Profession dance therapist

Dance therapists support individuals with their emotional, mental or physical health problems helping them to improve their body awareness, self-esteem, social integration and personal development through dance and movement patterns within a therapeutic environment.

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Personality Type

• Social / Investigative
• Investigative / Social
• Artistic / Social

Knowledge

• Link between dance and music style

  The relation of a practiced dance style with music structure and musicians.

• Dance therapy

  The implementation of dance in a therapeutic treatment in order to improve the self-esteem and body image of the patient.

• Psychological theories

  The historical development of counselling and psychological theories, as well as the perspectives, applications, and interviewing and counselling strategies.

Skills

• Have emotional intelligence

  Recognize ones own and other people`s emotions, distinguish correctly between them and observing how they can influence one`s environment and social interaction and what can be done about it.

• Dance

  Perform in artistic productions of differents disciplines such as classical ballet, modern dance, contemporary dance, early dance, ethnic dance, folk dance, acrobatic dances and street dance.

• Inspire enthusiasm for dance

  Encourage and enable people, especially children, to become involved in dance and to understand and appreciate it, either privately or in public contexts.

• Develop a collaborative therapeutic relationship

  Develop a mutually collaborative therapeutic relationship during treatment, fostering and gaining healthcare users' trust and cooperation.

• Write work-related reports

  Compose work-related reports that support effective relationship management and a high standard of documentation and record keeping. Write and present results and conclusions in a clear and intelligible way so they are comprehensible to a non-expert audience.

• Listen actively

  Give attention to what other people say, patiently understand points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times; able to listen carefully the needs of customers, clients, passengers, service users or others, and provide solutions accordingly.

• Maintain healthcare user data confidentiality

  Comply with and maintain the confidentiality of healthcare users` illness and treatment information.

• Assess the patient's therapeutic needs

  Observe and assess the patient`s behaviour, attitudes and emotions in order to understand if and how their therapeutic needs can be met with a specific kind of therapy, collecting and analysing information on how the client makes, responds to, and relates to artistic stimulae. Relate this information to other aspects of the patient`s life.

• Observe healthcare users

  Observe healthcare users and record significant conditions and reactions to drugs, treatments, and significant incidents, notifying a supervisor or physician when required.

• Harmonise body movements

  Harmonise body movements in accordance to rhythm and melody, aestetic or dramatic concept, dramatic pace, etc.

• Develop creative ideas

  Developing new artistic concepts and creative ideas.

• Provide health education

  Provide evidence based strategies to promote healthy living, disease prevention and management.

Optional knowledge and skills

Source: Sisyphus ODB