Epilogue

The Essays Presented Here constitute only a very brief journey into what might be called “other ways to apply psychoanalytic thought.” The reader has had the opportunity to read about the work of a sophisticated therapist—Michele Rose—who is well versed in both dance therapeutic and psychoanalytic technique. One hopes her work whetted appetites for a word from a ballerina—Ruthanna Boris—who participated in the very beginning of dance as therapy. From this rich beginning, Cary Rick and Yona Shahar-Levy share their theories of how to “write dance” and what that might mean. Saralea Chazan searches for a nonverbal syntax for child therapists while Sabine Trautmann-Voigt puts the reader in the middle of her treatment room where one sees again how psychoanalysis and movement do match and widen the scope of treatment approaches. Joseph Lichtcnberg and Theo Dorpat contribute highly original, creative hypotheses which should make many more patients “treatable.” How to use all this information? Supposing psychoanalytically oriented therapists wish to acknowledge the importance of observing and “translating” the language of the body by incorporating it into their interpretive work: Must they then abandon their technique and become dance movement therapists as well? I hardly think so. Optimally, such colleagues would expose themselves to workshops in which they could “observe with their bodies” what might have been hitherto hidden from their inner view of themselves. Or they might elect to work with a dance movement therapist who will take care of the movement needs of their patients. This can easily produce a split transference unless one is vigilant about interpreting the transference. Dance movement therapists obviously are skilled in the uses of their motility but not all of them know how to keep the analytic dialogue alive. Patients can have sc much “fun” in their movement sessions that they use this as their