Paper short abstract:

We explore the ways that the practice of 'dance therapy' is described and prescribed in State and Federal government health policies, programs and other initiatives and in practitioner literature within Australia.

Paper long abstract:

Discussions on the nature and definition of 'art' often focus on culturally- produced dichotomies such as art/craft or high/low culture. In this presentation, however, we focus on an alternative conception of art as therapy, exploring how art practices can be defined or contested as artistic and therapeutic. Despite longstanding anthropological interest in the role of art forms in healing rituals Western biomedical conceptions of art- as- therapy are only beginning to be explored by anthropologists such as Hanna (1990) and Hogan and Pink (2010). The definition of activities as therapeutic can have real-world implications on the recognition and funding of particular programs and professionals and are these implications are in turn inscribed on the bodies of participants.

In particular we explore the ways that the practice of 'dance therapy' is described and prescribed in State and Federal government health policies, programs and other initiatives and in practitioner literature within Australia. Our policy and discourse analysis will examine questions such as: who are the actors who define 'dance therapy'? What are the definitions of the practice? What activities are included and excluded? We also draw auto-ethnographically on the practitioner experiences of Alice Langsford, a participant and instructor in dance-based activities for people living with disability.

This paper provides the framing for a larger proposed ethnographic research project exploring concepts of dance, body, health and transformation in the experiences of South Australians in dance therapies and occupational dance practices.