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Considering a Career in Dance/Movement Therapy? Frequently Asked Questions Words of wisdom from current studentsResources Recommended Reading Research
Dance/Movement Therapy Fact Sheets Helpful contact informationEducational opportunities in Dance/Movement Therapy
Approved Graduate Degree Programs in Dance/Movement Therapy
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Undergraduate Dance/Movement Therapy Coursework
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Considering a Career in Dance/Movement Therapy?
Wondering if dance/movement therapy is the right career for you? Find out what dance/movement therapists do and how you can prepare for a rewarding career in dance/movement therapy. Below are several questions that are most often asked by students thinking about pursing a career in dance/movement therapy.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Dance/Movement Therapy?
What do Dance/Movement Therapists Do?
What kind of work experience would be helpful for a future dance/movement therapist?
What undergraduate preparation should one have?
What does Approval of Graduate Programs Mean?
What does DTR (Dance Therapists Registered) Mean?
A Letter for Interested Students
Dear Students:
The dance/movement therapy community welcomes your interest in our profession. In order to help you get the best results from your inquiries, here are some suggestions:
1. Do some preliminary research first – (1) Read the extensive information on the American Dance Therapy Association website, including research and bibliographies. (2) Check with your school library or local public library for books and articles about dance/movement therapy. A librarian can give you useful guidance on finding reading materials about dance therapy.
2. Introduce yourself – When you contact us for input on your project or area of inerest, please tell us a little bit about yourself. Are you a high school, college or graduate student? What part of the country or world are you located in? How did you first hear about dance/movement therapy?
3. Tell us about your project - Will your project result in a paper, video or presentation? What class is your project for: dance, physical education, health sciences, career exploration, psychology? What is the timeline for your project? It’s best if you contact us early in your project timeline.
4. Tell us about your focus - What in particular most interests you about dance/movement therapy? Is it a particular type of patient, disease, treatment method, artistic aspect? The more specific and clear you are about your questions and learning needs, the better we will be able to help you.
You will find that the dance/movement therapy community is willing and generous in its response to inquiries from students. Following the above suggestions will ensure that you get the best results from contacting us about your project.
Thank you so much for your interest in dance therapy!
Sincerely,
American Dance Therapy Association
Helpful information from current studentsAllison Winters (afwinters@msn.com)
Dance/movement therapy student
Pratt Institute (New York)
My name is Allison Winters. I am a dance therapy intern at FEGS Willow homeless shelter for women in the South Bronx. The population at this facility consists predominantly of MICA clients and trauma survivors. A year ago I never would have imagined myself in this place, but my time there has brought more professional and personal growth than I possibly could have anticipated.
My interest in dance therapy started 10 years ago while I was in college studying psychology and dance. I felt a connection between the two disciplines and was desperately searching for a way to integrate them. Another student introduced me to dance therapy and I was intrigued. Since then, I’ve found myself being an advocate for the profession, touting its incredible healing powers to anyone who would listen. I was usually greeted with strange looks, smirks, or blank stares. I knew from the beginning that this was going to be a challenging journey.
Over the years I’ve worn many hats. I’ve been a dance instructor, arts administrator, college admissions counselor, and academic tutor. I’ve even earned a master’s degree in psychology. Yet what all these pursuits seemed to inevitably be leading to is a career in dance therapy.
Last summer I entered the dance therapy master’s program at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn. My internship placement at FEGS Willow women’s shelter provided me with more knowledge and insight than I could have hoped for. One of the most important skills that I have built during my time at Willow is tolerance. Within the dance therapy process I have danced, played, laughed, cried, and yelled together with these women. The experience has drastically changed my perspective on humanity.
One particular client who had been attending dance therapy sessions regularly showed me truly how powerful dance therapy is. I ran into her on my way out of the shelter one day and after inquiring about the next dance therapy session she looked me straight in the eyes and said, “I need it.” The authenticity of her statement was profound. I have learned that no matter who you are or what your circumstances, a connection is always possible. It is just a matter of being open to it.
