Dance therapy

Summarizes the state of the art for dance therapy. Aimed at channeling tension toward bodily integration, appropriate affect, insight into behavior, and improved social interaction, dance therapy combines principles from bioenergetics and Gestalt therapy while also emphasizing body activity. Particularly helpful when verbal communciation is blocked, it has succeeded with psychotics, normal neurotics, and children with emotional disturbances, learning disabilities, and mental retardation. The little research thus far, while indicating dance therapy's effectiveness, has been inconclusive. Nonetheless, the dance therapy movement has yielded several body movement diagnostic instruments and has made therapists more aware of body movement's importance.