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Guide VIII-096

Danzaterapia (María Fux)

Maria FuxBuenos Aires, Argentina
A 28 · L 25 · M 4721 interventions in the Trinity explorer
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[source: …] where a claim comes from[uncertain] not confirmed in a primary source[synthesis] the writer's reconstruction

1. Introduction

Version followed: the Método María Fux ("danzaterapia y creatividad") as described in Fux's own books, which I reached through a publisher preview of Ser danzaterapeuta hoy (Portuguese edition) and through secondary sources that quote her books with page numbers, plus the three-year certification now run in her name (2022 description) and its Italian practice (Veneto, 2021–22). No Spanish edition of her books is drawn on in full, so procedural detail comes from people who studied or trained with her. [source: Fux, Ser dançaterapeuta hoje, preview; Valé Madeo 2001; Barbozza da Silva 2022; Mariutto 2022; El Litoral 2022]

María Fux (Buenos Aires, 2 January 1922 – 31 July 2023) was an Argentine dancer and choreographer, trained with Ekatherina Galanta and Martha Graham. She ran her studio on Avenida Callao in Buenos Aires, which her granddaughter Irene Aschero now directs. [source: Wikipedia, María Fux; UNSAM master's thesis 2024] Her teaching began with a deaf four-year-old girl, first one-to-one and then inside a group of hearing children, using sound, visual and tactile stimuli and improvisation. [source: Barbozza da Silva & Damasceno 2021, pp. 74–75, citing Fux 1983] She went on to run mixed ("integrative") groups in which deaf people, people with Down syndrome, people with motor impairments, people with depression or loneliness, older people and non-disabled adults dance together. She trained physiotherapists, occupational and speech therapists, psychologists, teachers and dancers in Argentina, Italy (from 1976), Spain and Brazil. [source: Barbozza da Silva 2022, p. 598; Mariutto 2022, p. 18; Valé Madeo 2001, p. 37; Wikipedia]

What it is: a creative-dance method based on improvisation from a stimulus (a word, an image, a piece of music, silence, a colour or an object), run in heterogeneous groups. Improvisation is described as its only technique, but not free or arbitrary: the room, the sound, the silence and the other dancers shape each movement. [source: UNSAM thesis 2024] Fux herself said "Yo no hago terapia" and that she aimed to "estimular las potencialidades que existen en el otro"; she preferred to speak of change, not cure: "Yo nunca hablo de curar, sino de cambiar." [source: Valé Madeo 2001, p. 41; Fux 2004, p. 13, quoted in UNSAM thesis 2024] She often called it simply "Danza Creativa" or "Danza". [source: UNSAM thesis 2024]

How change happens (as her sources put it): each person meets their own limit in movement and turns it into creative material rather than a barrier; through non-imitated movement that belongs to them, in a group that does not judge, people regain sensation, energy and the ability to communicate. Change is described as bodily, emotional and imaginative. [source: Valé Madeo 2001, pp. 39–41; Mariutto 2022, pp. 12, 20–21; Barbozza da Silva 2022, pp. 596–597]

For a psychotherapist: this is a dance-pedagogy method with therapeutic aims, not a psychotherapy with a theory of psychopathology, assessment or interpretation. Use it as a movement component alongside your own clinical frame, not as a replacement for it. [synthesis]

2. Framework

No formal phase model. None of the sources describes treatment phases, session counts or criteria for moving on. Fux's books are organised as a sequence of experiences (in Después de la caída: internal and external spaces; immobilisation of limbs; limits; elastics; tenderness; cords; form and colour; strong and light forces; my skin; body writing; accents and impulses; falls with recovery; auditory memories), not as stages. [source: Barbozza da Silva 2022, p. 598] Two authors who trained with her say she did not create a fixed method and that it "can be reinterpreted". [source: Valé Madeo 2001, p. 40; Barbozza da Silva & Damasceno 2021, p. 73] The structure below is what the sources do describe, plus my own clinical scaffolding marked [synthesis].

Format (as practised).

  • Ongoing groups: weekly classes of about one hour, keeping the same group across the year. One-off seminars last about two hours. [source: Mariutto 2022, pp. 33–34, Italian practice]
  • Mixed groups across abilities, ages and diagnoses, with no separation by level; everyone in the room dances, staff included. [source: UNSAM thesis 2024; Barbozza da Silva 2022, p. 598]
  • Small children (3–5): groups of four or five. [source: Barbozza da Silva & Damasceno 2021, p. 79, citing Fux 1983, p. 77]
  • Individual work exists (e.g. her first deaf pupil started one-to-one), followed by entry into a group. [source: Barbozza da Silva & Damasceno 2021, pp. 74–75]

Session shape. Each class has its own beginning, middle and end, and Fux prepared it the way she prepared a performance. [source: Lima 2021, p. 204] One stimulus, chosen beforehand, carries the whole session; the leader rehearses the music and the stimulus first and changes course according to the group's mood. [source: Mariutto 2022, pp. 13, 34–35] Usual music: one or two pieces, repeated many times. [source: Lima 2021, p. 205] A working template [synthesis, built from the above]:

