Adlerian dance therapy

Domain VIII · Creative & expressive arts therapies · Liljan Espenak · 1966 · New York, USA

What it is

Liljan Espenak (1905–1988) trained as a modern dancer under Mary Wigman, performed and choreographed in Berlin, London, Paris and the United States, ran the Espenak School in New York, and later worked as a dance therapist with physically and intellectually disabled children and adults. From 1965…

Format

• Session count and format. Espenak's own session count or session template is not documented in the sources used. She worked with both children and adults, including people with physical and intellectual disabilities, in a hospital-linked institute, and her book gives a chapter to expressive…

Who practises it, and how they are trained or regulated

• Phases. Espenak's own book is organised as an overview (ch. 1), psychomotor therapy (ch. 2), diagnosis and evaluation (ch. 3), then two treatment phases: phase 1, restructuring (ch. 4), and phase 2, integration (ch. 5). Further chapters cover expressive movement in group interaction (ch. 6), specialised aspects of treatment (chs. 7–8) and training for dance therapists (ch. 9). What each chapter prescribes is not…
• Professional frame. The method is a dance/movement therapy, so deliver it only with dance/movement therapy training. A psychotherapist without that training should not run the diagnostic tests or the body-action and improvisation phases; refer the client or co-work with a qualified dance/movement therapist. In the US the credential is awarded at graduate level. A master's degree from an ADTA-approved programme, or a…
• Version followed: Liljan Espenak's dance therapy as she placed it within Adlerian (Individual) psychology in her Individual Psychologist papers (1966, 1970) and her textbook Dance Therapy: Theory and Application (Springfield, IL: Charles C. Thomas, 1981; German edition 1985), using the book's own chapter structure (psychomotor therapy; diagnosis and evaluation; treatment phase 1, restructuring; treatment phase 2,…

Questions to explore with your client

• What drew you to it, and what are you hoping it will change?
• Is there physical contact? Was it explained beforehand, and do you feel free to say no or stop at any point?
• Does it involve intense or unusual breathing? Have you been told about the medical conditions for which that is not advised?
• Does it involve fasting, a special diet or 'detox'? Have you discussed this with your doctor?
• Is it a group, retreat or community? How do they respond if someone wants to leave or raises a concern?
• Who runs it, and what training or registration do they hold?
• What actually happens in a session or meeting, and how often?
• What does it cost, and is there pressure to commit to more?
• How do you feel afterwards, in the hours and days that follow?
• Does it fit with, or clash with, the work we do here?

What practitioners of it watch for

• Pallor, breathlessness, unsteadiness, pain. Working: No incidents, and the client moves with more confidence.
• Interpretations offered too early or as fact. Working: The client corrects or extends your hypothesis in their own words.
• Mobility aids, gait disorders and fall risk (see 4.10); shame about appearance. Working: The client recognises the pattern as theirs and can try an alternative.
• Images that trigger trauma memories (water, being trapped, being pulled); let the client choose or veto images. Working: The client's movement range widens and emotions can be named.
• Freezing, compliance without real agreement, holding the breath, looking away. Treat these as a no. Working: The client uses the stop signal or opt-out freely and without apologising.

When to involve someone else

• New or worsening physical symptoms, or advice to stop or change prescribed medication: involve the client's doctor or prescriber.
• Signs of coercion, isolation from family and friends, escalating costs or secrecy: discuss openly and consider safeguarding.
• A crisis or thoughts of suicide: follow your crisis protocol. In the US, call or text 988; in the UK and Ireland, Samaritans on 116 123.

Drawn automatically from the guide's own sections. Stay curious: neither endorse nor dismiss what the client values, and check anything that matters against the full guide and its sources. Not medical advice.