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Dance Therapy Today: An Overview of the Profession and Its Practice Around the World

January 2022
Creative Arts in Education and Therapy 7(2):158-186

DOI:10.15212/CAET/2021/7/13

Authors:

Kim Dunphy

University of Melbourne

Dita Federman

University of Haifa

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Humans have used dance as a healing art since the beginning of human history, but dance therapy has only begun to be recognized as a formal profession since the mid-1940s. At that time, dancers living in the USA began using dance as a therapeutic medium in health-care settings. Since then, the field has expanded across the world, with dance therapists now practicing in most countries. Professional associations have been established, training courses set up, and processes for registering therapists with government authorities implemented. This article provides an international overview of these developments. Detailed information about progress and challenges in the advancement of the dance therapy profession is offered across six world regions. Progress includes expansion of geographic range to countries where no formal training or networks exist, including many developing nations. Barriers to progress include lack of university-based accredited training and low numbers of professionals, making the establishment of a critical mass of practitioners difficult. Suggestions for future development of the profession internationally are made.

| 360 Degree of Witness. Image by Amber Gray.

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| A Singaporean student in China training program. Image courtesy of Inspirees Institute.

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| Dance for unity. EADMT Conference, Milan, 2016.

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| Lebanon DMT activity group. Image by Amber Gray.

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| Interbeing through dance. Image courtesy of Brecha, Argentina.

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Figures - uploaded by Dita Federman

Content may be subject to copyright.

Content uploaded by Dita Federman

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Creative Arts in Education and Therapy – Eastern and Western Perspectives – Vol. 7, Issue 2, December 2021.

Creative Arts Educ Ther (1) ():158–186 DOI: 10.15212/caet/2021/7/13

Dance Therapy Today: An Overview of the Profession

andItsPractice Around the World

当今的舞蹈治疗：世界舞蹈治疗行业及实践总览

Kim Dunphy1, Dita Federman2, Diana Fischman3, Amber Gray4,

Vincenzo Puxeddu5, Tony Yu Zhou6 and Ella Dumaresq1

1University of Melbourne, Australia

2University of Haifa, Israel

3Brecha, Argentina

4The Kint Institute, USA

5Université de Paris, France

6Inspirees Institute, China

Abstract

Humans have used dance as a healing art since the beginning of human history, but dance ther-

apy has only begun to be recognized as a formal profession since the mid-1940s. At that time,

dancers living in the USA began using dance as a therapeutic medium in health-care settings.

Since then, the eld has expanded across the world, with dance therapists now practicing in

most countries. Professional associations have been established, training courses set up, and

processes for registering therapists with government authorities implemented. This article pro-

vides an international overview of these developments. Detailed information about progress

and challenges in the advancement of the dance therapy profession is offered across six world

regions. Progress includes expansion of geographic range to countries where no formal training

or networks exist, including many developing nations. Barriers to progress include lack of uni-

versity-based accredited training and low numbers of professionals, making the establishment

of a critical mass of practitioners difcult. Suggestions for future development of the profession

internationally are made.

Keywords: dance therapy, dance movement therapy (DMT), professional practice, training, registration

摘要

自人类历史开始以来，人类就将舞蹈作为一种疗愈的艺术。但自 1940 年代中期以来，

舞蹈治疗才开始被认为是一种正式的职业。当时，在美国的舞者开始在临床医疗环境中

使用舞蹈作为治疗媒介。从那时起，该领域已经扩展到世界各地，现在大多数国家都有

舞蹈治疗师在执业，成立了专业协会，开设了培训课程，并实施了向政府当局注册治疗

师的程序。本文提供了这些发展的全球概述，特别是在世界六个地区有关舞蹈治疗行业

发展和挑战的详情，以及如何将地理范围扩大到没有正式专业培训或资源的国家，包括

许多发展中国家。文章指出行业进步的主要障碍包括缺乏以大学为基础的学历教育和专

业人员数量限制，使得难以建立足够的从业人员数量。对该行业在国际上的未来发展文

章提出了相关建议。

关键词: 舞蹈治疗，舞蹈动作治疗，专业实践，培训，注册

Dance Therapy Today: An Overview of the Profession and Its Practice Around the World 159

Introduction

We present the ndings of a project to document the current state of dance therapy or

dance movement therapy (DMT) across the world, undertaken as the rst initiative of

the rst global dance therapy association, the World Alliance for Dance Movement

Therapy.

This article focuses on the formal profession of DMT as it was recognized rst

in the USA in the 1940s and then in other places around the world since then. At that

time, dancers living in the USA began using dance as a therapeutic medium in health-

care settings and gradually began to establish evidence to support this work. Since

then, the eld has expanded across the world, with dance therapists now practicing in

the majority of countries. Training courses have been set up, professional associations

established and processes for registering therapists with government authorities

implemented.

Although DMT is a relatively recently recognized profession, human beings have

utilized dance as a healing and transformative art since the beginning of our history

(Nemetz, 2006). People from most of the world’s cultures have expressed themselves by

moving together to a common rhythm before important events such as harvests, hunts,

and wars and in times of transition such as birth, puberty, marriage, and death (Dunphy

2020). Feelings and emotions have always been shared through common participation

in movement (Schmais & White, 1986). In Australia, Aboriginal and Torres Strait

Islander people practice the oldest living culture on the planet, in which dance has

been inextricably interwoven with other artforms to address and advance the cultural,

physical, social, mental, spiritual, and environmental health of its members (Perkins &

Langton, 2008; Dunphy & Ware, 2019). Other indigenous peoples have long histories

of healing dance practice.

Africa, a continent which prior to colonization had more uid, tribally dened

boundaries that are now dened geopolitically, is rich with dance forms that evolved

from ancient communal and spiritual practices. Many African dances will be known

as pertaining to a modern country, but often these dances are found in more than

one country. African dances also travelled to other parts of the world when people

were enslaved in colonies far from their homes. Brazil and the Caribbean have dance

forms and ritual practices that derive from African roots. In Haiti, healing, celebration,

mourning, and assisting the recently departed to return to their ancestral home “Ginee

bas dlo,” which literally means “Ginee (ancestral homeland) below the waters (a tribute

to all who drowned in the middle passage),” are all rituals that are danced, drummed,

prayed, and sung. Each spirit in the pantheon of Vodou (Haiti’s rich spiritual tradition;

Vodou means “energy” or “inquiry into the unknown”) has a song, rhythm, and dance

attributed to it (Gray, 2008). In Asia, since ancient times, dance has played an important

role in ritual, spiritual, and healing practices, including reverence for nature. Asian

dances also carry a strong relationship with different religious practices, particularly

for Buddhist, Hindu, and Islamic religions (Ho, 2021).

However, this article does not focus on earlier practices, but only those

currently recognized as DMT, which we dene as requiring the leadership of a

160 Kim Dunphy et al.

DMT practitioner who has formal training, is recognized or registered with a DMT

professional association, and who works with client/s in a formal arrangement or

contract.

Worldwide, there is no real consensus regarding a universal name for the

profession. Several terms are used in different countries, for example, dance therapy,

dance movement therapy, dance/movement therapy, dance movement psychotherapy

(DMP). For the sake of convenience, DMT is abbreviation used in this article.

However, it is important to be aware of the different contexts in which therapeutic

dance and movement are used across cultures: in some cultures and contexts, dance is

a stronger focus, and in others, the “movement” aspect is more prominent. Although

the formalized profession of DMT has been mainly developed and evolved in the

west, the eld reects elements and methods from other cultures and is practiced in

diverse ways around the globe. As the authors of this ambitious article, we would like

to encourage equal and active global dialogue in any discussion around terminology.

We are mindful of the Eurocentric bias that has traditionally shaped the eld and

suggest this article might contribute toward further discussion, debate, and critical

discourse. Decolonizing knowledge is an ongoing endeavor, and we welcome further

dialogue with members of the eld, both far and wide.