  1. Arrival and grounding (floor contact, breath, slow movement of each body part).
  2. Introduction of the stimulus (word, image, object, colour, music or silence).
  3. Guided improvisation with the leader dancing alongside, then in pairs, small groups or solos watched by the group.
  4. Repetition and development of what emerged.
  5. Closing (slowing down; a brief spoken or non-verbal round if your clinical frame needs one). Note: the sources do not describe a verbal sharing phase in Fux's own sessions [source: Mariutto 2022, p. 8 contrasts her with Chace on this point]; any verbal processing is your addition. [synthesis]

Clinical scaffolding for a psychotherapist [synthesis throughout]:

  • Before starting: medical clearance for movement (the Fux certification itself asks trainees for a medical certificate [source: El Litoral 2022]); falls history, joint and cardiac limits, epilepsy, pregnancy, hearing or vision aids; trauma history including experiences of touch, restraint and body shaming; consent to the group, to being watched and to any touch.
  • Phase A, settling (about sessions 1–4): solo work in one's own space, no partner contact, simple stimuli. Move on when the client can follow a stimulus, stop at will and tolerate being seen.
  • Phase B, extending (about sessions 5–12): pairs and small groups, objects that link people (elastics, cords, cloths), contrast work (strong and light, fast and slow). Move on when the client uses their limit creatively rather than freezing or forcing, and can stay with others.
  • Phase C, creating and integrating: solos in front of the group, group compositions, themes with emotional charge, and linking movement experience to therapy goals in your verbal sessions.
  • Ending: name the end in advance; a last session that repeats a familiar stimulus.

Training and professional frame.

  • The Método María Fux certification lasts three years: 12 weekend intensive seminars of 12 hours (three a year), 135 hours of regular practical classes (45 a year) and three online theory modules (23 hours). Entry needs secondary schooling and a medical certificate. An optional further year of supervised teaching with the Buenos Aires group, and a year of supervision with your own groups, follow. Seminars in 2022 were taught by Sonia López with Irene Aschero and Mónica GRS. [source: El Litoral 2022] Graduates are certified as danzaterapeutas of the method by the Estudio María Fux. [source: UNSAM thesis 2024; El Litoral 2022]
  • This is a private method certification. The sources contain no statement that danzaterapia is a state-regulated health profession in Argentina. [uncertain]
  • Elsewhere the protected title is usually "dance/movement therapist": in the USA, ADTA members and R-DMT or BC-DMT credential holders must follow the ADTA Code of Ethics [source: ADTA ethics page]; in Europe, EADMT member associations work to protect the title [source: EADMT Ethical Code, 2.2]; in the UK the body is ADMP UK [uncertain]. A Fux certificate does not confer these credentials. [synthesis]
  • Do not call your work "danzaterapia (Método María Fux)" without that certification. A psychotherapist without dance or DMT training can use simple stimulus-based movement as an adjunct within their own competence, but should not run mixed-disability dance groups, fall or floor work with frail clients, or touch-based work without training and co-leadership by a trained dance therapist. EADMT's code says not to use techniques beyond one's training. [source: EADMT Ethical Code, 4.9; synthesis]

