Dance movement therapy (DMT), a therapeutic art that blends ancient traditions with modern clinical practices, is a form of non-verbal communication that facilitates integration between body and psyche. Carl Gustav Jung, the renowned psychoanalyst, was among the first to recognize the transformative potential of bodily movement, stating that “the body is the theater of the soul.”
Jung postulated that through dance the unconscious can manifest itself, allowing the individual to explore and integrate the deepest dimensions of the self. From this perspective, DMT becomes a bridge between body and soul, a silent language that speaks through movement.
Dance movement therapy invites us to recognize the beauty of fragility and to understand how, through free movement, it is possible to rediscover a profound transformative power, capable of fostering the construction of a more inclusive, empathetic, and conscious society.
My vision goes beyond the individual therapeutic dimension: it is a call to social action, an invitation to recognize fragility as a resource and movement as an instrument of care and relationship, capable of generating deep change.
Dance therapy thus becomes a tool for personal and collective transformation, capable of promoting inclusion, well-being, and awareness. This approach does not concern only those who live with conditions of fragility or disability, but is addressed to anyone who embarks on a path of growth, reflection, and reconciliation with themselves.
Among the figures who made fundamental contributions to this field are Marian Chace, Mary Whitehouse, Trudi Schoop, and Judith Kestenberg, who made dance therapy not only a therapeutic intervention, but also a process of empowerment, capable of freeing human potential and fostering integration between body and mind.
Today, symbolic-relational dance movement therapy focuses on the authentic expression of the body, inviting each individual to reconcile with their deepest essence.
From this perspective, movement is not only action, but also access to auroral states of consciousness, in Gaston Bachelard’s sense, in which bodily experience precedes mental form and rational representation. Gesture becomes a perceptual threshold, an original space in which imagination opens before structured thought, allowing direct contact with deep levels of experience.
In this sense, DMT is not limited to responding to clinical needs, but becomes an experience of reconnection with oneself and with others through movement and relationship.
We live in a society that privileges the rational and performative dimension, neglecting the somatic and emotional one. Yet it is precisely through the body that one can recover a vital authenticity and an awareness that transcends the rational mind and individual identity.
Gesture in DMT takes on an almost sacred dimension: as an original act of revelation. In it, a quality of presence manifests itself which, from an anthropological perspective, recalls the ritual gestures of archaic cultures and, from a Jungian perspective, the archetypes of the collective unconscious.
Symbolic-relational dance therapy thus becomes a tool of empowerment, strengthening the relationship with the body and valuing movement as an expression of deep identity. It fosters not only self-acceptance, but also the celebration of individual uniqueness, overcoming the separation between body and mind.
Recognizing and embracing vulnerability allows it to be transformed from a limitation into a possibility for growth. From this perspective, DMT contributes to the construction of a more inclusive and conscious society, in which every individual can be welcomed in their uniqueness and fragility.
It is within this context that my vision of social impact takes shape: the use of expressive arts therapies as instruments of collective transformation, capable of fostering reconciliation with the body and with the authentic essence of the human being. In a world that increasingly needs connection, they offer a space of freedom and care, in which the body becomes a language of relationship, emotional transformation, and intersubjective resonance.
The body as Leib—the lived body—can be understood as a complex relational system, in which every gesture generates simultaneity between psyche and soma, as well as effects that cannot be reduced to the individual alone, but emerge within the broader field of collective human nature. In a metaphorical and phenomenological sense, this can be brought close to a “quantum” vision of human experience, in which meaning is not fixed but emerges through the interaction between observer, body, and context.
The Symbolic-Relational Approach in Dance Movement Therapy
The symbolic-relational approach integrates Jungian psychoanalytic theories, psychosomatics, and movement therapy, with the aim of exploring the deep meaning of emotions through the body. From this perspective, the body becomes a privileged vehicle for manifesting and understanding psychic, relational, and emotional processes.
The concept of symbol is central: movement is not only physical expression, but a symbolic language that tells stories, conflicts, and inner memories. In the process of symbolization, the body becomes a map of psychic experience, in which every gesture may point to a deep emotional content.
The therapeutic relationship plays a fundamental role: therapist, individual, and group constitute a transformative potential space. Presence, listening, and containment facilitate the emergence of lived experiences and allow their integration.
Through the body and the symbol, even unconscious contents that often cannot be verbalized can emerge and be transformed. Movement thus makes it possible to give form to pain and conflict, rendering them experienceable, recognizable, and integrable within the therapeutic process.
The Symbol: A Bridge Between Unconscious and Consciousness
The symbol is a bridge between unconscious and consciousness. A gesture, a posture, or a distance in space can communicate beyond words.
The term “symbol” derives from the Greek symbállō, “to put together”: originally it indicated two halves which, once reunited, allowed the recognition of a bond. In this quality of panoramic vision, the symbol unites what is separated beyond space and time.
For Carl Gustav Jung, the symbol acts: it is a vector of psychic transformation that facilitates the integration of the unconscious without being overwhelmed by it. In an alchemical vision, it reflects the process of transformation of matter and psyche, where opposites are reunited. Thus this movement leads to the coniunctio oppositorum, the union of opposites in a new wholeness.
Dance movement therapy translates into bodily experience what alchemy describes symbolically. In bodily gesture, emotions and unconscious contents manifest themselves in movement. Through the body, opposites such as tension and release, control and surrender, emptiness and fullness can be experienced and integrated. In this sense, this process can bring about the coniunctio oppositorum.
The danced gesture thus becomes a living symbol: it does not represent transformation, but activates it in the present moment of the body.
Ritual, Archetypes, and Transformation
Through the integration of symbolic and anthropological elements, dance therapy invites participants to rediscover their human, cultural, and identity-related roots. It is a journey of return to the authentic self, where movement becomes a rite of passage, a celebration of transformation.
The ritual dimension recalls ancient ancestral practices in which movement was a means of connection with the sacred, the community, and the deep self. Since the origins of humanity, dance has been used as a rite of healing and transformation.
In the therapeutic setting, ritual becomes a symbolic space in which gesture acquires deep meanings, connecting the body to the psyche and to the collective unconscious, as understood by C. G. Jung. The repetition of gestures, the structure of the session, and the use of evocative elements create a safe container in which the participant can explore, transform, and integrate parts of themselves.
Dance movement therapy invites us to recognize the beauty of our fragility and to understand that, through free movement, we can rediscover a profound power, capable of fostering the construction of a more inclusive, empathetic, and conscious society.
From this perspective, arts therapies become a means of building a society that honors fragility as a potential source of growth and authentic connection, a society capable of celebrating and embracing its own humanity.