The article begins with a literature review of material documenting the development

of the DMT profession throughout the world, including country-specic advances and

particular clinical issues in specic regions. It then articulates our research questions

and the method used to gather data. Findings document the history of development of

DMT, training, and professional associations across six world regions: Asia, Australia/

New Zealand, Europe, North, Central and South America, and one country from the

Middle East. The article concludes with documentation of the rst initiatives to establish

a global organization for dance therapists.

Literature review

The development of the DMT profession throughout the world has been documented

in a modest number of articles. These include information about country-specic

developments from the Asia-Pacic, Europe, Israel, UK, and USA as well as articles

that address a particular clinical issue in specic countries.

Literature about DMT in Australia includes a focus on the pioneering inuence of

Hanny Exiner, whose work helped shape DMT practice there (Bond, 2008) and the

development of the profession and professional practice (Denning, 2017; Dunphy,

Hearnes, & Toumbourou, 2009; Sullivan, 2007). Articles about DMT in Asia include

a culturally specic application in incorporating traditional practices of folk song and

yarn weaving to stimulate reminiscence in late-life dementia (Arakawa-Davis, 1997).

In Taiwan, documentation includes the emergence of DMT through early work in

hospitals and the establishment of the Taiwanese DMT Association (Lee, 2004) and

DMT applications for locals during the SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome)

crisis and with children after an earthquake (Lee, 2004). In China, a pilot study of DMT

with cancer patients is documented (Ho, 2005) and in Korea, a conference was held to

Dance Therapy Today: An Overview of the Profession and Its Practice Around the World 161

celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Korean DMT association (Owen, 2014). A pilot

program trialed in post-conict nation Timor-Leste is evaluated by Australian dance

movement (DM) therapists (Dunphy, Jordan, & Elton, 2014).

Articles specically about DMT in Europe include a discussion of academic, cultural,

and economic factors inuencing the development of DMT in Estonia (Nordstrom-Loeb,

2012) and the emergence of psychodynamic movement and dance therapy (PMDT) in

Hungary, as championed by Márta Merényi (Vermes & Incze, 2012).

Within the UK, the emergence of the Association for Dance Movement Therapy in

the early 1980s and a collaborative training program between Hahnemann University

(Philadelphia) and the London Centre for Movement and Dance are documented by

Higgens (1992). The pioneering of DMT in the UK is reported in Meekums’ article

(2008) through the perspectives of nine early leaders: Leah Bartal, Lynn Crane, Sarah

Holden, Fran Lavendel, Jeannette MacDonald, Bonnie Meekums, Helen Payne, Kedzie

Peneld, and Marie Ware. A nationwide survey of DMT professionals in the UK

includes data about work settings, client groups, and preferred theoretical approaches

(Zubala & Karkou, 2015).

In the USA, Miller, Aaron-Cort, and White presented an overview of the history of

the American Dance Therapy Association (ADTA) in the celebration of the association’s

50th anniversary in 2016. This includes focus on internal and external factors that

supported the establishment of nationally accepted standards for DM therapists. The

ADTA reported ndings of a national survey and practice analysis (2016).

A brief overview of creative arts therapies in Israel, including DMT and creative arts

therapies in special education, is offered by Berrol (1989). She posits two factors that

have advanced DMT in that nation—favorable conditions afforded by ubiquitous use of

song and dance in religious and ritual worship and supportive policy initiatives that have

enhanced its integration into special education. The effects of mothers’ participation in

DMT sessions with children in Israel is also documented (Regev, Kedem, & Guttmann,

2012).

Global developments

Another set of articles overviewing DMT developments globally include those by Appel

(2005), Dulicai and Berger (2005), Nemetz (2006), and Guthrie (2009). Appel reports on

developments in Canada, Argentina, Israel, and various European and Asian countries

from the perspective of American DM therapists who lived and worked there. Dulicai

and Berger document the international expansion of the profession through survey results

from DM therapists from more than 37 countries, with topics including training, training

standards, association, and professional work and its settings. Guthrie presents data from

a survey comparing pathways taken for advancement of the eld, with a specic focus on

Australian pathways and the complexities involved in achieving professional recognition.

The importance of training in achieving professional recognition is highlighted, and

alliances with other organizations were suggested for advancement of the profession.

Reports from the international panel at ADTA conferences capture more global

developments. In 2015, representatives from Turkey, China, Taiwan, Germany, Russia,

162 Kim Dunphy et al.

Australia, Netherlands, Japan, South Korea, and Italy discussed the global emergence

of DMT in their countries. This included historical and cultural connections to dance

and DMT and future prospects for growth (Capello, 2016). The following year,

representatives from Hungary, Greece, Belgium, Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Costa

Rica, Vietnam, China, and Australia shared perspectives about DMT in their countries,

addressing themes of current status and future considerations (Capello, 2017).

Finally, a small number of articles document research in DMT. Cruz and Harvey

(2001) explore research needs as identied by 1,178 American DM therapists.

Although respondents were almost unanimous that research is urgently needed for

the profession’s advancement, relatively few identied its value for their own practice.

The rst international DMT research colloquium in Germany involved 22 researchers

presenting ndings from doctoral studies or clinical research. Topics included DMT

with oncological patients, in the treatment of bromyalgia, and for dealing with stress

and psychological strain (Koch & Bräuninger, 2005). Cruz (2016) reports advances

in empirical research, notably the centrality of research for the profession’s ongoing

growth and development. She posits that the signicance of embodiment for DMT has

laid a solid foundation for the profession, particularly keeping it aligned with other

globally emerging body–mind trends. Recently, Wengrower and Chaiklin (2021) have

expanded the discourse further by drawing together international voices from around

the world. The editors and individual authors offer a rich and original contribution to

the eld, showcasing the global prole of DMT as practiced across various continents.

Cultural diversity is clearly apparent in this publication, as authors present a vast array

of DMT models from around the world. Dance and creativity are explored from the

standpoint of Indian colleagues as well as Japanese and Korean authors; perspectives

from the USA and Europe are also included. The result is rigorous synthesis of global

advances in DMT research and practice and a celebration of the culturally diverse

nature of the profession (Figure 1).

Research questions

This article reports investigation on three aspects of the DMT profession’s

development: history, training, and professional associations. The history of the

profession in each region includes information about when DMT was formally

identied as beginning and inuential innovators and activities they undertook to

establish the profession. The second focus is training and education developments in

each region: the development and professional contexts of training programs. Finally,

the article documents the establishment and advancement of professional associations

around the world.

Methods

The method followed by authors, who are senior DMT professionals, educators, and

researchers from across the world, was rst to draw on their own knowledge of the

DMT profession in their region to respond to our questions. Information was also drawn

from published articles and websites of local associations, where they are existing, to

Dance Therapy Today: An Overview of the Profession and Its Practice Around the World 163

FIGURE 1 | 360 Degree of Witness. Image by Amber Gray.

support these perspectives. Additional information was sought from practitioners in

other countries in their regions with whom the authors had personal connections. A

questionnaire used to elicit this information is attached as Appendix 1 and the list of

respondents as Appendix 2.

Other countries and regions with whom we did not have contacts and were unable

to nd published literature are not covered in this article. This includes the entire

continent of Africa, much of the Middle East, and many places in South America, Asia,

and the Pacic region.

Findings

This section reports our ndings including survey responses about DMT across the

seven regions: Africa, Asia, Oceania, Europe, North America, South America and the

Middle East.

Africa

To our collective knowledge, South Africa is the only country on the African continent

that is developing a formal DMT program. The authors acknowledge the continent’s

long history of healing dance, the knowledge of which is held by many unknown

164 Kim Dunphy et al.

colleagues there as well as many of our colleagues in the countries we live in. We include

a link to the ADTA’s Black Magic Afnity Group for those interested in connecting to

colleagues with expertise in African dance and healing (https://adta.memberclicks.net/

black-m-a-g-i-c--afnity-group).