3. Guiding principles

  • Each person's limit is the starting material. Practical meaning: invite movement inside what the body can do today; pain is a signal to slow down, never to push. Fux: "Não tenha pressa!" ("don't hurry"). [source: Barbozza da Silva 2022, p. 597, citing Fux 2005, p. 17; Valé Madeo 2001, p. 39; Mariutto 2022, pp. 12, 34–35]
  • No split between healthy and sick. Practical meaning: do not segregate by diagnosis; look for what each person can do, not for deficits. Fux: "no existe lo sano o lo enfermo". [source: Valé Madeo 2001, p. 40; Barbozza da Silva 2022, p. 598]
  • Movement of one's own, not imitation. Practical meaning: you may show a movement, but never demand an exact copy; praise personal variants. [source: Valé Madeo 2001, p. 41; Lima 2021, pp. 200, 208–209]
  • There is no ideal body for dancing. Practical meaning: no technique, steps or aesthetic standard; no comments on how a movement looks. [source: Lima 2021, p. 201; Mariutto 2022, p. 37]
  • The leader is a bridge who dances, not a teacher above the group. Practical meaning: dance with the group, sit on the floor as one of them, and adjust stimuli until communication is possible. Fux: "Sentei-me no chão como mais uma do grupo" (Portuguese edition). [source: Barbozza da Silva & Damasceno 2021, p. 79, citing Fux 1983, p. 43; Mariutto 2022, pp. 27, 37; Valé Madeo 2001, p. 40]
  • Giving rather than teaching. Practical meaning: offer what you yourself are discovering about your own limits; your own movement honesty matters more than instruction. [source: Fux, Ser dançaterapeuta hoje, preview, p. 14; UNSAM thesis 2024, citing Fux 2004, p. 17]
  • Silence can be danced, and rhythm lives inside the body. Practical meaning: music is optional; breath, heartbeat and inner rhythm are always available, which is what makes the work open to deaf people. [source: Valé Madeo 2001, p. 42; Fux, Ser dançaterapeuta hoje, preview, p. 13; UNSAM thesis 2024]
  • The stimulus guides; the group creates. Practical meaning: plan one clear stimulus, then follow what the group does with it rather than a script. [source: Mariutto 2022, pp. 13, 34–35; Lima 2021, p. 204]
  • Give time. Practical meaning: adults and stiff bodies need longer to perceive themselves and respond; use slow, continuous movement and repeat music many times. [source: Barbozza da Silva & Damasceno 2021, pp. 82–83; Lima 2021, pp. 205–207]
  • Play and humour. Practical meaning: frame the class as a symbolic game; humour and imagery lower self-consciousness. [source: Lima 2021, p. 210]
  • Choose your own materials. Practical meaning: use music and objects you know and love; the leader's personal relationship with the stimulus carries it. [source: Barbozza da Silva 2022, p. 600; Mariutto 2022, pp. 34–35]
  • No age limit to expression. Practical meaning: older and very young people are full participants, not a modified audience. Fux: "Para expressar-se não há limites de idade" (Portuguese edition). [source: Barbozza da Silva & Damasceno 2021, p. 82, citing Fux 1983, p. 93]
  • Non-judgement and acceptance. Practical meaning: relationships rest on acceptance of whatever movement comes. [source: Mariutto 2022, p. 37; Fux, Ser dançaterapeuta hoje, preview, p. 8 (prologue by Ignesti)]
  • No interpretation. Practical meaning: Fux did not interpret movement; if you bring a psychotherapeutic reading, keep it out of the dance and ask, rather than tell, in your own sessions. [source: Valé Madeo 2001, p. 41; synthesis for the second half]

4. Intervention inventory

The sources describe stimuli and ways of organising the group rather than numbered techniques. Where they name a practice but give no procedure, the steps below are my own, marked [synthesis]. Fux's own wording appears only as short cited quotes; all other therapist language is illustrative.

4.0 Preparing the room, touch consent and fall safety (before every session)

  • Purpose: make improvisation physically and relationally safe. None of the Fux sources gives touch or falls rules, so this block is built from the EADMT ethics code and general practice. [source: EADMT Ethical Code 3.3, 4.5, 4.11, 4.12; synthesis]
  • Steps, space [synthesis]: clear furniture and sharp edges; non-slip floor, swept; bare feet or non-slip socks, no socks on polished floors; chairs at the edge for anyone who needs to sit, and a chair-based option for every stimulus; mark out a personal area per person if the group is large; plan space for wheelchairs and walkers to move without crossing fast movers; light enough for lip-reading and sign; outdoors (used in summer in the Italian groups [source: Mariutto 2022, p. 34]) check ground, shade and heat. EADMT requires a setting that is "safe, clean and appropriate". [source: EADMT 3.3]
  • Steps, falls [synthesis]: before the first session ask about falls, dizziness, osteoporosis, joint replacements, epilepsy, blood pressure and medication that affects balance; keep travelling movement slow for anyone at risk; teach "lowering to the floor" as a controlled sit-down, never a drop; any floor work begins from sitting; no eyes-closed travelling for people with balance problems or visual impairment; pair a blind participant with a guide for travelling work (a blind girl lost her balance and fell during an exercise in one documented group [source: Mariutto 2022, p. 30]). Know your service's first-aid and post-fall procedure.
  • Steps, touch consent [synthesis, following EADMT 4.11–4.12]: (1) at intake, ask about touch preferences and anything that makes touch unsafe (trauma, sensory sensitivity, cultural or religious norms); (2) at the start of each session, state that all contact is optional and can go through an object (elastic, cord, cloth) instead of the body; (3) agree a simple stop signal that works without hearing (raised palm, stepping out to the edge) and teach it in sign or gesture for deaf members; (4) before any partner contact, ask the pair to check with each other, and offer the object option first; (5) limit contact to hands, forearms, shoulders and upper back; never chest, buttocks, genital area or face, and never sexual touch [source: EADMT 4.5 prohibits any sexual behaviour with a client]; (6) the leader never initiates touch without asking in that moment, even if consent was given earlier, because consent can be withdrawn at any time [source: EADMT 4.12]; (7) watch for freezing, holding breath or a fixed smile as signs of non-consent; (8) for children and adults who cannot give informed consent, get carer consent, seek the person's assent each time and respect any sign of refusal.
  • Hearing safety for music [synthesis]: keep volume moderate in small rooms; offer a quieter corner; check hearing aids can tolerate the level; for deaf members, vibration through a wooden floor or a drum is useful but avoid very loud bass to create it.
  • Example language (illustrative): "Everything today is an invitation. If you want to stop, raise your hand or step to the wall; nobody will ask why." / "If we work in pairs, you can hold the elastic instead of a hand."
  • Watch for: anyone moving faster than their balance allows, competing to keep up, or not using the stop signal when clearly uncomfortable.

