Abstract:
This research explored perceptions and understandings of Dance Movement Therapy (DMT) in contemporary Australia and New Zealand. It then looked at the potential implications for DMT practice and DMT pedagogy in the specific context of Australia and New Zealand.
Qualitative, Constructivist and Postcolonial paradigms guided the research methodology. It also drew upon Critical Theory, and Narrative Inquiry was used to capture and share the four research participants’ experiences and stories. Purposeful sampling was chosen to identify and select participants with diverse backgrounds and experience of dance, dance as healing and DMT.
Thematic analysis was employed to determine dominant themes which emerged from the data collected via semi-structured interviews which were conducted either face-to-face or via Zoom because of restrictions due to the Coronavirus pandemic. Four main themes emerged all having implications for DMT practice and education/ training/ pedagogy in Australasia.
The four main themes translated into four significant issues relating to DMT. These were 1. The need to decolonise DMT in Australasia, 2. The need to defeminise DMT, 3. Opening up DMT by demystifying the healing processes and contexts of dance and how these might be incorporated into a new paradigm of DMT in this part of the world and 4. The impact of Covid-19 on DMT and implications for the ongoing practice of DMT as well as DMT pedagogy and curricula design moving into the future.