South Africa has a handful of dance therapists registered by the South African

government agency that is responsible for all creative arts therapy licenses. They

have all trained outside of the country since there is no formal academic dance

therapy training program yet on the African continent, to the best of the authors’

knowledge. DMT Vivien Marcow-Speiser, with colleagues at the University of the

Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, is co-developing the rst dance therapy training

program in South Africa. As Marcow-Speiser suggests, “there is tremendous interest

and efcacy in using dance and ritual in the service of collective healing and the

transformation of individual and collective consciousness throughout the continent.

And of course, this includes the many populations there in distress and under duress.

And add in COVID-19 and the disparities of resources between the global north and

the global south, I think the arts have a tremendous role to play in the post COVID-

19 world there as around the world” (personal communication, March 23, 2021).

Asia

History

This section focuses primarily on the regions of East Asia and South Asia where DMT

is relatively more developed (Zhou et al., 2019). East Asian countries such as China,

Japan, and South Korea share similar cultural and historical roots based in Confucian,

Taoist, and Buddhist religions. In these cultures, the body and mind have traditionally

been considered a unity, where the “body” in its wider denition includes both physical

and spiritual aspects. Such culturally embedded understandings of embodiment are

similar in many respects to some of the main beliefs and values in which dance therapy

is grounded (Zhou, 2015). Although the westernized practice of dance therapy is now

recognized and practiced professionally in this region of the world, this has taken place

in a context already rich in body–mind healing practices. Dance, as a way of living and

practicing well-being, has been perceived and practiced differently in Asia throughout

history both in daily life by common people and on stage by performance artists,

making it more accessible for the public.

Most these Asian countries share a similar story in developing the recent dance

therapy by introducing the western forms of dance therapy into their countries.

Some early teachers trained in Europe or the USA before returning to their

homeland to begin their practice. In China, this began with Lotus Fucius who

returned to Beijing in 1995 from her training in the USA and began combining

dance therapy with traditional Chinese medicine. Fucius’ work was later expanded

by Dutch dance therapist Zvika Frank, who was invited by Dr. Tony Zhou to visit

China in 2004. Since then, the profession has quickly gained momentum in China

(https://youtu.be/DWMKgdDIWZM). American-trained dance therapist, Lee

Tsungchin, began practicing dance therapy in the psychiatric department at the

Dance Therapy Today: An Overview of the Profession and Its Practice Around the World 165

Taipei Veterans General Hospital in Taiwan in the 1980s. In Hong Kong, American-

trained dance therapist Dr. Rainbow Ho pioneered dance therapy in her region

through her academic position and expressive arts therapy postgraduate program at

the University of Hong Kong since 2001. Similarly in the 1990s, Dr. Boon Soon Ryu

rst introduced dance therapy in Korea modeled on ADTA’s framework. In Japan,

dance therapy was being used in the 1970s to support hospitalized psychiatric

patients. Interestingly, this earlier application of dance therapy in Japan was not

informed by American and European dance therapy theory and practice, as it was in

other countries in this region, but by its own folk dance. These earlier practitioners

essentially discontinued their practice as more western-informed forms of dance

therapy became the professional standard. A similar narrative is apparent in India,

with a handful of dance therapists returning to India after training to cultivate a

dance therapy practice based on western-oriented dance therapy training embedded

in cultural movement forms. The early wave of dance therapy in India is understood

to have been pioneered by Tripura Kashyap, who returned from training in the

USA in 1988 and began developing her dance therapy practice within the context of

mental health. Dr. Sohini Chakraborty established herself in 2004 in the East. The

second wave with Rashi Bijlani, Ritu Shree, and Anshuma Kshetrapal in the north,

Devika Mehta and Dilshad Patel in the West, and Preetha Ramasubramian, Tarana

Khatri, and Brinda Jacob Janvrin in South India.

At this stage, as far as we are aware, only small numbers of dance therapists are

working independently in other countries in Asia. This includes dance therapists trained

in the UK, the USA, and Australia returning to work in their home countries of Malaysia,

the Philippines, and Vietnam. Currently, Thailand has a few dance/movement therapists

who have graduated from both the USA and the UK in dance therapy. There is a growing

academic and professional focus in Thailand on the use of creative arts therapy to

facilitate well-being and other therapeutic objectives. The University of Chulalongkorn

is actively collaborating with the University of Haifa, Israel, to develop a dance therapy

academic program. The Faculty of Fine Arts of Srinakharinwirot University also offers

an elective course in dance therapy. Students from University of Haifa are currently

undertaking internships in various places in Thailand with clients including patients

with Parkinson disease and children in various institutions.

Asian countries are becoming increasingly aware of their own identities and strength

among the early inuences from the West. More local DMT professionals are starting

their own approaches adapted to local culture and situation and expanding their work

beyond clinical setting to education, community, well-being, and corporate settings.

Training

As is the case with the historical emergence of dance therapy within Asia, western-

informed dance therapy has largely shaped the development of training within this

region. This can be seen in alignment of a number of training programs with the ADTA

model. In South Korea, for example, the rst training was established by Ryu Boon Soon.

This was followed in 2001 by a master’s program with a major in DMT established at

Seoul Women’s University and an ADTA-accredited Alternate Route training course.

166 Kim Dunphy et al.

Jeonju University in Korea newly opened DMT program which offers Master and Ph.D

degree program in 2021. This DMT program is running by Dr. Ko Kyung Soon under

the division of Creative Arts therapy with Art therapy and music therapy.

There is growing interest in dance therapy in Chinese universities, but no academic

program has been set up yet in the mainland. However, several universities have started

creative arts therapy master research programs that incorporate dance therapy module.

The inuence from the West is also evident in ADTA Alternate Route accredited courses

Kong since 2010 (Figure 2). Courses offered by Apollo are based on a German Dance

Movement Therapy Association model since 2011. More than 500 students have entered the

two training programs. Among them, more than 80 students have now been fully trained as

FIGURE 2 | A Singaporean student in China training program. Image courtesy of Inspirees

Institute.

Dance Therapy Today: An Overview of the Profession and Its Practice Around the World 167

dance therapists with some ten graduates accredited by ADTA or the German Association.

In Hong Kong, dance therapy courses have been held in the University of Hong Kong since

2004 through regular workshops and the master of expressive arts therapy program.

In Taiwan, Professor Tsungchin Lee has provided dance therapy training based on

local practice and research experiences since 1987. She is the founder of Taiwan Dance

Therapy Association (TDTA) and had provided trainings for senior dance-therapist-

trainers within the TDTA. Currently, dance therapy training opportunities are available

through TDTA, dance therapy courses provided in several universities, as well as

TWNZ, a collaborative training programme supported by NZ Certicate program and

Taiwanese DMTs, founded by DM Psychotherapist Jacquelyn Wan.

In Vietnam, the “Vietnam dance/movement therapy” (Tr liệu Ma/Chuyển động) is

currently developing a training program. This is being led by Minh Bui, who is designing

the course in alignment with DTAA competency standards (Denning, Dunphy, &

Lauffenburger, 2019) as well as Vietnamese regulations for higher education. Short

introduction courses are being run at present (4–6 weeks), and these advance courses

will be accredited toward the full program.

In Japan, several non-academic courses enable participants to gain credits to become

a DM therapist. In India, the rst master’s in expressive movement therapy has been

launched in 2021 at Sancheti Healthcare Academy (Savitribai Phule University). Two

diploma programs are offered, one at St. Meera’s College (Savitribai Phule University)

and other at Centre for Lifelong Learning (TISS). The above three programs are run in

collaboration with pioneering dance therapy organizations. Several private institutions

offer unaccredited and foundational-level courses in dance therapy. In Thailand, an

MA degree in arts therapies is offered at the University of Chulangkorn, Bangkok, in

cooperation with the University of Haifa, Israel.