4.1 Stimulus-led improvisation (the core session)

  • Purpose: the basic unit of the method. One stimulus (word, image, music, silence, colour or object) is chosen in advance and carries the whole session; participants improvise their own movement in response. [source: Mariutto 2022, pp. 13, 34–35; UNSAM thesis 2024; Valé Madeo 2001, p. 40]
  • Steps: (1) choose one stimulus you personally connect with and rehearse the music and your own movement with it beforehand [source: Mariutto 2022, pp. 34–35; Barbozza da Silva 2022, p. 600]; (2) open the session with slow, continuous movement and slowed time [source: Lima 2021, pp. 206–207]; (3) present the stimulus with words and your own movement together ("Impulso a todo el grupo con palabras y movimientos") [source: Valé Madeo 2001, p. 40]; (4) dance with the group, offering a movement as a model without asking for an exact copy [source: Lima 2021, pp. 208–209]; (5) vary the spatial organisation (see 4.10); (6) repeat and develop; (7) close with a clear end. Adapt on the spot to the group's mood. [source: Mariutto 2022, p. 35]
  • Example language (illustrative): "Today we start from one word: water. Don't show me water. Let your body find how water moves in you."
  • Watch for: people copying you exactly (gently offer a second, different version so there is no single right answer); people standing still (stillness is allowed; invite a smaller movement such as a hand or breath). Working: movements become more personal and varied across the session.

4.2 Word stimuli ("palabras madres")

  • Purpose: words that evoke images and become movement; useful for any group with spoken or signed language, and for building symbolic capacity. [source: Valé Madeo 2001, pp. 40–41; Mariutto 2022, pp. 25–27]
  • Steps: (1) choose a simple, image-rich word (examples reported: "raíces", "agua", "pájaro") [source: Valé Madeo 2001, p. 40]; (2) say it slowly, perhaps several times; (3) let each person move the image; (4) use the word as sound too: onomatopoeia or a sung word [source: Mariutto 2022, pp. 25–27]; (5) pair words as opposites. Fux's early pair for contraction and extension was "inside me" and "outside me", later developed into short poems. [source: Barbozza da Silva & Damasceno 2021, p. 79, citing Fux 1983, p. 43]
  • Example language (illustrative): "Inside me... let everything gather in. Outside me... let it open into the room."
  • Watch for: words with personal charge ("home", "mother", "fire") in trauma groups; choose neutral nature words early. Working: people start offering their own words. [synthesis for the last two sentences]

4.3 Music: one or two pieces, repeated

  • Purpose: music as main content or as support for another stimulus; repetition lets the body learn the music and deepen the response. [source: Lima 2021, p. 205; Mariutto 2022, pp. 13, 26, 37]
  • Steps: (1) pick one or two pieces; (2) first listen without moving, attending to rhythm, instruments and the tone of the voice [source: Lima 2021, p. 205]; (3) play it again and move; (4) repeat many times, each time with a new focus (one body part, a different level, a partner); (5) contrast music with silence.
  • Example language (illustrative): "Just listen first. Which instrument do you follow? Now let only that one move you."
  • Watch for: music with strong personal associations (funerals, partners, war); volume. Working: movement changes across repetitions rather than repeating.

4.4 Dancing silence and inner rhythm

  • Purpose: rhythm without sound, from breath, heartbeat and circulation; the bridge that made the method open to deaf people, and a way to counterpoint inner states. Fux: "el silencio puede ser danzado". [source: Valé Madeo 2001, p. 42; Mariutto 2022, pp. 20, 22, 26; Fux, Ser dançaterapeuta hoje, preview, p. 13]
  • Steps: (1) stop all sound; (2) feel breath, then the pulse, with hands on chest or wrist; (3) let one body part move to that inner rhythm; (4) spread it to the whole body; (5) ask each person to find "their rhythm" and build it in movement within a set time (Fux asked a deaf dancer exactly this) [source: Fux, preview, p. 13]; (6) improvise with eyes closed only if balance and safety allow [source: Barbozza da Silva 2022, p. 599 reports eyes-closed improvisation with breath and everyday rhythms; safety caveat is synthesis].
  • Example language (illustrative): "No music now. Listen inside. What rhythm is already moving in you?"
  • Watch for: silence can raise anxiety or dissociation in trauma survivors; keep eyes open as default and give a concrete anchor (feet on floor). [synthesis] Working: people sustain movement without external sound.

