Abstract
The global COVID-19 outbreak has forced psychotherapists to find creative ways to con-tinue treating their clients from afar. Dance movement therapy emphasizes the body–mind connec-tion and offers a unique mode of emotional intervention for supporting mental processes. The present study is the first to examine the distinctive qualities of group dance movement therapy in the context of remote emotional intervention with young children. Fourteen preschool children partic-ipated in six DMT meetings. The data generated three themes: 1. play as a platform for transforming technical complexity into an expression of the inner world; 2. accessories and props as means of motivation for movement and imaginative play; 3. playfulness-inhibiting conditions in settings of remote therapy. The discussion examines the significance of bodily expressions in remote therapy for understanding the needs of children in times of crisis and for getting acquainted with feelings and sensations which do not lend themselves easily to verbal expression.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 870 |
| Journal | Children |
| Volume | 9 |
| Issue number | 6 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - 11 Jun 2022 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Bibliographical note
Publisher Copyright:© 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
Funding
The authors would like to thank the DMT M.A. students (2019–2021) for their enthusiastic willingness to learn, practice, and manage the DMT workshop remotely, and for gen-erously sharing their feelings, thoughts, and sensations with us for this study.
Keywords
- COVID-19
- dance movement therapy
- remote therapy