation.
Integration: By working through the body, clients can achieve greater emotional regulation, self‑awareness, and resilience.
Active factors include play, generativity, enactive space (what if..?) meaning making/symbolising and an aesthetic experience.
Movement can be discussed and analysed by the participant to cognitively realise what the body and mind are trying to tell us.

History of dance movement therapy

Dance and movement therapy was first used in a medical context in 1947, when Marion Chace was invited to work with WWII veterans at St Elizabeth’s Hospital in Washington D.C. Chace was a dancer from the Denishawn school who had studied psychiatry and psychodrama. Chace saw the power of movement as a therapeutic modality for those who were unable to verbalise their emotions and sensations. Her work was based on the premise that dance is communication. Other dancer practitioners who were able to channel the therapeutic nature of dance to non-dancers soon followed. Most had studied psychoanalysts including Jung and Adler and worked with theories of integration of psyche and individual psychology. Trudi Schoop used humour to bring joy to patients who were stuck in the seriousness of poor mental health. Using movement as a method for storytelling, Schoop encouraged patients to both exploring their history and values, and the possibilities for the present and future. Mary Starks Waterhouse developed authentic movement where individuals move with eyes closed (or downcast), guided by inner impulses, while being observed by a non judgmental witness. It bridges conscious and unconscious experience, fostering self exploration, emotional release, and embodied awareness. Liljian Espenak had a diagnostic movement test to find and work on weaknesses in the body which could block free flow. Her mantra, “motion causes emotion to flow” illustrates how she saw the role of expressive movement in understanding our individual psyhcologies. Blanche Evan worked with people managing depression, anxiety and stress using functional technique: based on mobility, alignment and capacity for expression through movement. Another approach was projective technique which has similarities with DBT; helping people recognise, regulate and process emotions.

However, the idea of integrating the body and mind was not invented in 20th century America. Across the world, cultures have long understood that true wellbeing comes from weaving together the physical and the mental. Practices like yoga in India, tai chi in China, and Zen meditation in Japan show how movement, breath, and awareness can be united to restore balance. These traditions remind us that health is not just about fitness or relaxation, it’s about cultivating resilience, clarity, and connection by engaging both body and mind. From Indigenous sweat lodge ceremonies in North America to Nordic sauna rituals, from African communal dance to Buddhist mindfulness, many cultures offer pathways to integration. Some emphasise purification and renewal, others focus on rhythm and collective energy, while many highlight stillness and presence. Together, they form a rich tapestry of wisdom that demonstrates a universal truth: when body and mind move in harmony, we unlock deeper healing, empowerment, joy and vitality. Today there are master’s qualified dance and movement therapists across the world and research is gradually building to satisfy western medical standards of evidence. Dance and movement therapy is formally recognized in countries such as the US, UK, France, Germany, Italy, and Argentina, with emerging programs and community applications in places like Isreal, Poland, Mexico, Turkey, India, China, South Korea, and Japan.