4.5 Rhythm through image, vibration and the leader's body (deaf and hard-of-hearing participants)

  • Purpose: replace sound with visual and kinaesthetic channels. [source: Valé Madeo 2001, pp. 41–42; Mariutto 2022, pp. 26–27]
  • Steps: (1) work with vibration: voice and sound felt through the body and the floor [source: Mariutto 2022, p. 26]; (2) show rhythm visually through images; Fux said deaf girls "discovered rhythm through the image" [source: Página/12, 20 Nov 2009]; (3) project slides of abstract paintings (lines, colours, shapes) in place of music [source: Valé Madeo 2001, p. 42]; (4) use coloured objects (cloth, elastics, crepe paper, balloons) [source: Mariutto 2022, p. 27]; (5) dance in their line of sight so your movement carries the stimulus ("Danzo per loro", Italian edition) [source: Mariutto 2022, p. 27]; (6) mix deaf and hearing dancers in the same group [source: Barbozza da Silva 2022, p. 598].
  • Example language (illustrative, signed or gestured): show a slow wave with the arm, point to the floor, place a hand flat on it, then show the wave again.
  • Watch for: unclear sightlines; reliance on one interpreter; hearing participants dominating. Use visual start and stop signals. [synthesis] Working: deaf participants generate rhythms of their own rather than following yours.

4.6 Form and colour

  • Purpose: colour as a stimulus that extends the body's form into movement and space; developed with deaf groups. Form here means the body's own volume and structure, not a shape to copy. [source: Barbozza da Silva 2022, pp. 599–600, citing Fux 2005, pp. 44, 56]
  • Steps: (1) start in silence, creating shapes with the body; (2) give each person a piece of coloured crepe paper ("our colour" in Fux's account) [source: Fux 2005, p. 44, via Barbozza da Silva 2022]; (3) let the colour lead the shape outward into movement and into the room; (4) variant: a group dressed in white moves while abstract slides are projected on them [source: Fux 2005, p. 56, via Barbozza da Silva 2022].
  • Example language (illustrative): "Hold your colour. Where does it want to go? Let it take your arm into the room."
  • Watch for: projected light and flicker in people with photosensitive epilepsy [synthesis]. Working: the colour visibly changes quality of movement (speed, size, level).

4.7 Objects: elastics, cords, cloths, balloons, canes, hoops, paper

  • Purpose: tactile, visual and sound cues that support sensory introspection and link people without direct touch. Objects reported: canes, cloths, balls, hoops, ribbons, elastics, balloons, thread, paper, bamboo cane, newspaper. Fux's books have whole chapters on elastics and on cords. [source: Valé Madeo 2001, p. 42; Mariutto 2022, pp. 12, 25, 27, 35–36; Barbozza da Silva 2022, p. 598]
  • Steps [synthesis: the sources list the objects but the chapters describing how Fux used elastics and cords are not drawn on]: (1) introduce one object only; (2) explore it alone first (weight, sound, texture); (3) move with it; (4) connect two or more people through it (an elastic held between partners lets each feel the other's pull without touching); (5) let the object be dropped at any moment.
  • Example language (illustrative): "Feel how the elastic answers you. Now find a partner and let the elastic be the conversation between you."
  • Watch for: elastics snapping back at faces (hold at chest height, release slowly, never stretch near eyes); balloons and latex allergy; cords and cloths around necks (never); canes swung near others. [synthesis] Working: partners adjust to each other's pull, showing attunement.

4.8 Working with the limit (including immobilisation of limbs)

  • Purpose: the method's central move. Each person discovers what their body can do today and makes that limit the material of the dance; limitations are included in the movement, not set aside. [source: Valé Madeo 2001, p. 39; Mariutto 2022, pp. 12, 26, 34–35; Barbozza da Silva 2022, p. 597] Después de la caída has chapters on "limits" and on "immobilisation of limbs". [source: Barbozza da Silva 2022, p. 598]
  • Steps [synthesis: the chapter text is not drawn on, so the procedure is mine]: (1) invite everyone to find what moves easily and what does not; (2) ask people to dance with only the part that moves easily; (3) optionally, everyone voluntarily "immobilises" one limb (holds an arm still against the body) so able-bodied members meet a limit too; (4) let the still part become part of the shape; (5) release and notice. Never physically restrain anyone, never use ties, and never ask someone to immobilise a limb they rely on for balance.
  • Example language (illustrative): "Your limit isn't a wall, it's where your dance starts. If something hurts, slow down. There's no hurry." (echoing Fux's "Não tenha pressa!" [source: Fux 2005, p. 17, via Barbozza da Silva 2022])
  • Watch for: pushing through pain; shame about a disability; for trauma survivors, holding a limb still can recall restraint, so make it fully optional and short. [synthesis] Working: people use their limits inventively, and able-bodied members stop treating disabled members as the only ones with limits.

4.9 Strong and light forces

  • Purpose: experience two contrasting qualities fully, using music to evoke each. Fux paired a strong force with a powerful voice (a Senegalese composer) and a light force with a soft voice (an American singer). [source: Barbozza da Silva 2022, pp. 598–599, citing Fux 2005, p. 47]
  • Version note: Fux labelled these "masculine" and "feminine" forces; a 2022 reviewer criticises this as binary. Use "strong" and "light" (Laban's weight factor, which a trainee of Fux links to her work) [source: Lima 2021, pp. 206–207]. [synthesis for the recommendation]
  • Steps [steps partly synthesis]: (1) play the strong music; move with weight, pressing into the floor; (2) play the light music; move with lightness; (3) alternate; (4) let each person find both qualities in one movement.
  • Example language (illustrative): "Let the floor take all your weight... now let your arms become as light as the voice."
  • Watch for: strong-force work turning into stamping or aggression in people with poor impulse control; keep it within the person's own space. Working: both qualities become available, rather than one habitual quality.

