Social Justice in Dance/Movement Therapy Practice, Research and Education

This book demonstrates the use of dance/movement therapy to directly counteract social injustices and promote healing in international settings. It also demonstrates the potential for dance/movement therapy in prevention and wellness in clinical and community settings. The use of improvisational and creative dance is presented throughout the book as a tremendously clear, strong and powerful inroad to healing in every setting. The chapters in this book do not directly address social justice in dance/movement therapy, but rather provide provoking social justice related positions. This call for a provoking re-examination of the definition of dance/movement therapy is fitting as we—as a community—challenge our identity as dance/movement therapists, educators, supervisors and as human beings who have internalized oppression in various forms through our many identifiers and the unique intersections of those identifiers. The editors and authors posit that social justice cannot be fully addressed by focusing solely on the social issues. Rather, we must be aware of where and how the social issues come into the individual(s), the setting, and the therapy process itself.

Chapter “‘Breaking Free': One Adolescent Woman's Recovery from Dating Violence Through Creative Dance" is available open access under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license via link.springer.com.

Editors’ Note.- ADTA 2018 Keynote Plenary Panel: Power and Privilege Within the ADTA.- Grace and Grit: A Meditation on Dance Movement Therapy’s Locations and Aspirations.- Breaking Free: One Adolescent Woman’s Recovery from Dating Violence Through Creative Dance.- Empowerment-Focused Dance/Movement Therapy for Trauma Recovery.- Past, Present, Future: A Program Development Project Exploring Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome (PTSS) Using Experiential Education and Dance/Movement Therapy Informed Approaches.- Applying Critical Consciousness to Dance/Movement Therapy Pedagogy and the Politics of the Body.- Dance/Movement Therapy in Cross-Cultural Practice: Fostering Assertiveness with Torture Survivors.- (Re-) Defining Dance/Movement Therapy Fifty Years Hence.- Moving Towards Wellness in Long-term Care: Considerations for Dementia-Associated Aggression.- Ghosts in the Bedroom: Embodiment Wishes in Couple Sexuality: Qualitative Research and Practical Application.- The Embodied Teen: A Somatic Curriculum for Teaching Body-Mind Awareness, Kinesthetic Intelligence, and Social and Emotional Skills.

Susan Kierr (Wise) ADTR, NCC, studied DMT at Lesley College in Cambridge, Massachusetts and has contributed to the dance movement therapy field for over 30 years. She did pioneering work at the New England Rehabilitation Hospital in Woburn, MA, USA, where she supervised dozens of interns and practicing DMTs, (including Linda Murrow). Susan’s effective use of DMT with people who are paralyzed is documented in an article published by the American Journal of Dance Therapy, “Therapy for Patients with Spinal Cord Injuries,” vol 4 no 1.  Susan has served on the Board of the ADTA, and on the ADTA Credentialing Committee, where she chaired the DTR and ADTR subcommittees, helping to steer the credentialing process toward international applications. Now living and working in New Orleans, LA, USA, Susan has established the use of DMT in schools and hospitals. She has a private practice and conducts groups at Tulane University’s mental health hospital, and public elementary school aftercare program.