What is Dance Movement Therapy?
What is Dance Movement Therapy (DMT)?
Humans have danced since before we could speak. In ancient cultures, dance was part of rituals for healing, initiation, and celebration. Today, Dance Movement Therapy (DMT) continues that tradition in a modern, therapeutic way.
As a recognized method, DMT was born after World War II, when traditional “talk” therapies often failed to help veterans process trauma.
A pioneering dancer, Marian Chace, began experimenting with movement, and her success was so striking that DMT was officially acknowledged as a therapeutic approach — first in psychiatric clinics, and now practiced worldwide.
✨ The main idea of DMT is simple: body and mind are deeply connected, and each affects the other.
Unprocessed emotions can get stuck in the body, shaping posture, breath, and even health. Conscious movement helps release what’s been frozen — sometimes since the womb.
Movement can also “re-wire” us, bringing more confidence, freedom, and strength.
Unlike the mind, the body has no psychological walls. And in a world overloaded with words, working without them — simply through movement — can feel like a breath of fresh air.
Back to our natural state
Think back to yourself at age 1, 2, or 3 — or just look at young children.
They move freely, without thinking how it looks. They live everything through the body: joy, anger, curiosity. They follow impulses naturally.
As we grow, society teaches us how we “should” move, what looks acceptable, what doesn’t. We start holding back those impulses.
✨ Dance Movement Therapy is about remembering. Returning to that natural base, restoring balance with nature and with ourselves.
DMT offers a safe space to let your body speak.
You can cry, laugh, go wild, be silly, lie on the floor, or simply breathe — whatever feels true in the moment. Back to your 2–3 year old natural state.
What happens in a DMT session?
Every session is unique, but often includes:
✨ Grounding & centering — gently arriving in the body and present moment.
✨ Warm-up — light, engaging movement to awaken energy and open the theme.
✨ Exploration — playful, guided activities to notice sensations, qualities of movement (ease, tension), and how you relate to others (e.g., mirroring in pairs).
✨ Main theme-based exercise — a deeper dive into the chosen theme: embodying subpersonalities, exploring elements of nature, or working in pairs on relationships.
✨ Reflection — pausing to ask: What did I feel in my body? What emotions came up? What thoughts were present?
✨ Integration & closing — intentional movement to bring the experience together, either in a group or individually, leaving you grounded and whole.
What it’s not
It’s not choreography.
It’s not about how you look.
You don’t need to know how to dance.
DMT is about honest movement from within — silly, wild, soft, strange, powerful, tender… whatever your body calls for.
✨ “When I dance, I remember who I am.” — A. Girshon