4.10 Space: inner and outer space, "touching" space, five spatial organisations

  • Purpose: use the room as a concrete partner; Fux's teaching includes the image that the space moves and that "we touch the space". [source: Lima 2021, p. 208; Mariutto 2022, pp. 27–28, 34–35] Después de la caída opens with "internal and external spaces". [source: Barbozza da Silva 2022, p. 598]
  • Five spatial organisations described by a trainee [source: Lima 2021, p. 206]: (a) small groups that dance while the others watch; (b) alternating high and low levels; (c) solos in the middle of the room; (d) moving within one's own kinesphere (the reach of the body); (e) using the whole room.
  • Steps: start in the kinesphere; extend to travelling in the whole room; use small-group-and-watchers to build tolerance for being seen; solos only when people volunteer. Work with the floor and contact with the ground is central. [source: Mariutto 2022, pp. 27–28; sequencing is synthesis]
  • Example language (illustrative): "Touch the air around you as if it had a surface. Now let that surface move you."
  • Watch for: level changes and floor work in older or frail people (lower via a chair; no rapid up-and-down); collisions when the whole room is used (set direction, or half the group moves while half watches). [synthesis] Working: people use more of the room and tolerate being watched.

4.11 Image and group themes

  • Purpose: a shared image or theme organises the group's improvisation. Reported examples: making fire "vibrate" through imagery, peace as the central theme of a class, and war, using cloth that covers the face. [source: Fux, Ser dançaterapeuta hoje, preview, p. 12] Animal images for slow and fast tempo with children. [source: Barbozza da Silva & Damasceno 2021, p. 79]
  • Steps [synthesis]: (1) name the image; (2) each person finds it alone; (3) the group builds one shared form (a fire, a field); (4) dissolve it slowly.
  • Example language (illustrative): "Together we're one fire. Some of you are the flames, some the embers. Let it rise... and slowly go out."
  • Watch for: charged themes (war, fire, covered faces) can trigger refugees, combat veterans, burn survivors or people with histories of hooding or captivity; screen and offer an alternative role (watcher, witness) or choose neutral themes. Never cover the face of someone who has not chosen it. [synthesis] Working: a shared image forms without the leader directing each person.

4.12 Symbolic play: exchanging sound and movement

  • Purpose: build expressive capacity by translating between channels, e.g. answering a sound with a movement or a movement with a sound. [source: Valé Madeo 2001, pp. 42–43]
  • Steps [synthesis]: (1) the leader makes a sound (clap, voice, drum); (2) the group answers with a movement; (3) reverse: someone moves and the group answers with a sound or a clap; (4) pass the leader role around.
  • Example language (illustrative): "I'll give you a sound; you give me back a movement."
  • Watch for: for deaf members, use visible or vibrating sounds (drum on the floor). Working: answers become playful and inventive.

4.13 Mirrors

  • Purpose: a mirror used in work with people affected by polio, letting them see and develop their movement. [source: Mariutto 2022, pp. 28–29] The procedure is not described in the sources. [uncertain]
  • Steps [synthesis]: use a wall mirror for short periods to explore a movement from the weaker side; invite curiosity, not correction.
  • Watch for: body-image distress (eating disorders, disfigurement, burns); offer the mirror as optional. Fux included a child with burns by letting him take part in a full-body costume. [source: Mariutto 2022, p. 29]

4.14 Young children (about 3–5 years)

  • Purpose: body awareness and group play. [source: Barbozza da Silva & Damasceno 2021, p. 79, citing Fux 1983, p. 77; Mariutto 2022, p. 22]
  • Steps: (1) groups of four or five children; (2) first part: body awareness through games and songs (left and right, front and back, where things are in space); (3) second part: group improvisation with animal images to explore slow and fast; (4) do not leave small children to improvise alone ("Não os faço improvisar sozinhos") [source: Fux 1983, p. 77, via Barbozza da Silva & Damasceno 2021]; (5) further reported elements: wide movements and stretching, drawing the body from the feet up, an imaginary rope for balance, songs and hand sounds. [source: Mariutto 2022, p. 22]
  • Example language (illustrative): "Let's walk on our imaginary rope... careful, careful... now a slow elephant... now a fast mouse!"
  • Watch for: safeguarding (see section 5); parents' consent and the child's assent; overexcitement in the fast phase. Working: children move between slow and fast and play together.

