Play, Educate, Treat: About the Genesis of Twentieth-Century Drama and Dance Therapy

Today, drama and dance therapy are common methods used in treating mental disorders. They originated at the intersection of artistic, educational, and therapeutic practices. From the perspective of the history of health and body (Georges Vigarello) and ethnoscenology ( Jean-Marie Pradier), Nabokina discusses two methods from the early twentieth century: eurhythmics by Emile Jaques-Dalcroze and the concept of drama therapy by Nikolai Evreinov. Using the achievements of new psychology, the two methods influenced the development of modern therapies through art. Both Dalcroze and Evreinov drew on centuries-old ideas about strength and purification, along with the image of the body as an energy system.