The Alternate Route training program offers classes in dance therapy approved by the American Dance Therapy Association (ADTA) and has been created with the 92nd Street Y Harknesss Centre. It is designed for dancers and health professionals who want to obtain the professional accreditation of Registered Dance/Movement Therapist, by the ADTA.
A unique program in Canada, it offers ADTA-approved dance therapy courses developed in partnership with the 92nd Street Y Harkness Dance Centre. Selected students will take 270 hours of classes taught by American and Canadian dance therapists recognized as pioneers in the field.
It is important to note that completing the Alternate Route won’t result immediately in the certification. Together with other criteria, this program allows to replace a master’s in dance therapy, not yet available in Canada.
The ADTA Dance/Movement Therapy Certification Board (DMTCB) delivers the Registered Dance/Movement Therapist (R-DMT) accreditation. To obtain this, you need to complete a master’s degree in dance therapy. Since this is currently unavailable in Canada, another option is to gather the following:
The Alternate Route is a private program equivalent to 27 master’s credits in dance therapy, for a total of 405 hours:
Course content:
This course is an introduction to the basic principles, techniques and methods of dance/movement therapy (DMT). Topics include symbolic aspects of the body, the physiological basis of emotion, movement from a developmental perspective, systematic movement observation, cultural differences in movement behavior, and the relation to dance. Movement experiences are derived from the abstraction of basic DMT processes.
This course is designed to introduce students to the basic concepts and vocabulary of movement analysis developed by Rudolf Laban, Irmgard Bartenieff, and their collaborators. The Laban Bartenieff Movement System (LBMS) is a comprehensive theoretical framework used in experiencing, observing, and describing movement with a clearly delineated language. As a system of movement analysis, LBMS is unique, as 1) it aims to identify both the qualitative and the quantitative aspects of movement; 2) it allows to explore significant connections between movement and intention or motivation. These connections provide insights into personal movement style and group patterns, fostering awareness of what and how movement communicates.
This course is an introduction to the theoretical foundations of Dance/Movement Therapy (DMT) as a profession. Theories of developmental psychology, psychotherapy, neuroscience, and movement pathology will be explored. Students will gain insights to their ability to relate to clients in movement and to understand DMT principles, treatment goals, session structures and clinical applications.
Details will be available by the end of summer.
Training dates:
2025 - June 16 to July 4
2026 - June 16 to July 4
2027 - June 15 to July 3
These dates are subject to change
One-time administration fees:
330$ plus taxes (file opening, non-refundable)
Annual tuition fees:
Quebec residents - $2150 plus taxes
Canadian students - $2520 plus taxes
International students - $2890 plus taxes
Our admission criteria are based on those of the closest organization delivering accreditation: the Dance/Movement Therapy Certification Board (DMTCB) of the American Dance Therapy Association (ADTA). These criteria are very similar to those of other international organizations.
We suggest that all those interested in the program consult the R-DMT Applicant Handbook.
*What is the required dance experience?
More than 5 years of dance experience can be acquired by completing a professional, university, or college program. It can also be obtained through cumulative participation in intensive workshops, master classes, or ongoing technical maintenance in intermediate and advanced level classes. This type of experience ensures an understanding of movement anatomy and technical expertise. In addition, mastery of two dance styles is essential. It guarantees a thorough technique, a varied vocabulary, and a sufficient movement repertoire to creatively adapt dance and movement interventions to the specific needs of participants. Finally, dance teaching experience is highly recommended and is a valuable asset for enriching the pedagogical aspects of dance therapy practice.
Zuzana Ševčíková is a board certified dance/movement therapist and drama therapist who holds degrees in physiotherapy and contemporary dance from the Czech Republic, her country of origin, and a Master's degree in drama therapy from Concordia University, Montreal. Zuzana also graduated from the Developmental Transformations Institute, Montreal, and is one of the first graduates of the dance therapy Alternate Route training program at the 92Y Harkness Dance Centre, New York City.
She is a co-founding member and a past President of Dance/Movement Therapy Association in Canada and a co-founding member and a board member of the Quebec Alliance of Creative Arts Therapists.
She works in elementary schools of the Lester B. Pearson school board in Montreal and works with people with Parkinson’s disease at Parkinson en movement.
Cecilia Fontanesi is a dancer, researcher, and somatic movement educator. She is a Certified Movement Analyst (CMA), Board Certified Dance/Movement Therapist (BC-DMT), and Registered Somatic Movement Educator (RSME), affiliated with the International Somatic Movement Education and Therapy Association (ISMETA).
Since 2018, she has been a faculty member at the Laban/Bartenieff Institute of Movement Studies (LIMS, New York), where she teaches Laban/Bartenieff Movement Analysis. Her work bridges dance, neuroscience, functional anatomy, and somatic practices.
She teaches Contact Improvisation, partnering, Release technique, and floor work, emphasizing embodied intelligence and movement observation.
Cecilia regularly teaches at the 92Y Harkness Dance Center in New York, offering courses in dance therapy, neurobiology applied to dance, and Laban Movement Analysis. Since 2022, she has also been part of the teaching faculty at the National Centre for Dance Therapy of Les Grands Ballets Canadiens, where she teaches the Laban/Bartenieff Movement System and Movement Observation and Analysis.
She has also taught at several academic institutions, including Hunter College, Barnard College (Columbia University), UMass Amherst, Marymount Manhattan College, and Sarah Lawrence College, in the fields of anatomy, kinesiology, neuroscience, and movement analysis.
Rebecca Barnstaple is an Assistant Professor at the University of Guelph within the School of Theatre, English, and Creative Writing. She co-teaches Theory I, II & III courses at the National Centre for Dance Therapy of Les Grands Ballets Canadiens. Holding a Bachelor’s degree in Creative Arts, Health, and Wellness, a Master’s degree in Dance, Philosophy, and Neuroscience (2016), and a Ph.D. in Dance Neuroscience from York University (2020), her research focuses on the biological dimensions of culture and the impacts of artistic participation on health.
She is co-director of the Research to Practice Lab and the summer school at the ZOE School of Dance Movement Therapy in Basel, Switzerland. She has conducted research using mobile brain-body imaging at TU Berlin and contributed to clinical trials involving dance at Wake Forest University. She served as Manager of Community Initiatives and Research at the Chigamik Community Health Centre, where she developed a social prescribing program. She was also a postdoctoral fellow at the International Institute for Critical Studies in Improvisation (IICSI). Rebecca Barnstaple is involved in several interdisciplinary arts and health initiatives, including IMPROVment (Wake Forest, USA), SingWell (Toronto Metropolitan University), Piece of Mind (McGill), and Dance for Health (Nova Scotia).
Dr. Amber Gray is a Human Rights Psychotherapist and a Somatic and Dance/Movement Therapist who has worked with survivors of interpersonal, collective and intergenerational trauma, particularly torture, war, and human rights abuses, for 25 years. Amber provides clinical and transformational training in her Right to Embody trainings, integrating refugee mental health and torture treatment with creative arts, mindfulness, and body-based therapies for programs serving survivors worldwide. She, with her clients, created a resiliency-based framework and clinical approach (Restorative Movement Psychotherapy) for somatic and movement therapies with survivors of trauma in multi-cultural contexts; they also co-created Polyvagal-Informed Somatic and Dance/Movement Therapy, based on 24 years of immersion in Polyvagal Theory. The latter is the subject of her upcoming book, Roots, Rhythm and Reciprocity (to be published by Norton). She regularly facilitates WildZeNess Eco-Somatic Body of Change retreats for survivors, caregivers and practitioners, serving communities affected by injustice, oppression and trauma.
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