4.15 Adolescents and adults

  • Purpose: reconnect with the body through improvisation and short phrases. [source: Mariutto 2022, p. 23; Barbozza da Silva & Damasceno 2021, pp. 80–83]
  • Steps: adolescents begin with music, then work with silence, words and percussion, aiming to express emotion and create new movement [source: Barbozza da Silva & Damasceno 2021, pp. 80–81]; adults need more time to perceive themselves and respond, moving from stiffness to improvisation more slowly than younger people [source: same, pp. 82–83].
  • Example language (illustrative): "Take as long as you need. The first movement can be tiny."
  • Watch for: self-consciousness in adolescents (use small-group-and-watchers, humour); stiffness and pain in adults. Working: improvisation lengthens and needs fewer prompts.

4.16 Blind and visually impaired participants

  • Purpose: build trust in space so that contracted bodies can open. [source: Mariutto 2022, pp. 29–30]
  • Steps [synthesis beyond the source's summary]: orient the person to the room by walking its edges; describe the stimulus in words and through objects and sound; guided exploration with a sighted partner who offers an arm (with consent) rather than holding the person; keep travelling slow; keep the floor clear.
  • Watch for: falls (see 4.0 and the documented fall in this group [source: Mariutto 2022, p. 30]). Working: the person moves further from the wall and with less guarding.

4.17 Older adults, including people with Parkinson's

  • Purpose: confidence, independence and memory "awakened through body rhythm". [source: UCM journal page, Arte, Individuo y Sociedad 1999, excerpt on Fux; the passage's own authorship was not identifiable, so treat as [uncertain]] Italian practitioners report Fux-method groups with older people with Parkinson's. [source: Mariutto 2022, p. 38]
  • Steps [synthesis]: chair-based versions of every stimulus; rhythmic work from breath and clapping before travelling; familiar music for memory; standing work near a chair or wall; no fast turns, no eyes-closed travelling, no floor descents unless assessed. For Parkinson's, use as an adjunct to medical and physiotherapy care, never instead of it.
  • Example language (illustrative): "You can do all of this sitting. If you stand, keep a hand near your chair."
  • Watch for: dizziness, freezing of gait, fatigue, low blood pressure on standing. Working: more initiative and enjoyment; independence carried into daily life (ask carers).

4.18 Falls with recovery

  • Purpose: Después de la caída (After the fall) has a chapter on falls with recovery, and its title refers to Fux continuing to dance after a fall of her own [source: Barbozza da Silva 2022, p. 598; the personal reference is a reading of the title, [uncertain]]. This chapter is not drawn on here; its procedure is [uncertain].
  • Steps [synthesis, safety-first]: in therapy groups, teach only controlled lowering and getting up: lower via a chair or kneeling to sitting, roll to the side, come back up through kneeling with a hand on a chair. No falling, dropping or catching between participants. Suitable only for people cleared for floor work; never for people with osteoporosis, recent surgery, uncontrolled epilepsy or severe balance disorders without physiotherapy advice.
  • Example language (illustrative): "We won't fall today; we'll practise going down slowly and coming back up. That is the part that matters."
  • Watch for: anxiety about falling (it can be the clinical point: rehearsing getting up builds confidence); pain. Working: people get up more easily and with less fear.

4.19 Auditory memories

  • Purpose: inner memory of sounds (voices, sea, wind) as a stimulus even in silence; a chapter of Después de la caída. [source: Fux, Ser dançaterapeuta hoje, preview, p. 13; Barbozza da Silva 2022, p. 598]
  • Steps [synthesis]: in silence, invite people to recall a sound from nature, let one part of the body move it, then the whole body.
  • Watch for: recalled voices may be painful (bereaved or traumatised people); suggest nature sounds and let people choose not to share. Working: movement in silence becomes specific and sustained.

4.20 Named practices whose procedures are not drawn on

Fux's Después de la caída also contains chapters on tenderness, "my skin", body writing, and accents and impulses. [source: Barbozza da Silva 2022, p. 598] Their content is not drawn on, and no steps are given for them. [uncertain] Note that "tenderness" and "my skin" may involve touch: if you train in them, apply every step in 4.0. [synthesis]

5. Handling problems

The Fux sources say little about clinical difficulties beyond patience, limits and intuition (she describes relying on intuition in difficult or unfamiliar situations [source: Fux, Ser dançaterapeuta hoje, preview, p. 15]). Most of what follows is my own guidance, marked [synthesis].

