The reviewers of this book are dance/movement therapy (DMT) educators who center on
multicultural awareness, intersectionality, and their role in their clinical and educational
experiences. They intend to parallel the framework put forth by editors Dieterich-Hartwell
and Melsom (2022) by first identifying themselves. Tomoyo is a Japanese, East Asian immigrant
cis woman. She recognizes the advantage of speaking English without an accent. Her
clinical work focuses on adults and adolescents with acute and chronic mental illness
in residential, inpatient, and outpatient recovery care in the United States. Chevon
is an educator who strives to use an anti-oppressive practice in her clinical, pedagogical,
and research work. She is a first-generation Jamaican American of African and Chinese ancestry,
able bodied, cisgender woman of middle-class socioeconomic status. She has worked
clinically in community and school based mental health settings with children and
their families, forensic setting with adults and hospice, and internationally with
children and adolescent female survivors of sexual violence. Their combined clinical
experiences have helped them to approach this book with a deep understanding of how
dance/movement therapists work with populations who have experienced trauma.
Co-edited by Dieterich–Hartwell and Melsom (2022), Dance/Movement Therapy for Trauma
Survivors: Theoretical, clinical, cultural perspectives is a momentous book with a
rich selection of topics that showcases the value of DMT in a variety of settings
and populations. The book is organized in three sections starting with “Foundational
Concepts in DMT and Psychological Trauma” that introduces DMT’s “core” (p. 1): historical
roots and connection to indigenous and cultural practices, as well as neurobiological
and relational theories that constitute DMT trauma work. From here, the second section
“Clinical Applications with Various Populations” is developed to address more “wider-reaching
concepts” (p. 1). The contributing authors are experts in the treatment of children
with neurodiversity, adolescents, individuals with substance use, eating disorders,
schizophrenia, medical illness, survivors of genocide, human sex trafficking and sexual
abuse, and military veterans. Two of the chapters centered the context and relationships
of adolescent development and power dynamics as well as the criminal justice system,
employing a collaborative and macro- rather than micro-systemic lens. Dumaresq and
Puloka in particular were explicit about their view that “trauma is understood as
a symptom of broader, structural, and systemic oppression” (p. 165). Many of the chapters
in this section highlighted resilience and/or strength-based models. The third section,
“Widening the Scope of Dance/Movement Therapy,” has an assortment of topics ranging
from emerging practices with telehealth, multigenerational trauma, compassion fatigue,
and practical, pedagogical, and research directions for future practice.
Reflecting the diversity of the authors, the book offers a range in styles and scholarship.
Chapter 2, “Embodied Conversations: Culturally and Trauma-Informed Healing Practices
in Dance/Movement Therapy,” is a deeply personal reflective dialogue between three
dance/movement therapy educators who recognize that the racial reckoning of the profession
is being built on the works of BIPOC dance/movement therapists. Chapter 3, “Neurobiological
Considerations in the Treatment of Trauma from a Dance/Movement Therapy Perspective,”
provides a comprehensive overview of theories and models of neuroanatomical structures
and their connections to DMT work based on the latest neuroscience research. Several
authors referred to the neurosequential model, polyvagal theory, window of tolerance,
and interoceptive awareness in subsequent chapters of the book. The connections made
specifically to dance, such as: “synchronized rhythm, experiencing beauty, activation
imagination, and motor learning” made by Barnstaple and Dieterich-Hartwell (p. 53)
are deemed essential for facilitating neuroplasticity through DMT. This nuance is
helpful, because many chapters referred solely to the sensory, somatic aspects of
DMT work. The book clarifies that much of what we know about neuroscience is just
a small aspect, that these are theories, and that these theories are still developing,
which is important to remember. While exciting to pursue the neuroanatomical evidence-base
for the work that many dance/movement therapists have been engaging in already, it
is just as valuable to continue to sink into embodied, arts-based knowledge. Konopatch
and Koch offer a phenomenological account in Chapter 11, “Refugees Dealing with Complex
Trauma: Dance/Movement Therapy for Survivors of the Genocide of the Yazidi.” This
is the only chapter that spoke to working with an interpreter and described in detail
how they utilized the interpreter in sessions. Many authors provided client case vignettes;
in Chapter 15, “Trauma-Informed Dance/Movement Therapy in the Age of Telehealth,”
Coote and Ellyson gathered vignettes from the practitioners’ perspective. The final
chapter by Young, Cruz and Robinson, “Trauma-Informed Dance/Movement Therapy: Implications
for Healing-Centered Education, Practice, and Research,” cited the education and training
standards that are currently being reviewed to suggest how one might engage in DMT
pedagogy and evidence-based research as the profession moves into a care-based, healing
lens that considers whom the research/therapy is for, and who the experts are in creating
new knowledge.
