Creating dances to transform inner states: A choreographic model in Dance/Movement Therapy

This article proposes a choreographic model for Dance/Movement Therapy as it relates to the transformation of psychological material through the medium of dance choreography and performance. The choreo-therapeutic model uses Dance/Movement Therapy and general psychotherapy techniques to support clients to work with their psychological material, externalise it into dance choreography, make meaning of and transform the material, and integrate it through performance. Creating and performing dances in the context of a therapeutic goal will likely facilitate clients to understand their relationship to themselves and others, gain insight into their own unique process of expression, learn their associations with being seen, and utilise the witness function of an audience (Caldwell, 1996; Levy, 1988; Pallaro, 2007). This writer proposes that the creative process of dance choreography and performance brings greater organisation and clarification to the experience of internal states.