  • A participant will not move or stands at the edge. Fux's principle of time applies: adults need longer to perceive themselves. [source: Barbozza da Silva & Damasceno 2021, pp. 82–83] Offer the smallest possible movement (breath, a finger), a chair, the watcher role in the small-group-and-watchers format, or an object to hold. Do not single them out. Stillness is a valid response. [synthesis]
  • Copying the leader or a "star" dancer. Show two different versions of the same idea; dance with your back to the group for a moment; praise differences rather than accuracy. [source: non-imitation principle, Valé Madeo 2001, p. 41; responses are synthesis]
  • Highly skilled dancers or professionals who stay "in technique". Fux observed that people with greater difficulties often respond better and gifted people may need more time to become sensitive to the body. [source: Valé Madeo 2001, p. 40] Use silence, limb-immobilisation and slow-time work to take away habitual technique. [synthesis]
  • Mixed-ability tension (able-bodied members helping too much, taking over, or showing pity). Name the principle that everyone works from their own limit; give able-bodied members a limit of their own (4.8); rotate roles. [source: limit principle, Mariutto 2022, p. 12; responses synthesis]
  • Overwhelm, panic or dissociation. Stop the stimulus; bring everyone to a neutral, grounded movement (feet on floor, eyes open, naming what they see); give the overwhelmed person the edge of the room and a co-leader if available; afterwards, check in individually and adjust stimuli. Avoid eyes-closed work, silence for long periods, face-covering cloths and charged themes with trauma survivors until they are stable. [synthesis]
  • Touch-related distress or a breach (someone touches without consent). Stop the activity calmly; restate the consent rules and the stop signal; switch to object-mediated contact; speak privately with both people; record it and follow your service's incident procedure; if sexualised touch occurred, follow safeguarding procedures. [synthesis, consistent with EADMT 4.5, 4.11–4.12]
  • Falls or near-falls. Stop the group; do not rush to lift the person; follow first-aid and post-fall procedure; record; review that person's risk and the session design (travelling speed, eyes closed, level changes). [synthesis]
  • Pain. Treat pain as a signal to slow down, as Fux taught ("Não tenha pressa!") [source: Fux 2005, p. 17, via Barbozza da Silva 2022]; reduce range; refer for medical review if it persists. [synthesis for the last two parts]
  • Non-attendance or drop-out. Ongoing groups depend on continuity across the year. [source: Mariutto 2022, pp. 33–34] Explore barriers (transport, fatigue, embarrassment, pain) in your individual sessions; offer a shorter or seated way back in. [synthesis]
  • Rupture with the leader (feeling ridiculed, pushed, or ignored). Acknowledge it directly; apologise for what was yours; ask what would make the next session workable. Fux's humour is part of the method [source: Lima 2021, p. 210], but humour aimed at a person rather than at the shared game can feel like ridicule. [synthesis]
  • Communication gaps with deaf members. Agree visual signals; work with a sign-language interpreter positioned where the dancers can see both you and them; use image, colour and vibration rather than spoken instruction (4.5). [source: Valé Madeo 2001, pp. 41–42; interpreter guidance is synthesis]
  • Children and young people. Follow your jurisdiction's safeguarding and mandatory-reporting duties; get parental consent and the child's assent each session; keep two adults present; no unobserved one-to-one contact; never photograph or film without written consent (EADMT requires consent for recording and for public performance). [source: EADMT 4.7–4.8; rest synthesis] Do not read a child's movement or drawings in these sessions as evidence of abuse; report disclosures and observable concerns through normal safeguarding routes. [synthesis]
  • Performances. Fux's groups performed publicly, including deaf and disabled dancers. [source: Fux, Ser dançaterapeuta hoje, preview, p. 13] If your group performs, get separate informed consent and discuss likely consequences beforehand. [source: EADMT 4.7]
  • Expecting cure, or treating disease. Fux spoke of change, not cure. [source: Fux 2004, p. 13, via UNSAM thesis 2024] Do not present the method as treatment for deafness, Parkinson's or other conditions; it is an adjunct to medical and rehabilitation care. [synthesis]
  • Practising beyond competence. If you are not trained in the method or in dance movement therapy, keep to simple seated or standing stimulus work inside your own sessions and co-lead group work with a trained practitioner. [source: EADMT 4.9; synthesis]

Sources

Sources:

Books by María Fux (further reading, not drawn on in full; details as given by the sources above):

  • Fux, M. (1976). Danza, experiencia de vida y educación; Portuguese: Dança, experiência de vida (Summus, 1983). Wikipedia lists Danza, experiencia de vida as Paidós Ibérica, 1999, probably a later edition. [uncertain]
  • Fux, M. (1982). Primer encuentro con la danzaterapia. Paidós. Portuguese: Dançaterapia (1988).
  • Fux, M. (1997). La formación del danzaterapeuta. Gedisa. (Portuguese title given as 1996 by one source [uncertain])
  • Fux, M. (1998). Danzaterapia: fragmentos de vida. Lumen.
  • Fux, M. (2001). Después de la caída... ¡continúo con la danzaterapia! Lumen. Portuguese: Depois da queda... Dançaterapia! (Summus, 2005).
  • Fux, M. (2004 or 2005). Qué es la danzaterapia, preguntas que tienen respuesta (interview with Betina Bensignor). Lumen. Sources give 2004 and 2005. [uncertain]
  • Fux, M. (2007). Ser danzaterapeuta hoy. Lumen. (The Portuguese sample dates the text August 2006.)
  • Fux, M. (2009). Imágenes de la danzaterapia. Lumen.
  • Fux, M. (2013). El color es movimiento. Papers Editores.
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