Dance therapy offers clients a number of therapeutic opportunities, only some of which are body awareness, integration of the physical and psychological selves, building of organizational skills, and socialization opportunities. Clients can experience anger, sadness, and joy in one session, and sometimes in a single moment. One particular client was laughing and enjoying the playful group movement experience. Her expression quickly changed to sadness and she began to withdraw. When asked what was happening for her, she expressed that laughing and playing reminded her of all the loss in her life. It was difficult for her to experience happiness because it only reminded her of what she never had with her family as a child. The safety of the dance therapy space allowed her to experience her feelings of loss and ultimately to process and integrate her emotional experience. Although this simply stemmed from the act of moving, which is within everyone’s capability, the ability to facilitate this process requires extensive and demanding training. Being a dance therapist requires building of keen observational skills, extraordinary levels of awareness and presence, group therapy skills, theoretical interventions, knowledge of psychiatric diagnoses and there interconnected movement patterns, and above all an ability to build a therapeutic relationship through kinesthetic empathy.
My experience at the shelter has been highly educational as well as personally meaningful. I am grateful to FEGS for recognizing and supporting the creative arts therapies. Organizations like FEGS allow the creative arts therapies to grow and flourish. Above all, it enables the clients to heal.
Allison Winters can be contacted at afwinters@msn.com
Former Alternate Route Student, Thania Acarón (now DTR) talks about her journey in Alternate Route Training (from In ADTA Newsletter Volume 38 Nos. 1 & 2, Late Summer 2004)
We're not in Kansas anymore, Toto
An Alternate Route Student's Story
by: Thania Acarón, MA
Like a whirlwind, my whole world started turning and turning. I couldn't see anything for a while, only a cloud of dust where my home used to be. As my home landed in this new land called Oz and I opened my door and peered outside, I realized I had taken a turn somewhere. Wrong? Right? Who knew… I was curious and a little afraid as I stepped into a vast land and realized everything I knew and stood by had been crushed by my landing. Only two feet remained, dressed in unusual red sneakers that, once on my feet (hey, my boots were killing me) were a little uncomfortable at first, gave me a couple of blisters, but later molded to my feet snuggly.
I followed this path and found some parts of me with different needs along the way: one needed a little courage, to take on this journey by myself with only Toto, my support system, by my side. Courage also needed to ask people if I could intern with them so they could show me the path or highlight it in yellow for me to follow. Another part knew I needed brains to create, to organize, to delineate the strategy to get somewhere where they could tell me which course to take, with whom and why. The third part, was my heart, pounding heavily and knowing that it would be important to keep on having access to my feelings in the face of duress.
Strong, kind and wise women from the North, South, Northeast and Northwest fueled my knowledge and lighted up many paths for me to follow, helping me grow enough in order to make it further into Oz. I wondered if this experience was shared by other people, and encountered several along the way, but following different paths. I tried to make it a point to talk to some of them and share their experience, but this lasted only for a small period of time. I guess every wanderer chooses his or her own path and also chooses her company.
Now, as I get close to Emerald City, doubts, like flying monkeys, plague my mind. Will I be able to be accepted as a Resident? Have I acquired the right skills and taken the right courses? Most Residents I encounter assure me it will be okay. Some look at my credentials and ask many questions I have no problem answering. Few just keep on at their business; after all, students will learn some way or another. I keep checking in with my support system and it seems to bark encouragements and cheers. Toto looks at me with admiration and I feel more secure, but again I wish I could have had some other people like me following the yellow path.
I keep meeting the wise women from the North, South, Northeast and Northwest and they smile, give advice and remain constant, as I watch different sceneries pass before my eyes. I am enriched, but exhausted; determined, yet overwhelmed; supported, but on my own. Residency is near, and for this dream, some parts of me have to melt as others click together three times until I am home in myself again.
Thania Acarón is a graduate from the Master's Program in Dance Education at New York University and a DMT alternate route student. She lives in New York City, dancing professionally and working as a dance educator and dance/movement therapy intern.
Email: aitanaluna@yahoo.com
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