What is Dance Movement Therapy?
Dance/Movement Therapy (DMT) is a therapeutic modality that still remains a mystery to some who may be searching for therapists, as well as other providers in the mental health field. There are many benefits to accessing the psyche through more non-verbal means which DMT can provide. Through the use of the body to investigate emotions and experiences, clients can learn to be more mindful, as well as lessen the need for learned defenses. What might not be as obvious, however, is DMT can also be a tool to increase awareness of the psychological and somatic impact of systems of oppression. It can also serve as a conduit to access joy and pleasure and reconnect with one’s inner child. These radical acts, within the various systems of oppression that feed our society, can in fact be forms of resistance for those in marginalized bodies.
Oppression can be an insidious force which subconsciously (and sometimes consciously) impacts us all on both the global and individual levels. Whether it shows up as ableism, sexism, racism, transphobia, heterosexism, or fatphobia, among others, we are bombarded with messaging that a norm exists to dictate which bodies are right and wrong. Folx who hold marginalized identities often experience implicit nonverbal effects as a result of this subtle and covert messaging. Oppression is a form of trauma, and as such its impact can manifest both psychologically as well as somatically. Lucia Bennett
Leighton (2018) posits, “oppression over time can cause individuals to feel disconnected from their bodies and dissociated and affect how they move and feel in their bodies” (21). Within the DMT space, clients are given an opportunity to increase their awareness of the impact of oppression on their mental health by exploring on a body level how and where it manifests. It may be impacting how a person walks, how much physical space they allow themselves to take up, or how they have decided to perform the various identities they may hold, and DMT places importance on this embodied experience.
Living in an oppressed body, like other forms of trauma, can bring about disconnection to one’s body and sense of self. This can make experiencing an emotion such as joy, and experiencing pleasure within the body, hard to access. Seeking joy and pleasure can bring about shame and guilt due to traumatic history and cultural messaging (family of origin and societal). Clients in the treatment space, oftentimes speak about the difficulty with “letting go” and enjoying the pleasure they feel when moving their bodies without the judgment of others. Due to the pervasiveness of oppression, it can feel wrong to actively resist these well-formed core beliefs. As such, every time a client takes a step towards reconnecting with their body and allowing themselves to experience joy and pleasure, it is a somatic way to reject the status quo. As Adrienne Maree brown (2019) states, “ pleasure is a measure of freedom” (p. 3).
While DMT can be a unique way to identify how oppression manifests psychologically and somatically, and a
way to resist the core beliefs formed as a result, it can also be a lot of fun! Humor and play are not always assumed to have a role within therapy, but they have been proven to have many benefits on the psychological functioning of children and adults. As adults, we can often get in our own way by intellectualizing and allowing our defense mechanisms which have served as protective coping skills, to lead our behavior. DMT can serve to aid folx in reconnecting with one’s inner child. The therapeutic space can be a place to be silly, laugh, make weird noises and follow our impulses that the pressures of adulthood have deemed wrong to indulge in. I often ask my clients the following, and I hope you will do the same: What freedom could you access if you were able to reconnect with your inner child? That younger you might just be longing to run free again, and waiting for you to let go! To do so as a person who holds marginalized identities is a direct affront to the systems of oppression that can oftentimes feel stifling.