“Nope. Don’t Like That.” In Search Of Justice And Commitment To Nonmaleficence In Dance/Movement Therapy

Author

Johnee Border, Sarah Lawrence CollegeFollow

Date of Award

5-2023

Document Type

Thesis - Open Access

Degree Name

MS in Dance/Movement Therapy

First Advisor

Susan Orkand

Second Advisor

Elise Risher

Abstract

The American Dance Therapy Association (ADTA) and Dance/Movement Therapy Certification Board (DMTCB) have ensured those dance/movement therapists who have been educated, registered, and board-certified share a commitment to equity, justice, and nonmaleficence according to the ADTA and DMTCB’s Code of Ethics and Standards (The Code) (ADTA, 2015). “Nope. Don’t like that,” has been the actual, verbal, expression of the embodied experience of intersectional harm from a lack of assessed, decolonized dance/movement therapy practice and pedagogy. The ADTA, students, educators, and credentialed dance/movement therapists hold an established, ethical responsibility to justice and nonmaleficence, and as such, must demonstrate a commitment to the pedagogy and practice of assessment of intersectional cultural competence. The effort toward intersectional cultural competence has spanned decades (Chang, 2015), but has the effort been critically examined? Has dance/movement therapy sought to dismantle the oppressive systems in which White, Western culture has been rooted (Nichols, 2019)? Disrupting the status quo, dismantling White supremacy, and decolonizing dance/movement therapy has been the requirement to demonstrate commitment to justice, nonmaleficence, and The Code in the United States.

Keywords: race, intersectional cultural competence, dance/movement therapy, decolonization, social justice, intersectionality

Recommended Citation

Border, Johnee, "“Nope. Don’t Like That.” In Search Of Justice And Commitment To Nonmaleficence In Dance/Movement Therapy" (2023). Dance/Movement Therapy Theses. 91.
https://digitalcommons.slc.edu/dmt_etd/91