How I Found Dance/Movement Therapy

I found dance/movement therapy (or should I say it found me) in my first year of university. I had gone into my first year with the goal of becoming an ultrasound technician and as a result was in an intensive science program at the University of Alberta. I had moved from Ontario to Edmonton to attend this program as throughout high school when anyone asked, "what do you want to be when you grow up?" I always replied with an ultrasound tech.

After struggling through a year full of biology, chemistry, organic chemistry, physics etc. I realized this was not what I wanted to do and would not be happy pursuing this career. Well now what? Time to find another career. A career that would allow me to look forward to going to work everyday and I knew it would not be a desk job.

I had heard of music therapy and wondered if there was something similar involving dance. I had danced all my life at a studio in my home town and loved it. I knew I would never be a prima ballerina as I didn't have the technique or the body and that was fine with me. My studio was in the basement of a church with no mirrors and in my high school years I was the only one in my class. My teacher was and still is a teacher who built up confidence in her students, was there to listen if we needed an ear and made sure we took good care of our bodies. It was never (and probably never will be) a studio who goes into competition. It is a studio where parents feel good about taking their kids and the kids always looked forward to class. Dance became a release for me and a place to go when there was nowhere else.

After doing a quick Google search I found and was introduced to the world of dance/movement therapy. As someone who has always had a passion for working with people and dance this was the new career for me.  Now the next question...how do I become a dance/movement therapist?

Introduction

My first post as a blogger...still trying to figure out what that means but bear with me. The goal of this new endeavour is to document how I will become a registered dance movement therapist and to hopefully inspire other Canadians to take the journey as well.

Living in Canada and wanting to be a dance movement therapist proves to be a difficult position to be in. With no universities or programs currently offered within the country, specifically for dance movement therapy, some (like me) can become discouraged and frustrated trying to sift through all the sites and information on how to work your way through the process while staying in Canada. It's fine to say attend a school abroad but when studying abroad is so expensive it isn't always an option.

This is my journey, my dance, my information that I have found and what I understand to be true. Welcome aboard!