The dance therapist  works with people of any age and  promotes the person’s physical, emotional, cognitive and relational integration. Let’s find out better.

>   What does the  dance therapist do

>   How to become a  dance therapist

>   Curiosity

>   Useful resources on the profession of the  dance therapist

What the dance therapist does

The dance therapist  acts through the discipline of dance on various emotional and psychological aspects, promoting the mind-body relationship of those who turn to this professional figure. The work of the dance therapist aims at the physical, emotional, cognitive and relational integration of the person. Dance and body language offer the opportunity to expand creative potential and set out on a path of growth and communication.

The ADTA (American Dance Therapy Association), founded in 1966, defines dance therapy as the psychotherapeutic use of movement . Based on the assumption that mind and body are in constant and reciprocal interaction, this technique has been forming around psychological and physiological concepts that enhance the relationship between body and psyche.

The dance therapist works with people of any age and works in the clinical and / or socioeducational field, with the functions of self development, prevention, rehabilitation and therapy . 

The Italian professional association APID (Italian professional association DanzaMovimentoTerapeuti) calls “danzamovimentoterapeuti” (Dmt) a class of professionals operating in the clinical and / or socioeducational field, with prevention, rehabilitation and therapy functions, by means of body language (dance and movement) in its representative, communicative and symbolic values. The DMT: 

• Can interpret body language, movement and dance; 
• Can manage the creative process and its implications on an emotional, psychological and cognitive level, with reference to different theoretical models; 
• It works with preventive, rehabilitative and therapeutic purposes against sensory, motor, psychological, relational and social discomfort, collaborating with the other professional figures assigned to its treatment;
• It is able to formulate differentiated intervention plans according to the users involved;
• He carries out his practice in the public and / or private sphere, in compliance with professional ethics. 

Become a dance therapist

It must be said that there are different types of dance therapy , and potentially as many as there are dance genres in the world.

One of the two main dance therapy schools is the  Centro Internacional de Dançaterapia founded by the Argentine dancer Maria Fux . In addition to the courses and workshops held by Maria Fux’s team, in Italy there are also some dance therapy schools recognized by the teacher Maria Fux.

The other is the School of Arts Therapies , which organizes three-year training courses in dance therapy with an expressive-relational address inspired by the work of Marian Chace and directed by Vincenzo Bellia, in Rome, Catania, Cosenza, Turin and Naples. 

In Italy the training courses are truly varied. There are first level masters and advanced courses organized by Italian universities (usually one year and with limited access to certain degree courses). There are private routes and some of them are accredited / recognized by the APID . Training in DanzaMovimentoTerapia has several training courses that refer to various theoretical models. 

The dance of the invisible: dance therapy for the blind

Curiosity

• The term ” dance therapy ” was used for the first time at the beginning of the twentieth century thanks to the contribution of two professional dancers of modern dance : Marian Chace and Trudi Schoop . They have experienced firsthand the overcoming of traditional and rigid classical dance techniques starting to focus on the pleasure of dancing and on the well-being that dance is able to give, supporting the expression with the body and on music through spontaneous forms of movement. Their most famous applications of dance therapy have mainly involved war veterans with problems of depression, psychosis or forms of hysteria.
• In a 1916 article, Jung suggested that expressive movement of the body was one of the ways to shape the unconscious. Jung defined the technique as ” active imagination ” which could be carried out in various ways, one of these being dance, in addition to painting, drawing, working with clay.

Useful resources on the profession of dance therapist 

• Useful regulatory resources :

It is useful to make some clarifications on the basis of regulation 4/2013 : the law on unregulated professions. The profession of DanzaMovimentoTerapeuta / danzaterapeuta is an unregulated profession . Law 4/2013 encourages voluntary self-regulation thanks to the certification mechanisms based on the UNI system as referred to in Directive 98/34. It should also be noted that the voluntary technical regulations for this profession have not yet been drafted. 

The function of the technical standard, in the specific field of professions, is to “define clearly, unambiguously, measurable” the requirements and characteristics (knowledge, skills, competence, updating) that a professional must have and guarantee to maintain in order to carry out their work well, to protect both their professionalism and recognition, but above all to guarantee and protect the consumer user for the usefulness and advantage that they can derive from such professionalism.

APID is participating in the Technical round tables together with other professional organizations (Orders, Colleges, Associations, Companies, Institutions, etc.), in which the technical standards relating to the skills that non-regulated professionals must have to obtain certification will be defined. and therefore an official recognition of one’s profession. Information taken from Law 4/2013; Il Sole 24 Ore, “The guide rules and taxes”, Il Sole 24 Ore Online Special;