First of all, let’s just be clear that no therapist should ever “make” you do anything.

Therapy and therapeutic interventions must be a consciously chosen process, one that you willingly undertake of your own volition. Yes, the therapist may encourage you to move beyond your comfort zone, stretch your limits, maybe even explore themes or sensations that might scare you a little bit.

But ultimately, these explorations must always be consensual.

So no, I will not ‘make’ you dance.

Secondly, should we pursue work together, there is a very high likelihood that we won’t even ‘dance’ at all – in the classical sense of the word anyways.
(If we take into consideration ‘life is a dance’ and ‘breath as a dance’ – then yes, it’s likely we will engage in a dance, of sorts).
But there will be no formal teaching structure or choreographed movements. I am not a dance instructor!

As an emerging Dance/Movement Therapist, I find that before I can offer my work, I must first explain my work.
These days, many folks have heard of Music Therapy, Art Therapy, Drama Therapy, and the overarching umbrella of Expressive Arts Therapies.

But for many, linking Dance and Movement to therapeutic process is a new concept.

One of the things I often hear folks say is “Well that makes sense, Dance IS my therapy!” or, “I always feel better when I dance through my feelings!”.

Another common response is “There’s no way I will ever dance without some liquid courage” or, “The only place I dance is alone in my living room, or at a wedding!”.

These reflections, though perhaps opposing each other, point to a truth that many seem to overlook –

all humans have some relationship to the word dance.

Be it a ‘first dance’ with a young crush, a dance at a wedding, ‘going out dancing’ in their early 20s, learning swing dance in elementary school, or cultural roots of dance for celebration or ceremony.
Most, if not all humans, have a connection to a memory where music and movement happened simultaneously.

Sometimes this happens without any conscious attempt to make ‘dancing’ occur. A tap of the finger, a sway of the hips, a bop of the heels, a step side to side. Somewhere, inevitably, we have all had some sort of experience with this ominous, joyous, expressive, or occasionally downright embarrassing notion of “dance”.

When we consider Dance/Movement Therapy as a field, there are many ways of practicing. Some will work exclusively with expressive movement, inviting their clients into the movement space 99% of the time. Others will work primarily with sensation, with breath, with slowing down and connecting to a somatic sense of self. To the felt sense, to presence from within through the body. From this place, sometimes movement occurs, and sometimes not.

Most importantly however, there is a qualitative distinction between the clinical work of Dance/Movement Therapy, and what I will call

Therapeutic Dance.

Therapeutic dance happens in those moments people speak of when they say “Dance IS my therapy!”.
Therapeutic dance happens to those of us who dance and cry in our living rooms after a challenging relational dynamic.
Therapeutic dance happens in spaces like Dance Temple or Dance Church, where people sweat out their ‘demons’ on the dance floor while shaking and howling into the studio with other weirdos.
Therapeutic dance is what I taught to children with developmental disabilities for years as I undertook my training to become a clinical Dance/Movement Therapist.

Therapeutic dance recognizes that if one moves their body, particularly if they intentionally challenge their movement repertoire or ‘regular’ ways of moving through the world, that this will bring about therapeutic benefits. Blood flow to the brain, movement of the joints, activation of the proprioception sense (the internal knowing of where one’s body is in space), and joy through connecting to music and rhythm – these will all benefit the individual on a physical, mental, and emotional level; resulting in therapeutic effects!

When we refer to clinical Dance/Movement Therapy however, there is more happening.

With Dance/Movement Therapy,

We are taking the benefits of therapeutic dance, and connecting to deeper levels of being – through metaphor, through sensation, through guided awareness of how we inhabit our Self as a body.

The therapist is a trained clinician who understands the intricacies of mental wellness, of diagnoses and treatment plans, who is trained in either counselling, psychology, social work.
The therapist can see and work with the lens of various theoretical frameworks such as Gestalt, Existential, Person-Centered, or other models of psychotherapy.
The clinician has a grounded sense of themselves as an embodied being, as a being whose experience of the world manifests from a body-mind connection.
The therapist experiences their body-cues as sacred and worth paying attention to.
Through their training in Dance/Movement Therapy theory and lineage, as well as (ideally) their own embodiment practices, the clinician is able to offer an invaluable connection to their clients. One that other, more cognitive based therapists may not understand on a body-based level – the gift of kinesthetic attunement.

So, no, I will never “make” you dance.

At times, we may engage in a mirroring exercise where I invite you to move in any way that makes sense to you, as I follow your lead and we begin to explore together, finding meaning through movement.
I may invite you to pay attention to the way your body experiences sensations as you speak of a loaded emotional experience.
I may invite conscious awareness into a part of your body that is already moving, or communicating non-verbally without your current knowledge.
We may explore what it’s like to express an emotion through a hand gesture, a feeling that can’t quite be put into words, giving it form and an outlet for communication.
We may even use drawing or writing to ground into your experience and process.

For me, Dance/Movement Therapy is ultimately about creative exploration.
It is about intuition (yours and mine), and embodied connection with my clients.
It is about thinking outside the box and using the fullness of our Selves, rather than just our linear, ‘know-it-all’ mind, to flow through your experiences and ‘make sense’ (or ‘make sensation’) of your world and stories.
It is about interpersonal connection.
It is about eye-contact.
It is about feeling-with, being-with, and simply seeing the other – through benevolence and non-judgement.
It is about no two client sessions being the same – because no two bodies experience the world in quite the same way.

If you have any inkling of curiosity towards this modality, I urge you to follow that impulse. Get curious about how your emotions speak through sensation. Follow your desire to shake or jump or wiggle when you’re feeling “off”. Connect with me or another skilled, embodied, clinician and share your curiosities around what you’d like to explore.

Trust your inner senses, connect with your body, and see where it leads you.

Who knows – you might even discover, that you actually want to dance!