Professional associations

A number of professional associations are active in this region. These include the

Japan Dance Therapy Association established in 1992, the Taiwan Dance Therapy

Association, and the Hong Kong Dance Movement Therapy Association. Korea has

three professional associations: the rst, Korean Dance Therapy Association, which

is currently the largest, was established by Ryu Boon Soon (KDMPA, 2018), the

Korean Chum Therapy Association, and the Korean Society of Dance/Movement

Psychotherapy, which was established in 2010 by graduates of American programs who

returned to Korea after studies in the 1990s and early 2000s (KSDMP, 2018). A not-for-

prot organization, Creative Movement Therapy Association of India, was established

in 2014, and the Indian Association of Dance Movement Therapy was established in

2020. In 2002, a dance therapy association was established in Taiwan, where Jacquelyn

Wan established a training program that graduated seven DMTs in 2019. The current

cohort has 15 students, and music, art, and dance therapy associations there are working

for the recognition of creative arts therapies and a master’s-level program.

An ofcial professional dance therapy association has not yet been established in

China due to strict government regulation on psychotherapy. Any unofcial associations

registered out of mainland China are not legally recognized. In 2016, the Chinese Arts

168 Kim Dunphy et al.

Therapy Group (CATG) was established with the leadership of Dr. Tony Zhou under the

Chinese Psychological Society. A working division on dance therapy has been set up

to work on the registration and standard (training and code of ethics) of dance therapy

in China. This group is yet to grow and integrate with other organizations in China. In

2021, the Chinese Ministry of Health has started to create a new edition of the national

guideline of psychotherapy. CATG was much involved in the creative arts therapies

chapter, including dance therapy. This was a milestone for dance therapy in China.

Oceania

This section focuses on Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand, where DMT is more

strongly developed. As far as is known, there are few, if any, practitioners active in

other countries in the Oceania region.

History

DMT began to emerge as a profession in Australia in the late 1970s, largely out of

the practice of creative and educational dance professionals who sought to develop

the therapeutic potential of their work. However, the First Nations people of Australia

have practiced dance as a healing art for millennia, in an unbroken line to the present

day, for functions similar to those of DMT (Al-Yaman, 2016; Treloyn & Martin, 2014;

Jordan, Searle, & Dunphy, 2017; Dunphy & Ware, 2019). Likewise, the Maori people

of Aotearoa New Zealand have strong cultural dance practices that continue to be a

vibrant part of culture (Dunphy, 1996).

The rst practitioners of what has become known as the profession of DMT in

Australia were trained by both Wynelle Delaney and Hanny Exiner (Denning et

al., 2019). Delaney was a visitor from the West Coast of the USA, with whom some

Australian practitioners trained, whereas Exiner was an Austrian-born dancer,

educator, and therapist who remained in Australia. Exiner’s professional life had a

similar trajectory to the dancers who are now rst recognized early practitioners of

DMT within the USA. For instance, she was a modern dancer trained in the Middle

European tradition, who had studied under Bodenweiser and came to Australia as a

member of the Borovansky Ballet Company in the 1940s. She was strongly inuenced

by dance educator and theorist Rudolf Laban. Her medical studies led to an interest

in psychotherapy, bringing her to the intersection of dance, health, healing, medicine

and psychology, all of which informed early DMT practice (Bond, 2008; Guthrie &

Aitchison, 2008).

Training

Exiner instigated the development of dance education and therapy training in Australia,

between the 1960s and 1980s at the Kindergarten Teachers College in Melbourne,

Victoria. This later become part of Melbourne University’s Department of Education.

Exiner’s initiative was formalized and developed by Karen Bond, an Exiner protégé

and immigrant from the USA, and the rst person to obtain a PhD in DMT in Australia.

The graduate diploma in movement and dance commenced in 1977 and included a

DMT stream, later becoming a graduate certicate in dance therapy. A Master of

Dance Therapy Today: An Overview of the Profession and Its Practice Around the World 169

Education in advanced studies in movement and dance also operated at Melbourne

University during the 1990s, enabling many professionals to gain a degree in education

that underpinned their work in DMT.

Other university programs that have offered DMT comprise RMIT Melbourne’s

graduate diploma of visual and performing arts, offered from 2002 and 2006; the Wesley

Institute in Sydney, which offered DMT as part of a bachelor’s degree and later become

a graduate diploma in dance movement therapy (1996–2011). This program was led by

Evelyn Dena. Later, a diploma course was hosted by Phoenix Institute, a vocational

training institute in Melbourne (2014–2015). Nowadays, DMT training programs are

run through both independent organizations as well as universities. For example, the

International Dance Therapy Institute of Australia (established 1991) is led by US

dance therapist, Dr. Marcia Leventhal. This private institution operates in collaboration

with senior Australian practitioners and offers an advanced clinical certicate. Other

courses in Australia include an advanced clinical training offered by Tracey Nicholson

of Tensegrity Training in Brisbane; a bachelor of arts in psychotherapy that includes a

DMT elective subject (offered through a private Melbourne-based institution, Ikon):

This was developed by Jane Guthrie, Heather Hill, and Sue Mullane. In NZ, the Dance

Therapy New Zealand course (established in 2016) offers a diploma, founded by Anaia

Treefoot and Jacquelyn Jung-Hsu Wan. Recently, two masters’ programs have also been

established in the region. The Master of Dance Therapy program, founded by Anaia

Treefoot, is offered through the University of Auckland (NZ). This program launched

in 2019. Similarly, the University of Melbourne’s Master of Creative Arts Therapies

(with specializations in DMT and drama therapy) was established in 2020. This course

developed out of a longstanding music therapy program that recently expanded to

include dance and drama therapy. After completing a post-doctoral research position

at the University of Melbourne, Dr. Kim Dunphy was one of the key founders of the

program.

As such, current training options for DMT in Australia and Aotearoa NZ include

both vocational education (VET) and university pathways. Several additional

private providers also offer professional development opportunities. University-level

qualications are taught at master’s degree level and the VET course is at AQF level

8. These programs are generally structured across two years and emphasize both

practical and theoretical learning. The programs are rigorous and provide students

with opportunities for practice in the eld, working with a variety of different client

populations under close supervision.

Professional associations

The professional association Dance Movement Therapy Association of Australia

(DTAA) was established in 1994, building on the earlier work of a dance therapy working

group of the national dance association, Ausdance. In 2004–2005, the DTAA achieved

status as a Full Member Association of the Psychotherapy and Counselling Federation

of Australia, aligning with the larger eld of psychotherapists and counselors. As yet,

there is no government process of accreditation, recognition, or regulation of DMT, as

is also the case for psychotherapist and counseling colleagues.

170 Kim Dunphy et al.

In 2015, the organization became the Dance Movement Therapy Association of

Australasia, in recognition of the inclusion of members from New Zealand and the

wider Asia-Pacic region. The DTAA currently has approximately 200 members,

of whom 74 are formally recognized by the association as DM therapists through

their achievement of professional or provisional professional levels of membership.

Members are largely concentrated in capital cities Melbourne and Sydney, with

smaller numbers in most states and territories, Aotearoa New Zealand, and other

Asia-Pacic countries.

In 2020, DTAA became an afliate of the Allied Health Professions Australia

(AHPA) association.

Europe

History

The history of DMT in Europe is relatively complex, involving many different inuences,

processes, developments, and players. Primarily, this section of the article focuses on

developments in the UK, France, Germany, Greece, and Italy, which were the rst

countries involved in DMT, beginning almost simultaneously during the 1970s. The

emergence of DMT in these countries was at the time largely driven by those who had

trained to become professionals in the USA. Another stream of early dance therapists had

not trained in the USA but instead began to integrate aspects of their dance, education,

or psychology into a therapeutic dance practice including the anthropological approach

to DMT, which is a very important inuence in France, Italy, and Greece. This is based

on the work of France Schott-Billman and centers around a focus on what was known

as primitive expression which includes popular folk dances as well as anthropological

forms of gesture and movement (Plevin, 2003). In Hungary, Marta Merenyi developed

a specic psychoanalytically inspired approach: PMDT (Vermes & Incze, 2012).

