The Relational-Expressive approach to Dance Movement Therapy relaunches the traditional social function of dance. As a matter of fact, since the dawn of civilization, people dance to renew the social bond, to nourish the well-being, to perform healing practices.

Systematized in the 90s by Vincenzo Bellia M.D., the Dmt-ER^® promotes the participation of individuals in the group and the evolution of the body image which is «primarily a social creation», according to Marian Chace.

Dmt-ER^® main references are Laban / Bartenieff Movement Studies, Group Analysis, and the Expression Primitive discipline. Above all, at the core of Dmt-ER^® we find dance, as creative play feeding any individual’s identity, enriching the community, harmonizing the individual and the environment. The way to develop your own Self is the other human being: this is the fundamental philosophy of Dmt-ER®, whence the method of establishing relational connections for any creative proposal.

Dance Movement Therapy was born in the 40s and today is supported by a solid theoretical and technical background. It is implemented in the well-being, in the social and educational fields and in several health-care sectors as complementary adjunctive clinical resource, for instance in psychiatric rehabilitation, in developmental either involutionary psychopathology, with disabilities.

In Italy, the legal reference for Dmt practice is the UNI standard 11592:2015, according to the law 4/2013. Nevertheless, DMT should refer to the laws and rules of each Country.

National and international professional associations, such as EADMT for Europe, promote the growth and the professional quality of DMT practices.