The conceptualization of healing versus treatment is an essential dialogue to continue.
Both in Chapter 7, “A Trauma-Informed Approach to Dance/Movement Therapy for Persons
Living with Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorders,” and Chapter 8, “Dance/Movement Therapy:
A Trauma-Informed Approach to Engagement in the Treatment of Substance Use,” the authors
foregrounded the importance of “recovery” within the medical model of treatment. Patterson
and Melsom described how the aesthetic elements of DMT can assist in the recovery-oriented
model when working with individuals with substance use. Biondo and Bryl stated that
recovery in treatment still requires practical application for individuals diagnosed
with severe mental illness. This seems particularly pertinent for those from communities
of color who are both under and over-diagnosed, lack access to healthcare, live with
hypervigilance and are prone to receiving the diagnosis to begin with due to structural
racism, as Biondo and Bryl discuss. In Chapter 9, “Dance/Movement Therapy: Renewing
Purpose when Emerging from Sexual Abuse and International Human Sex Trafficking,”
Chakraborty and Tant delineated steps for “healing and recovery” (p. 146) based on
community empowerment (p. 144) that aligns with the social developmental settings
in India. Gray and Fargnoli cautioned against the isolation of the dance/movement
therapist and proposed a social justice-oriented “collective care approach” (p.16)
for both the survivors as well as the therapists. An illustration of care-based healing
can be found in Chapter 10, “Dance/Movement Therapy, Trauma, and Criminalization:
Reflecting on Feminist and Participatory Approaches,” which demonstrated a decolonizing
framework of creative, expressive storytelling and resistance. Dumaresq and Puloka shared
ways of liberation through “vicarious resilience” (p. 162), which was simultaneously
a critical counternarrative. Another care-based approach was the combination of “dinner
in community” with DMT in working with individuals with eating disorders in Chapter 12,
“A Return to the Body: Trauma-Informed Dance/Movement Therapy for Individuals with
Eating Disorders”, by Tropea and Kleinman (p. 196). This chapter also included participant
voices and art work for a reflexive account, which was intended to ultimately transform
“practice-based evidence” into “evidence-based practice” (p. 196).
The theoretical and clinical applications knowledge held by the authors were substantial
and vast and demonstrated the interdisciplinary nature of research that is common
in the work. However, there were several chapters in which the reviewers felt overwhelmed
with the amount of theoretical content being introduced for working with a population.
Some of this may be related to the range of authors' professional identifications,
which include dance/movement therapists as well as counseling educators and counselors.
Many chapters offer intervention ideas that may be useful for students and practitioners
looking for immediate practical application. Eberhard-Kaechele and Goll-Kopkain presented
ideas about the “Functions of Props in Relational DMT interventions” (p. 63), while
Devereaux and Harrison provided a list of “neurobiologically-informed DMT interventions”
(pp. 86–91) for working with children with complex trauma. In Chapter 14, Shim, Millrod,
and Gaydos defined “seven key pathways toward resilience and holistic integration”
(pp. 222–228) for people who have experienced cancer and chronic pain. Each pathway
was informed by theory, DMT treatment techniques, and goals to guide the clinician
working with this population. In Chapter 17, Morningstar and Ruzic offered the only
in-depth discussion on self-care. Using the framework of trauma stewardship by van
Dernoot Lipsky and Burk (2009), they integrated this model with DMT interventions
to support dance/movement therapists in their experience of vicarious trauma and burnout.