In Europe, there are efforts to include DM therapists with different backgrounds

and approaches. The process of establishing the European Association of Dance

Movement Therapy (EADMT) has had continuous support. In addition, some Eastern

European countries joined the DMT network during the 1970s as well as in the 1990s

and thereafter, and there are some very young associations in this region of the world.

Training

As well as a multitude of private training opportunities, a number of master’s- and

PhD-level studies are available across Europe. This includes the UK (Goldsmiths,

University of London, master’s program and PhD; University of Derby; University

of Roehampton), France (Université René Descartes [becoming Universitè de Paris]

master’s program with opportunity for PhD), Spain (Universidad Autonoma Barcelona

master program), Germany (University of Heidelberg master program), Latvia

(Riga Stradiņš University, master’s in art therapy, specialization dance therapy), the

Netherlands (Codarts University for the Arts), Estonia (Master Dance Therapy Tallinn

University, at the School of Natural Sciences and Health), and Lithuania (master’s

program Vilnius University).

Dance Therapy Today: An Overview of the Profession and Its Practice Around the World 171

However, DMT is taught in many private institutions as well as university-based

educational institutions. In any kind of training program (private or university), the

European training standard is the same: master’s level (minimum 2 years and 120

European transfer credits). The EADMT (2021) website has a list of trainings in several

countries (https://eadmt.com/education/professional-dmt-trainings): for example, Italy

has 9 training programs; Germany has 11; Hungary has 1; France has 2. Each member

of the EADMT has a national training program.

In October 2017, the EADMT adopted a specic European training standard to help

meet best practice demands and ensure high quality practitioners across Europe (https://

eadmt.com/education/training-standards-criteria). The standard level of training the

association has agreed upon is a master’s-level qualication. The intention is that full

professional EADMT members will both meet and evidence these agreed minimum

standards regarding their national accredited and/or recognized DMT training programs.

The EADMT aspires for all members to work toward these minimum standards from

2020 and will encourage and support full basic members and associate members in their

efforts to grow the DMT profession in their countries. EADMT wishes that these training

standards criteria offer a clear framework toward which to aspire, which may help in

overcoming educational differences between countries and establishing a standard of

DMT that is inclusive of the richness and diversity of all European member countries.

Professional associations

Individual associations have been established across Europe, including the Association

for Dance Movement Psychotherapy UK in 1982 (https://admp.org.uk/), the Société

Française de Danse Thérapie (SFDT) in 1984 (https://www.sfdt.fr/), Berufsverband der

TanztherapeutInnen Deutschlands (BTD) in 1995 (https://www.btd-tanztherapie.de/),

the Greek Association of Dance Therapy in 1993 (https://gadt.gr/), and the Associazione

Professionale Italiana Danzamovimentoterapia (APID) in 1997 (https://www.apid.it/).

Some Eastern European countries joined DMT later than 1980s, one of the rst being

the Hungarian Association for Movement and Dance Therapy which joined in 1992

(https://mozgasterapia.net/english/). These rst ve countries, which were invited by

APID, met in Bologna in March 1997 and formed the steering group, coordinated

rst by Vincenzo Puxeddu and later by Penelope Best for an international European

association, which became the EADM.

The formation of the UK association was led by Helen Payne along with Lynn

Crane and Catalina Garve. Payne chaired the association for the rst seven years, and

in 1996 achieved ratication for senior and basic practitioners (https://admp.org.uk/

about-us/history/). The French association developed out of a graduate studies program

at the University Paris-Sorbonne following the initiative of Jean-Claude Serre and other

DM therapists participating in this program and is now a full-basic member of the

EADMT).

The German association also represents its members in the EADMT and is currently

chaired by Hannah Bracht (German Professional Organization for Dance Therapists,

n.d). The Greek association is also a full member of the EADMT and sets the standard

for a master’s program located in Greece. The Italian association was set up in 1997 by

172 Kim Dunphy et al.

Rosamaria Govoni, Vincenzo Puxeddu, and Vincenzo Bellia and quickly established a

two-tier membership system for both student and professional status as well as laid the

ground for accreditation which was granted 5 years later (Plevin, 2003, p. 20).

Many individual nations had organized their own professional associations, a

process that, over time, led to the formation of a European-wide association.

The idea to form a European network or association arose at the rst European

conference, held in Berlin in 1994. Through a long and collaborative process, the

EADMT was formed in 2010, bringing together 16 different national DMT professional

associations (https://eadmt.com/eadmt/history). This represents a grouping of national

professional DMT associations in Europe, working actively to promote their further

development of professional practice and the legal recognition of the profession. The

EADMT assures and promotes the quality of DMT practice and trainings in Europe for

the protection of clients, professionals, and institutions. The EADMT aims to nurture

mutual respect of diversity and to foster exchange and collaboration between member

countries.

As of October 2020, EADMT has 28 national member countries and approximately

2419 practitioners within all Europe (Table 1). The countries most highly represented

are Germany (501 practitioners), UK (353 practitioners), Italy (264 practitioners), and

Netherlands (101 practitioners). The newest EADMT members joining in October 2020

are Lithuania and Norway.

Today, the EADMT is the main platform through which the diversity of DMT

practice in Europe nds its full expression. Europe, therefore, now has one DMT voice,

which allows for difference while sharing a commonality (Figure 3).

Middle East

This section focuses mostly on Israel, because we were unable to nd evidence of formal

DMT practice in other Middle Eastern countries. The Israeli association is the only

one known in the region. However, DMT informed work has been documented with

programs for refugees and survivors of torture in Tripoli and Beirut, Lebanon. There are

also DMT courses offered in Turkey and Lebanon, and Turkish DM therapist (Figure 4)

Seda Güney has developed dance therapy for social change and other programs, including

creative movement for the children there. In Egypt, Radwa Said Abdelazim Elfeqi writes

of her unique experience as a physician researching DMT with children and adolescents

suffering from emotional and behavioral disorders, and her efforts to introduce the work

in Egypt (Bräuninger & Elfeqi, 2019, pp. 246–247). She describes the potential for further

development of DMT there by virtue of the existence of “potent contemporary dance

schools…” that “could offer a potential basis for future dance movement therapists….”

(2019, p. 248). American DM therapist Amber Gray has provided training on her trauma-

informed DMT framework in Bethlehem in the West Bank; in Beirut, Tyre, Tripoli, and

Byblos in Lebanon, and in Istanbul in Turkey. The authors are aware that the absence of a

known formal training program or association in the majority of Middle Eastern countries

does not minimize the rich culture of traditional dance that exists there. We reached out

Dance Therapy Today: An Overview of the Profession and Its Practice Around the World 173

TABLE 1 | National Members of the EADMT (as of August 2020)

Country Number of members

Full professional members

Estonia 7

Germany 501

Greece 43

Hungary 89

Italy 264

Latvia 39

Netherlands 103

Poland 39

Russia 43

Spain 70

UK 353

Subtotal 1551

Full basic members

Austria 62

Belgium 19

Czech 10

Finland 83

France 35

Slovenia 6

Switzerland 79

Ukraine 112

Austria 53

Subtotal 406

Associate members

Croatia 10

Cyprus 12

Denmark 21

Israel 348

Portugal 10

Romania 22

Sweden 39

Subtotal 462

Total 2419

174 Kim Dunphy et al.

FIGURE 3 | Dance for unity. EADMT Conference, Milan, 2016.

FIGURE 4 | Lebanon DMT activity group. Image by Amber Gray.

Dance Therapy Today: An Overview of the Profession and Its Practice Around the World 175

to colleagues and included what information we found regarding DMT in Turkey and

recognize there is much more. We encourage those interested to contact the therapists there.

