By Sally Magallanes
Dance therapy, better known as dance/movement therapy, is defined by the American Dance Therapy Association as “the psychotherapeutic use of movement as a process which furthers the emotional, social, cognitive and physical integration of the individual.” While this explanation may seem purely academic, therapists in this practice have literally changed lives. Dance/movement therapy treats many people to improve their developmental, medical, social and psychological impairments. The practitioners serve in hospitals, clinical settings, mental-health facilities or schools for children with special needs, particularly autism. Many clients treated through dance therapy are able to effectively express feelings, develop new self-awareness and experience healing of some disorders or behavioral improvements.
There are two accreditations in this specialty field, both obtained at the Master’s level: Dance Therapists Registered (DTR) and Academy of Dance Therapists (ADTR). Columbia College Chicago is currently the largest of only five national programs approved by the American Dance Therapy Association, developing highly-qualified practitioners in this specialized field. To obtain the DTR, students must have a Master’s degree with 700 hours of supervised clinical internship. The ADTR is awarded after DTRs have completed 3,640 more hours of supervised clinical work in an institution or special school. Both programs are part of the Dance/Movement Therapy & Counseling Department at Columbia College Chicago, under the supervision of Department Chair Susan Imus, MA, ADTR, LCPC, GLCMA. Students must have a background in both dance and behavioral science. The Dance Therapy Center (410 South Michigan Avenue), headed by Ms. Gina Demos, is a facility where this specialization is practiced.
Dance therapy can be traced back to very early civilizations, where dance was an important part of everyday life. Dances were performed for many celebrations, special occasions, the harvest and often did not involve verbal expression. The movements themselves expressed emotions, just as they do in today’s therapeutic practice. The human body is always moving. In the ancient world, dance expressed joy and energy that members of a particular civilization had; it was something people treasured rather than discouraged. Dance therapy today has different types of applications, such as authentic movement, group work and individual forms developed by the therapist(s).
Some dance/movement therapists have adopted or incorporated teachings of the late psychologist Carl Gustav Jung who believed in the active imagination and that deep, inner listening and movement could be therapeutic. It is believed today that the there are several major ways that dance/movement therapy affects change: as a stimulus for body action, for differentiation and individualization of self and the recognition and expression of feelings.
One of the earliest practitioners in more “modern” times is Marian Chace. She was a trained classical dancer and teacher. She studied with the American pioneers of modern dance, Ted Shawn and Ruth St. Denis, along with Martha Graham and Doris Humphrey. Ms. Chace found, in time, that the benefits to some of the youngest students and those with special needs could best be obtained by individual expression, rather than technique. In the 1940’s she began working with patients at St. Elizabeth’s Psychiatric Hospital (Washington, DC) who were extremely regressed and verbally challenged. Her painstaking work, and studies in psychotherapy treatments, produced outstanding results with previously “hopeless” patients who found movements uplifting. The concepts of imagination, release of emotions and physical expression not based solely on technique helped people with various disabilities function in a healthy manner.
A contemporary of Marian Chace was Mary Starks Whitehouse in California. She was also a trained dancer and instructor who, as noted earlier, studied Jung and his beliefs on consciousness and the body. She believed that people should listen to their own bodies to let movements naturally happen, that is, experience authentic movement. This was quite a departure from artists who had trained in the discipline of classical ballet or other dance forms. Ms. Starks Whitehouse shifted her thinking and work to the processes in dance, not just the outcome. Results came about as patients found the courage to express emotions through movement.
About 20 years later, a similar scenario took place through Joan Chodorow. Ms. Chodorow was a professional dancer (trained in ballet), who discovered that as a teacher, she must use more interpretive methods. Authorities in various psychiatric hospitals, hearing of this, requested her to work with patients. Her first “clients” were autistic children and others with severe visual and hearing disabilities. She brought in different types of music for the children and noticed their “dancing” was jumping, stomping or crawling on all fours. Ms. Chodorow participated in their same actions and eventually was able to get the children to refrain or redirect the unsocial/ dangerous behavior (knocking their bodies against a wall) into joyful, self-aware movements. The children began to express their feelings in healthy ways — some with pent-up anger began to find ways to deal with it through dance/movement therapy. She is the author of numerous books, including Dance Therapy & Depth Psychology: The Moving Imagination.
In the Chicagoland area, there are many practitioners who have obtained the DTR and ADTR accreditations. A local DTR, Rev. Dr. Charles Yopst, DMin states, “Seven decades ago churches and synagogues worshipped with their hearts and ignored their minds. Today, a highly-sophisticated generation’s emotions are painfully clumsy and negative. Our bodies are always moving to express feelings, which in turn, direct its movements. To connect mind and feelings together in healthy rhythms, as a pastor I earned a Doctor of Ministry in Group Pastoral Care and a Master’s DTR in Dance/Movement Therapy. The latter takes people’s own movements, as these are not set steps and routines, and with compassion and music fashions them into rewarding rhythms. Children, difficult adolescents, the elderly and substance abusers have found lasting freedom in clinics and temples. Religion has moved from legalistic grumbling to life giving movement and churches radiate more compassion.”
Another Chicago-area ADTR practitioner is Pamela Margules. She is a licensed clinical social worker employed at a pubic school and works with young children, adolescents and adults. Ms. Margules also is a trained dancer, who was fortunate to attend a university that offered Dance Therapy as a major. She states that “I wanted to do something to help people and felt that the beauty of this profession reaches their core. People cannot hide from themselves during the process. Dance/movement therapy allows people to experience the depths of their feelings.”
Sources:
American Dance Therapy Association (http://www.adta.org)
Columbia College of Chicago (http://www.colum.edu)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dance_therapy
Stark, A. “Health: American Dance Therapy Association, a Kinesthetic Approach.” Dance Magazine. November 1987, 56-57.
Ms. Pamela Margules, ADTR, LCSW
Rev. Dr. Charles Yopst, DMin, DTR