Their use of the “compassionate movement wheel for self care” (p. 274) is a three-step
process that provides an array of interventions for dance movement therapists to use
for self care. They stated that “‘being’ in the moment can be more valuable than ‘doing’
in the moment” (p. 274). The interventions were accessible and could be taught in
supervisory relationships or practiced on one’s own.
Others proposed a more conceptually novel approach, such as Dumaresq and Puloka’s
“Key Principles and Recommendations for DMT” for a “healing-centered engagement” of
trauma care that expands “beyond the overly medical model focus” (p. 165), which can
be found in Chapter 10. In Chapter 16, Coburn, Grayson and Zana Sterenfeld. discussed
the importance of looking at intergenerational trauma within the Native American,
African American, and Holocaust-descendant communities. They urged dance/movement
therapists to “re-examine initial diagnoses from a cultural- and trauma-informed perspective”
(p. 266). What these approaches have in common is that the understanding of culture
is inherent and fundamental, rather than an “add-on” to the work.
There were several areas to heed in the framing of the book. One was in the introduction,
in which the editors stated that the book was “conceived at a time before” (p. 1)
systemic oppression and environmental disasters were intensified in the United States.
The reality is that many of the community members/clients/patients that dance/movement
therapists work with have been mistreated and are continuing to live with these injustices
for decades. Dieterich-Hartwell and Melsom stated that one of the changes they made
to the book to acknowledge the collective trauma of the COVID-19 pandemic was to “add
a special section on cultural awareness” (p. 1). Adding a section on culture on the
work of trauma may be well-intended but centers on the identities of white heteropatriarchy.
An informative chapter on transgenerational and intergenerational transmission of
trauma was inserted in the third section (rather than in Section 1), which was somewhat
surprising given the fundamental impact of power dynamics in DMT work and the understanding
of the systemic layers of trauma that might impact treatment and recovery. As noted
by multiple authors, trauma also affects the therapist and the therapeutic relational
dynamics, which Chapter 16 highlighted. Perhaps this decision reflects how culture,
trauma, and therapist identities are regarded in the mainstream literature and how
education is applied in the classroom and field training or internship settings.
Another area in the framing of the book that can benefit from clarification was what
the editors meant by the “trauma-informed, consistent style,[…] and holding environment”
(p. 2). The reviewers were excited to read that each chapter was to begin with an
introduction of the authors “in order to convey a more relational and safe experience
as they impart glimpses into their work” (p. 2). The way in which authors introduced
themselves varied and were inconsistent about including their social locations. As
Sherrell and Allen raised in their chapter, the ideas about who is “safe” and “unsafe”
and “safer” (p. 107) are complex and a process. Locating oneself as an author can
model vulnerability that can equalize power, joining in a collaborative, co-creative
stance. This may in turn allow for a more empathic connection to the writing. Additionally,
the use of a trauma-informed framework was discussed, but not clearly defined. This
left the reviewers curious about how this information was conveyed and operationalized
by each author.
As Winters Fisher and Freeman grounded the readers in the history of the American
Dance Therapy Association in Chapter 13, DMT has been used with World War II military
veterans since the late 1940s at St. Elizabeth’s Hospital in Washington, DC. “The
meaningfulness of dance has persevered for many in later generations of veterans,
often manifesting in DMT group members reminiscing about dancing with loved ones”
(p. 202). The understanding of the work has evolved since Marian Chace danced with
veterans to move through their “shell-shocked” states (ADTA, 2021). The work has expanded
to gaining transdisciplinary and interdisciplinary knowledge of traumatic brain injury
(TBI), posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), intergenerational trauma, complex trauma,
and the many other forms of trauma that exist. Ultimately, Dieterich-Hartwell and
Melsom have skillfully crafted a book that is aligned with dance/movement therapy, as
a profession which supports and guides individuals who have experienced one or multiple
traumas. The knowledge gathered in this book is a significant contribution to the
field of dance/movement therapy and can support emerging dance/movement therapists, DMT
experts, and trauma practitioners. This book provides a starting point and roadmap
for dance/movement therapists and those curious about dance/movement therapy to delve
deeper into the practice and expand on the care and research in the communities that
can benefit from the work.