Dance/movement therapy (DMT) does not occur in isolation. It is always rooted in culture, shaped by community, and informed by the social and historical contexts of both therapist and client. While DMT may focus on the individual’s internal experience, it is deeply influenced by collective traditions, movement languages, and cultural narratives. Recognising and integrating the cultural and community aspects of dance/movement therapy is vital not only for ethical practice but for ensuring that therapy is relevant, accessible, and truly healing.
The Cultural Roots of Movement
Every body moves within a cultural context. Our gestures, postures, rhythms, and spatial habits are shaped by the communities we live in, the traditions we inherit, and the environments we navigate. Dance forms across the world reflect the values, histories, and stories of their people. From the fluid arm movements of traditional Thai dance to the grounded footwork of West African styles, each culture carries its own embodied knowledge.
In DMT, acknowledging these roots means recognising that movement is never neutral. A gesture that feels expansive in one context may feel inappropriate or even threatening in another. A therapist trained primarily in Western movement frameworks must be cautious not to impose these onto clients from different cultural backgrounds. Instead, the therapist must learn to attune to the client’s own movement language and cultural expression.
For example, a client from a collectivist culture may express themselves more easily in group synchrony than in solo improvisation. Others may find healing in movement rituals passed down through generations, or through music that connects them to their ancestry. DMT that honours these cultural expressions becomes a way of reconnecting clients with their roots, identity, and sense of belonging.
The Therapist’s Cultural Lens
Just as clients bring their cultural context into therapy, so too do therapists. A therapist’s assumptions, preferences, and even ways of interpreting movement are shaped by their own background. Reflecting on this is crucial to practising with cultural humility. This involves being open to not knowing, being willing to learn from the client, and continually examining one’s own position in relation to power, privilege, and bias.
For instance, a therapist may unconsciously value expressive, expansive movement and interpret stillness or minimal motion as emotional suppression. But in some cultures, restraint in movement is a sign of respect, maturity, or composure. Without cultural awareness, misinterpretations like this can lead to disconnection or misattunement.
DMT training programmes are increasingly incorporating teachings on cultural sensitivity and anti-oppressive practice. However, true cultural competence is not a fixed achievement — it is an ongoing practice of listening, learning, and being responsive to each client’s unique social identity.
Movement as Collective Expression
Dance is often a communal act. In many cultures, people gather to dance in celebration, in mourning, in protest, or in ritual. These group movements foster connection, shared identity, and emotional release. Dance/movement therapy can draw on this collective aspect of dance to support clients who are isolated, marginalised, or healing from community-level trauma.
Group DMT sessions can offer a microcosm of community where individuals experience belonging, co-regulation, and creative collaboration. Movement synchrony — the act of moving in time with others — has been shown to increase feelings of trust, empathy, and social cohesion. In a therapeutic setting, these experiences can be profoundly healing.
DMT is also used in post-conflict or post-disaster settings to rebuild social fabric and restore a sense of agency. In such cases, movement becomes a way of processing collective grief or fear, reconnecting with others, and reclaiming joy.
Traditional and Indigenous Healing Practices
Across the world, traditional and indigenous practices have long used dance as a means of healing. These may include trance dances, initiation ceremonies, or community storytelling through movement. While dance/movement therapy as a professional discipline has Western origins, it can learn a great deal from these traditions — not to appropriate them, but to honour their wisdom and recognise their place in the wider field of healing.
Some dance/movement therapists are actively engaged in dialogue with indigenous communities, exploring how to respectfully collaborate or incorporate elements of traditional movement in culturally informed ways. Others work within their own cultural heritage, bringing forward movement rituals that are personally and communally meaningful.
It is important that such integrations are done with care, respect, and consent. Therapists must avoid extracting practices without context or using sacred forms inappropriately. The focus should always be on supporting the client’s connection to their own cultural identity, not on expanding the therapist’s toolkit.
Accessibility and Inclusion in Practice
Cultural and community considerations also extend to questions of access. Who can afford or access dance/movement therapy? Where is it offered, and in what languages? What bodies are represented in promotional materials or training programmes?
Historically, DMT — like many forms of psychotherapy — has been more available to certain demographics, often white, middle-class, and Western-educated. Expanding access means offering therapy in community centres, schools, and other non-clinical settings. It means training therapists from diverse backgrounds and recognising different ways of knowing and healing.
Inclusive DMT also recognises that not all clients move in the same way. Disability, age, neurodivergence, and chronic illness all affect how a person experiences movement. An inclusive therapist adapts sessions to accommodate different bodies and communication styles, ensuring that everyone can participate meaningfully.
The Power of Community-Centred Work
Dance/movement therapy does not always have to happen in a quiet therapy room. Some of the most vibrant and transformative work happens in community settings — in circle dances, in movement workshops, in activist spaces. Here, the lines between therapy, education, art, and social change begin to blur.
Therapists who work in community contexts often take on roles as facilitators, educators, or advocates. They may lead movement groups that focus on empowerment, body image, intercultural dialogue, or trauma recovery. These groups can offer a space where people feel seen, heard, and valued — not just as clients, but as part of a living, moving community.
Community-based DMT can also be a tool for resilience in marginalised groups. Movement can offer a form of resistance, a way of reclaiming the body, and a path to joy even in the face of hardship. These spaces are as much about connection and expression as they are about therapy in the traditional sense.
A Living, Moving Tapestry
The cultural and community aspects of dance/movement therapy invite us to see the work not just as a clinical intervention, but as part of a living, moving tapestry of human expression. Every session carries echoes of ancestry, community, and the broader world in which both therapist and client live.
By engaging with culture and community, DMT becomes not just more effective, but more human. It honours the complexity of identity, the richness of tradition, and the fundamental need for connection. It invites both therapist and client to move not only as individuals, but as part of something greater — a collective rhythm, a shared dance, a story that is still unfolding.
