Dance/Movement Therapy
THEORY III

"The Embodied Self and the Embedded Self"
Movement Communication in a Multi-Cultural Environment

This course has been approved by the American Dance Therapy Association as
meeting requirements for the Alternate Route R-DMT credential and satisfies 40 hours of
DMT Theory & Practice Training. (A prerequisite for alternate route training course enrollment
and credit is the satisfactory completion of 90 hours of dance/movement therapy theory
and practice coursework.  Students not wishing alternate route training credit may
take the course without the prerequisite requirement.).

This course meets the qualifications for 40 hours of continuing education credit for MFTs
and/or LCSWs as required by the California Board of Behavioral Sciences (Provider #3888).

Course Description:

This course will focus on the multi-faceted nature of what we call Self and the complex
interrelationships between the internal world of the individual and the external environment,
in all its multi-cultural diversity. We will explore the ways in which patterns form and become
embodied, considering both the earliest relational interactions between infants and their caregivers,
and the ways in which each individual’s legacy of cultural influences become uniquely embedded
in body and psyche. We will explore the implications of these patterns for how the relationship
between DMTs and their clients take shape, in particular the communication of experience via
transference and counter-transference processes. Laban Movement Analysis will support the
exploration by providing a framework for thinking about patterns and making them more conscious.

Course Objectives:

1) Greater recognition of the powerful impact of infantile experiences throughout life.

2) An enhanced awareness of the psychodynamics of unconscious processes.

3) A deeper understanding of the role of bodily expression and communication in representing
intra and inter-personal dynamics.

4) A deepening of students’ ability to reflect on what may be going on beneath the surface in groups.

5) An increased ability to explore nonverbal communication in groups and to see from different
personal and cultural perspectives.

6) Greater recognition of the uses of LMA in exploring complexity, diversity and change.

7) Potential stimulation of ideas for research.