Paper short abstract:

While many movement/dance therapies exist and find their way within specific cultural surroundings, fundamentally, these therapies draw upon the functional neurology of movement as a gateway to moving, feeling and thinking, and attempt to maintain or restore normal relations among these functions.

Paper long abstract:

The human brain contains several layers that have evolved through time and whose task has remained the same: survival. To guarantee survival the brain uses three main functional systems: a motorsystem, an association system and a motivational system. As these are intertwined at all levels, changing one will unavoidably change the others. 

The same systems are used in learning, which is also involved in optimising our chances of survival. Dancing, as other forms of practical learning, is based in the emotional layers of the brain, the basal ganglia and lymbic structures. Optimal functioning and synchronization of these circuits (e.g. the motor cortico-basal ganglia-thalamo-cortical circuit; mCBGT) represents a healthy status.

Dysfunctional synchronisation can be seen for example in Parkinsons's disease resulting in symptoms concerning motor function, but also disturbances of thinking, mood, executive function and personality.

Dance therapy, by using a combination of goal directed voluntary action, automated behaviour and synchronization to internal or external rhythms, makes use of the fundamental interconnectedness of these circuits. This is shown, for instance, in the fact that, in dance, movement has an associative and motivational quality; also in that if motivation is frustrated, as in depression, movement is frustrated as well, as are its associations.

While simple motor movement, as in walking, has a purposeful quality that gives it direction, dance movement also creates emotional associations and motivation. Hence, movement in dance can and should be used in therapy. It's basic neurology!