History

In Israel, movement began to be used formally for therapeutic means in the early

1970s. This could largely be seen in the work of several dancers who began integrating

therapeutic elements of dance into their teaching. American dance therapy professionals

who inuenced DMT in Israel included Marian Chace, Dr. Vivien Marcow Speiser,

Sharon Chaiklin, and Dr. Mara Capy. They each practiced as dancers or dance teachers.

DMT was not yet recognized or known to other professions at this point. However, dance

was, and is, a strong part of the Israeli culture. Lesley College established an afliated

MA training program in Israel in 1980 and this program was formally licensed by the

Council of Higher Education in Israel as a Lesley University Extension Program in

Israel in 1995–2014. The formation of the arts therapy professional association in 1968,

and the establishment of a DMT master’s degree at the University of Haifa in 2008

enabled the stronger development of the profession.

Training

The rst DMT program established in Israel was a certicate-level training at the

University of Haifa. This was founded by Americans, Sharon Chaiklin and Dr. Mara

Kapy, in 1980 and was situated in the Department of Education. Professor Vivien

Marcow and Norma Canner DMTs from Lesley College USA established an MA

level expressive therapies program in Israel in 1980 as an extension of Lesley college

USA. In 2008, with the establishment of the School of the Arts Therapies within the

Department of Social Welfare and Health Sciences, DMT was granted the status of an

MA, and eventually, a PhD status was also granted. Recog nized by the ADTA, the MA

program is informed by the standards of the ADTA model and bases its curriculum

largely on the US approach.

Important aspects of the course include LMA and the Kestenberg movement prole

for its assessment and diagnostic utility. Marian Chace’s approach, the Authentic

Movement approach, and group analysis are also taught. Other foci include trauma,

attachment, neurodegenerative diseases, psychiatry, multiculturalism, and social

activism. Advances in DMT are informed by developmental theory, psychodynamic

understanding, and the relational, intersubjectivity approach. A psychotherapy

framework informs many of what students learn within small group supervision.

Three other institutions in Israel offer DMT training: the Academic College of

Society, the Seminar Hakibutzim College, and David Yellin Teachers’ College. The

Seminar Hakibutzim College, and David Yellin Teachers College, were granted MArt

level in 2018. Lesley University's extension in Israel that operated from the early 1980s

turned in 2014 into the School of Society and Arts at the Ono Academic College.

Professional association

The close proximity of members within the small country of Israel supports a lively

and active engagement within the creative arts therapy eld (Mendelson, 2006). Israel

176 Kim Dunphy et al.

does not have a stand-alone DMT association, but DMT is represented as a branch of

the Israeli Association of Creative and Expressive Therapies established in 1971. Of the

association’s 1370 registered members, 247 are DM therapists.

North America

This section includes developments in Canada and the USA. DMT was “birthed” in

the USA by Marian Chace, employed as the rst full-time DM therapist in 1947. Chace

began her work with patients with psychosis, and later with soldiers returning from

World War II at St. Elizabeth’s Hospital in Washington, DC. These soldiers expressed

symptoms of what now would be known as combat trauma or posttraumatic stress

disorder. At a loss for ways to support them to express their experiences and recover,

hospital psychiatrists sent them to Chace. The non-verbal processes she used with

these severely psychotic and traumatized people spawned DMT in the USA. Chace’s

non-verbal, movement-based reecting and mirroring of client’s verbal and non-verbal

attempts at communication gave rise to her concept and practice of kinesthetic empathy,

one of her most signicant contributions to the eld.

Chace’s work was followed by such contemporaries as Trudi Schoop, Mary

Whitehouse, Liljan Espenak, and Blanche Evans. Each of these founders developed

their particular style and theories for DMT, leaving a legacy, including second- and

third-generation students and mentees who continue to diversify the application of

DMT in a variety of clinical and non-clinical settings. DMT has developed through

generations of trailblazers, innovators, instructors, and students. From a core

group of founders to the establishment of matriculated master’s and PhD training

programs, DMT as a profession continues to nd ways to grow in the USA and

Canada. While the number of programs varies, the ADTA membership has been

increasing steadily.

Training

There are currently six academic programs for master’s-level DMT in the USA:

Antioch, Drexel, Lesley, Naropa, Pratt and Sarah Lawrence. Antioch, Lesley and

Pratt all offer low residency programs in DMT. There are also many alternate

route options for students who already have an approved degree and/or are already

practicing in a mental health profession. Alternate-route students create their own

programs by studying with the many individuals and institutes that offer training.

It is difcult to quantify the number of programs because many courses are offered

independently of a program per se. Two examples of alternate route programs in the

USA are The Southwest Collaborative of Embodied Neurobiology and Restorative

Resources, and The Embodied Education Institute of Chicago. These unique options

to study DMT and prepare for registered DMT supports a more diverse student body

as the exibility and lower cost overall of studying DMT without interruption to

ones “usual” life makes this educational track more accessible. Additionally, in the

USA, several of these university programs are spearheading initiatives to diversify

education and, eventually, our eld. As one example, Pratt has collaborated with

Dance Therapy Today: An Overview of the Profession and Its Practice Around the World 177

NYC-based DMT Nancy Herard-Marshall to integrate an Afro-centric and black

psychology theoretical framework into their program. More broadly, a committee of

DMTs is now working with the ADTA board of directors and educators to review and

revise how observation and assessment are taught in universities and practiced by

DMTs. Through the summer of 2020, the ADTA sponsored a series of ADTA afnity

group listening sessions where students and DMTs shared their experiences of being

harmed, not being seen or represented in DMT education and our profession. Ebony

Nichols’ thesis “Moving Blindspots: Cultural Bias in the Movement Repertoire of

Dance Movement Therapists (2019)” articulated the need for equity and inclusion

within DMT educational programs and our profession. The Education Committee

under the leadership of Jessica Young and currently Dr. Tomoyo Kawano formed

task force groups to examine the history and explore and expand frameworks and

pedagogy of movement observation. This reection process will continue in all

aspects of DMT education.

Although Canada does not yet have a master’s-level training, a few universities

have shown interest in establishing one. At this moment, there are two alternate route

programs existing in Canada: Movement Arc the Life Moves Dance Movement Therapy

Program (formerly West Coast Dance Movement Therapy [WCDMT]), established in

2013 and located in British Columbia, offers 2.5- to 4-day weekend courses every 4 to

8 weeks, with 5- to 10-day intensive program over the summer. Students can sign up

and begin courses any time.

In addition to teaching traditional DMT methods, WCDMT/Movement Arc also

offers a diverse array of skills and knowledge from the elds of somatic psychotherapy,

expressive arts therapies, attachment psychology, neurobiology and various systems of

movement analysis which weave into and support DM therapists’ skills.

The National Center for Dance Therapy, established by Les Grands Ballets

Canadiens de Montréal, is dedicated to the promotion of DMT. This program is a

collaboration between the 92nd Street Y alternate route program in New York City and

offers a 405-hour ADTA-approved training that takes place over three summers.

Professional associations

Established in 1966 as a professional organization, the ADTA is now led by a board of

directors, a professional ofce, and a credentialing board. More recently, the ADTA

Multicultural and Diversity Committee has formed Afnity Groups to represent and

forward the work of an increasingly diverse community of DM Therapists and to begin

to decentralize white euro-centric perspectives and acknowledge the diversity inherent

to dance as a global and ancient healing practice. The ADTA holds annual conferences

that have been a consistent forum for DMTs to share their work and to exchange

knowledge. It also leads to other events such as continuing educational opportunities,

seminars, and networking and supports scholarship developments to advance DMT

among those who may require additional support.

Canada has an association also, the Dance Movement Therapy Association in Canada

(DMTAC). Once a student has completed their training, they can register to become a

registered DM therapist. When they have completed their post-graduate supervision of

178 Kim Dunphy et al.

3000 hours, they can register as a board-certied. This is a rigorous process; in many

ways, it is more rigorous that other master’s-level counseling credentialing processes.

