Embodied Conversations: Culturally and Trauma-Informed Healing Practices in Dance/Movement Therapy

Abstract

The authors engaged with each other to share their own experiences, memories, personal trauma, identities, and cultural backgrounds, and embody a necessary reflection and dialogue around their racial/culturally diverse backgrounds during these trauma-filled times. The emotional, social, political, and spiritual impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the civil unrest due to the continued violence against BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) bodies, and the persistence of systemic racism, oppression, and white supremacy drove the necessary questioning on how to support those from marginalized identities both from a theoretical stance and a social action stance. The authors’ reflections on their own growing edge and positionality led them to assess integrated therapeutic approaches that move in the direction of healing historical wounds that continue to deny our humanities. Groundwork in dance/movement therapy (DMT) education and pedagogy, the application of embodied intersectionality approaches, and implementation of culturally/spiritually informed practices were offered as frameworks for the continued creation of equitable, safe, and accountable spaces in our DMT field. The chapter includes a summary of culturally and trauma-informed DMT therapeutic guiding principles that were useful in the authors’ own journeys toward becoming agents of change for themselves and for those they serve. © 2022 selection and editorial matter, Rebekka Dieterich-Hartwell and Anne Margrethe Melsom.