{"title":"Abstracts from the 2025 Research and Thesis Poster Session of the 60th Annual American Dance Therapy Association Conference, Dance/Movement Therapy: Deepening Community Care “Planting Seeds, Extending Branches, Growing Together”, November 6th–9th, 2025","authors":"Chevon Stewart, Robyn Cruz, Karolina Bryl, Cecilia Fontanesi","doi":"10.1007/s10465-026-09428-8","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s10465-026-09428-8","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>For the 60th annual American Dance Therapy Association conference, <b>Dance/Movement Therapy: Deepening Community Care “Planting seeds, extending branches, growing together”</b>, the Research and Practice committee presents ten abstracts which feature new and innovative research from around the world. The Research and Thesis Poster Session is a vital component of the ADTA Conference, providing a platform for researchers and practitioners to share their work, exchange ideas, and connect with colleagues. The abstracts presented in this paper offer a variety of research approaches focused on topics such as dance/movement therapy and culturally informed practices, innovations in the Kestenberg Movement Profile, and dance /movement therapy and self-injurious behaviors in Taiwan.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":44552,"journal":{"name":"AMERICAN JOURNAL OF DANCE THERAPY","volume":"48 1","pages":"53 - 63"},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2026-04-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s10465-026-09428-8.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148009178","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"My Dance Is My Prayer","authors":"Anette Torgersen","doi":"10.1007/s10465-025-09426-2","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s10465-025-09426-2","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>This study investigates how intentional dance prayer (IDP), an approach derived from authentic movement (AM), can provide spiritual and therapeutic benefits. The theoretical foundation draws on Merleau-Ponty’s body phenomenology and prior AM research. The empirical work was a six-year longitudinal qualitative study, using a practical-theoretical reflection process to examine participants’ experiences of IDP. This article presents participants’ first-person accounts of the insights and transformations—emotional, spiritual, and bodily—that emerged from the practice.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":44552,"journal":{"name":"AMERICAN JOURNAL OF DANCE THERAPY","volume":"48 1","pages":"6 - 23"},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2026-01-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s10465-025-09426-2.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148008853","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
XiaoChuan Xie, Nicole L. Williams-Mulet, Maria Patricia Misha Bernas
{"title":"On Being Together: A Collective Reflection on a Dance/Movement Therapy Session in a Pediatric Hospital","authors":"XiaoChuan Xie, Nicole L. Williams-Mulet, Maria Patricia Misha Bernas","doi":"10.1007/s10465-025-09425-3","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s10465-025-09425-3","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>This article documents an internship site visit, conducted by a dance/movement therapy (DMT) clinical supervisor (CS) and a DMT graduate program associate director (PAD). During this visit, a second-year DMT graduate student (S) shows CS and PAD her internship environment and invites them to participate in her individual treatment session with a pediatric patient (P) she has been treating in a children’s hospital in New York City. Three authors (CS, PAD, and S) collectively recount their <i>lived body experiences</i> of participating in the DMT treatment session led by S and share their inner reflections on the importance of <i>being together</i> with others during uncertain times. In this practice-based reflective essay, the authors attempt to illustrate what takes place in a Pediatric Medical DMT session and their collective experiences of navigating safety in clinical practices.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":44552,"journal":{"name":"AMERICAN JOURNAL OF DANCE THERAPY","volume":"48 1","pages":"24 - 33"},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2026-01-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148008603","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The Effects of a Dance/Movement Therapy Emotional Self-Regulation Program for Adolescents with Intellectual Disabilities in Hong Kong","authors":"Siu-Ling Angela Leung, Helen Payne","doi":"10.1007/s10465-025-09423-5","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s10465-025-09423-5","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>This study aimed to investigate the effects of a dance/movement therapy (DMT) program with a focus on emotional self-regulation (ESR) for adolescents with intellectual disabilities (ID) during the transition from school to post-school in Hong Kong. In response to the growing awareness of mental wellness in youth with special educational needs, research based on dance/movement therapy and self-determination theory was conducted by the author who was also the researcher. This mixed-methods study utilized a randomized controlled trial and focus groups. Fifty-one students and five school staff members from five special schools participated. Students were randomly assigned to intervention and control groups. Data were collected using the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire and analyzed with a T-test at pre-, post-intervention, and at a 14-week follow-up. Verbal data from focus groups were analyzed using thematic content analysis with NVivo, and non-verbal, art-based data were triangulated with verbatim transcriptions. Quantitative results showed significant improvement in the intervention group for all variables at the 14-week follow-up. Qualitative findings revealed processes related to emotional self-regulation and highlighted practices, such as providing students with a positive, novel, and impactful emotional self-regulation experience. The DMT ESR program contributed to improved emotional self-regulation in adolescents with intellectual disabilities. The findings from this study contribute to the fields of emotional regulation, DMT, special education, and psychotherapy research.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":44552,"journal":{"name":"AMERICAN JOURNAL OF DANCE THERAPY","volume":"48 1","pages":"34 - 52"},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2025-10-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148009850","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Review of Caldwell, C. (2024) Conscious Moving: An Embodied Guide for Healing, Learning, Contemplating, and Creating. North Atlantic. p. 296","authors":"Wendy Allen","doi":"10.1007/s10465-025-09424-4","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s10465-025-09424-4","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":44552,"journal":{"name":"AMERICAN JOURNAL OF DANCE THERAPY","volume":"48 1","pages":"64 - 68"},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2025-10-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148008778","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}