The DMTA (https://www.dmtac.org/) also offers regular workshops that are often

approved for the Alternate Route or continuing education credits.

In the region of Central America and the Caribbean, DMT is a burgeoning discipline.

In Costa Rica, there are a few practitioners using DMT with varying levels of training

and credentialing. Both Colombia (South America) and Mexico have interested students

who have inquired about setting up DMT training in their countries. Beyond this

limited knowledge of DMT in countries close to or in Central America, our collective

inquiries did not yield more information about the practice there. In the Caribbean,

American DMT Amber Gray has been training clinicians in Haiti in a trauma-informed

DMT framework since 2004. Following the devastating earthquake of 2010, she

trained over 25 clinicians, from social workers to child psychologists to psychiatrists,

to use DMT in their programs for child and adult survivors of trauma. Reciprocally,

this framework draws from Haiti’s rich spiritual tradition and was developed through

cultural immersion and ongoing work with survivors of political violence and disaster

in Haiti and elsewhere (Gray, 2019).

The ADTA’s most recent regional chapter is the Puerto Rico chapter, established in

2016. At the time of writing, this small but mighty chapter has already held two annual

DMT conferences in San Juan and virtually. More globally throughout the Caribbean,

Nancy Herard-Marshall and Maria Rivera’s 2019 publication, “Embodied resilience:

Afro-Caribbean dance as an intervention for the healing of trauma in dance movement

therapy,” heralds an approach to DMT that is both based on the wisdom of dance to

heal, which existed long before DMT was conceptualized and a current integration

of Afro-centric psychological theory. Herard-Marshall and Rivera’s framework to

connect ancient socio-spiritual and socio-cultural dances to DMT is truly a step in

acknowledging the multiplicity of cultural realities that need to inform DMT so that

DMT moves toward a more global inclusivity.

South America

This section focuses on developments in the South American countries: Argentina,

Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Venezuela, and Uruguay, where author Fischman has

personal connections.

History

Argentina was the rst South American country in which DMT was taught in

a formal non-academic training of 600 hours. Maralia Reca was the rst and only

Argentinian to undertake DMT-related studies, working with Irmgard Bartenieff and

Liljan Espenak in New York in the 1970s. Reca brought these learnings back with

her to Argentina in 1973, where she began a private practice. In the nineties, Marcia

Leventhal came to Buenos Aires where she taught some workshops. The rst Spanish

speaking training, Brecha-Dance Movement Therapy Training Program, opened in

Buenos Aires, Argentina, in 1996. It was founded and directed by Diana Fischman.

Dance Therapy Today: An Overview of the Profession and Its Practice Around the World 179

FIGURE 5 | Interbeing through dance. Image courtesy of Brecha, Argentina.

This non-academic program kept on inviting ADTRs to teach at this institute. That

is how Fran Levy, Sharon Chaiklin, Joan Chodorow, William Freeman, Suzi Tortora,

Dianne Dulicai, Robyn Flaum Cruz, and many others taught to South American

students coming from southern countries. Later on, these students became pioneers in

their countries, and they started working in their communities and opened short-term

introductory workshops on DMT.

The early emergence of DMT appears to be similar to other continents where DMT

spread by individuals who share their experiences and learnings bringing the practice of

DMT to their respective regions after studies in the USA, Argentina, and later on, Spain.

Many South American countries have DMT practices, but they do not have formal training:

Brazil, Mexico, Venezuela, Chile, Uruguay, Colombia, and lately Bolivia and Uruguay.

The publication of educational materials about DMT in Spanish language was a signicant

factor in this development. These early inuencers generally began their work in private

practice and gradually expanded to create new clinical settings such as day hospitals,

institutions for the elderly, and other contexts relating to both children and adults.

Many DMT introductory programs are emerging outside of the university system in

these countries. These private institutions and organizations have helped to promulgate

DMT across South America (Figure 5). Such training programs have attracted students

from diverse backgrounds, including dancers, psychotherapists, psychoanalysts, and

physiotherapists.

180 Kim Dunphy et al.

Training

Currently, DMT training is offered in Argentina in diverse sites, both private and

academic. A master’s degree was founded in 2008 at the Universidad Nacional del

Arte (UNA) in Buenos Aires and a post-graduate certicate was offered at Universidad

CAECE until 2020. These programs are both recognized by the Asociación Argentina

de Danza Terapia. Chile has two introductory diplomas: one at Vaiven Center directed

by María José Sendra Polanco and the other at Terapia en Movimiento Center directed

by Claudia Aguila Parra. Each course runs over a 6-month duration. Venezuela, Brazil,

and Colombia each have one non-academic program. There have been calls for other

programs to commence in Colombia in 2018. In Mexico, there is no clear evidence of

DMT as a specialized profession, despite interest in developing a training program.

However, DMT is included in some forms of somatic training such as Roth’s 5Rhythms.

Generally speaking, the content of many of these courses include basic assumptions

underpinning DMT methods and theory, focus on the role of early pioneers in developing

DMT theory and technique, expressionism, contemporary dance history, and Laban

Movement Analysis (observation and intervention). Developmental psychology and

movement development are also explored as well as DMT with different populations.

Typically, embodied perspectives are included in the framework. A current trend in

South America is the emphasis on psychoanalysis and cognitive neuroscience to support

and teach concepts such as embodied enaction (Koch & Fischman, 2011).

Professional Associations

Professional associations for DMT are active in Argentina (Asociación Argentina de

Danzaterapia), Chile (Asociación Chilena de Danza Terapia), Venezuela (Asociación

Venezolana de Danzaterapia), and lately in Perú and Bolivia. There are also some informal

networks of DMT followers: LatinMov, for example, organizes events in regions such as

Chile, Bogotá, Buenos Aires, México DF, and Sao Paulo each year. While the material

explored at LatinMov events has some relationship to DMT concepts and practices,

participants generally do not hold DMT qualications nor appear to be seeking certication.

Initiation of the World Alliance for Dance Movement Therapy

Although DMT has gradually become more established in all of these countries and

continents, and associations have formed to support practitioners, there has not been

an organization for DMT with a global focus until recently. In 2014, Dr. Tony Zhou of

Inspirees Institute in China began discussing the establishment of such an organization

with DM therapists around the world. His initiative was met with enthusiasm from Dr.

Kim Dunphy of Australia and Dr. Amber Gray of the USA, who had had a similar idea,

but not yet taken any action.

Consultations were held in 2016 at the European and American conferences and

at committee meetings of the DTAA in Australia. More than 60 people from 20

countries participated in these discussions, agreeing almost without exception that an

international network would be welcome and valuable. Further consultations held at

EADMT and ADTA conferences in 2018 received enthusiastic reception, perhaps most

Dance Therapy Today: An Overview of the Profession and Its Practice Around the World 181

strongly from regions that do not yet have their own associations and well-developed

professions. Participating DM therapists recognized the need to have a global voice and

perspective and one that can be supportive of emerging developments, especially in

countries outside the privileged West.

A steering group for an international organization was established with senior DMT

professionals from across the globe and authors Dr. Zhou (Inspirees Institute China), Dr.

Dita Federman (University of Haifa, Israel), Dr. Vincenzo Puxeddu (coordinator of the

master’s program, University of Paris, president of the EADMT), Dr. Diana Fischman

(Dance Movement Therapy Training Program, Buenos Aires), and Dr. Amber Gray

(Executive Director, The Kint Institute, and former member of Board of Directors,

ADTA. Dr. Kim Dunphy, of the University of Melbourne, Australia, and president of

Dance Movement Therapy Association of Australasia, took on the role of inaugural

convenor. Recently, Dr. Ella Dumaresq has joined as an Australian representative.

The group coined the moniker WADMT (World Alliance for Dance Movement

Therapy, www.wadmt.org), describing itself as a global organization bringing together

DMT associations and individuals interested in developing the profession to support

and inspire one another. The group’s current modest aspirations are to promote DMT

around the world by connecting all those interested, including practitioners, academics,

and associations. The current agreed goal is the promotion of health, well-being, and

creativity across the world by promotion of DMT globally.

The steering group is currently meeting bi-monthly to advance progress for the

WADMT. All processes required for operations of an effective organization are yet to

be established, including membership processes and options for sharing of information.

The group intends to share more information through existing networks such as national

associations as its work progresses.

Proposed activities for the group currently being considered include support and

promotion of the profession, especially in areas where there is not yet an established

association, exchange of information and collaboration between DMT professionals

internationally, and special projects, including collaborative research. Membership is

expected to be open to all who are interested, from national associations, to training

programs, practitioners, students, and other individuals associated with DMT. This

article is the group’s rst collaborative project.

Discussion

While the rst intention in writing this article was that each section included similar

information, this turned out not to be feasible. Signicant differences between the

regions became evident. The region of Oceania (which includes Australia and Aotearoa

New Zealand) and the USA share similar characteristics in being one region that is

relatively homogenous as far as formalized DMT is concerned, served by one relatively

well-established association. Information about DMT history and training was easily

accessible from association’s websites in these countries, and therefore, it was not

difcult to document their DMT trajectories. However, this was quite different for

Europe, which has both national associations and a recently established international

182 Kim Dunphy et al.

association, the EADMT. It was much more difcult to tell the story of this broad region

within the limits of a short article; hence, this section focused more on the development

of the profession through the establishment of the EADMT.

Asia and South America, albeit inherently different, both have many countries

whose DMT professions are emerging. Although there are practitioners and practice in

many of these countries, there are few well-established associations or formal training

programs and therefore much less well-documented history and practice.

There are still considerable challenges for the profession in terms of gaining wider

recognition. Compared with art therapy, music therapy, drama therapy, poetry therapy,

and other creative arts therapies, we have not yet even reached a consensus regarding

a unied global name, as discussed in the introduction. This is a fundamental issue

of identity and encourages us to reect philosophically. Further articles and dialogue

could address the issue of terminology, in which concepts of dance and movement

could be considered from diverse cultural perspectives.

Future research

Although this article addressed three interesting topics to trace the progress of the DMT

profession, history, associations, and training, there are many additional topics that

could not be addressed within its limits. These include research, areas of professional

practice, and challenges and opportunities for the profession. These would be important

to explore in future articles.

The scope of the article was quite wide, covering Australasia, Europe, North

and South America, some Asian countries, Israel, and, less so, other Middle Eastern

countries. Central America, the Caribbean, and Africa were minimally covered and

non-exhaustively, as some countries in which none of the authors had contacts were not

included. A future study might aim to be more comprehensive.

A further signicant topic evoked, but was not fully addressed in this article,

is the complex relationship between local, indigenous forms of body–mind healing

and the dominant western models of DMT. This topic is critical as the eld advances

across the world and in diverse cultures, with practitioners seeking to offer culturally

respectful and afrming DMT services. This evidently warrants further research and

discussion.

Conclusion

The story of the profession’s development across the globe is complex and nuanced,

informed by layers of history, politics, and culturally embedded notions of what “dancing

for health” means in this recently formalized profession. Despite the differences

across regions, there seems to remain a steady beat at the heart of DMT’s growth

as a profession: the inherent value of dance and movement as an age-old resource

to support bodily, emotional, social, individual, and community health. The authors

of this article wish to acknowledge the diversity of dance practices and knowledge/s

around the world, including long-standing indigenous practices and epistemologies

and cultures that continue to express, connect, and create through dance and other

Dance Therapy Today: An Overview of the Profession and Its Practice Around the World 183

embodied ways of knowing. As we pay our respects in this article to our DMT leaders

of the past as well as those present and into the future, we also humbly acknowledge

the situated knowledge/s and richness of dance as it is practiced around the world.

May we continue to dance together, one step at a time, toward a shared humanity and

a kinder world for all.

In this very challenging era of human beings being threatened by the COVID-19

epidemic as well as other natural and social crisis, dance and DMT bear the hope for

solidarity of human individuals and society, restoring our respect and harmony with

nature. This review article, in line with the mission of WADMT, seeks to stimulate

and support further opportunities for equitable, inclusive, and engaging dialogues in

our global community. May we continue to dance together, one step at a time, toward a

shared humanity and a kinder world for all.

Acknowledgments

We thank the following colleagues around the world for their contribution to this

article: Nayung Kim and Kyung Soon Ko (South Korea), Shoichi Machida and Yukari

Sakiyama (Japan), Pei-Shan Tsai, Prof. Tsungchin Lee and Jung-Hsu Jacquelyn Wan

(Taiwan), Prof. Rainbow Tin Hung Ho (Hong Kong), Minh Bui (Vietnam), Ann Way

(Vietnam/NZ), Sandra Lauffenburger (Australia), Rashi Bijlani and Devika Mehta

(India), Warin Tepayayone (Thailand), Claudia Águila Parra and María José Sendra

Polanco (Asociación Chilena de Danza Terapia), Daniela Pinto (Asociación Venezolana

de Danzaterapia), Laura Aguirre and Diana Llama (Mexico), Paola Denevi (Uruguay),

Priscila Torres (Brazil), Marnel Arroyave and Alejandra Sola (Colombia), Alejandra

Vargas Mejía (Bolivia), Tatiana Blanco (Costa Rica), Juana Aguilera (Ecuador), Maria

Rivera (Puerto Rico/USA), Nancy-Herard Marshall (Haiti/USA), Amarillis Vazquez

(Puerto Rico), Nancy Beardall (USA), Ebony Nichols (USA), Hana Kamea (Vancouver,

BC, Canada), Tannis Hugili (Vancouver, BC, Canada), Zuzana Sevcikova (Montreal,

QC, Canada), Vivien Marcow-Speiser (USA/South Africa).

With special thanks to Judith Fischer and Sharon Chaiklin (USA) for their efforts

in reviewing and commenting on this article.

With eternal gratitude to Dr. Kim Dunphy for spearheading this collaboration. Rest

and dance in peace.

About the Authors

The late Kim Dunphy, PhD, Mackenzie Research Fellow, Creative Arts and Music

Therapy Research Unit, Faculty of Fine Arts and Music, University of Melbourne,

Melbourne, Australia.

Dita Federman, PhD, Faculty of Social Welfare and Health Sciences, The School of

Creative Arts Therapies, the Emily Sagol Research centre, University of Haifa, Haifa,

Israel.

Diana Fischman, PhD, Founding Director, Brecha—Buenos Aires Dance Movement

Therapy Training Program, Buenos Aires, Argentina.

184 Kim Dunphy et al.

Amber Gray, PhD, Director, Restorative Resources Training and Consulting, Santa Fe,

NM, USA; Executive Director, The Kint Institute, New York, NY, USA.

Vincenzo Puxeddu, PhD, Co-Director, Master Program “Creation Artistique—Dance

Therapy,” Université de Paris, Paris, France, at Centre Henri Piéron, Boulogne-

Billancourt, France; President, European Association of Dance Movement Therapy

(EADMT).

Tony Yu Zhou, PhD, CMA, Founding Director, Inspirees Institute, Beijing, China;

Executive Editor, CAET Journal; Executive Committee, International Association of

Creative Arts in Education and Therapy (IACAET).

Ella Dumaresq, PhD, Creative Arts and Music Therapy Research Unit, Faculty of Fine

Arts and Music, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia.

Author to whom correspondence should be addressed; E-Mail: ella.dumaresq@

unimelb.edu.au; Tel.: +61-411-500-678.

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Therapeutic impact of dance therapy on adult individuals with psychological trauma: a systematic review

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Oct 2022

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