Dance 4 Us & Arts 4 All Youth and Adult Programmes

Dance movement therapy and art therapy offers many benefits for people living with special needs. Find out more about the benefits and locations of our Dance 4 Us and Arts 4 All programmes.

What is Dance 4 Us?

Dance 4 Us and Dance 4 Us Youth are dance movement therapy programmes for people aged 13 to 70 years and over who have an intellectual or physical disability (including ADHD, cerebral palsy, global development delays, brain trauma, and Autism). Clients can have fun and move their bodies creatively, and their carers can join in too.

Dance 4 Us caters to those with the biological or developmental ages between 18 – 70 plus years, and Dance 4 Us Youth is for people with the biological or developmental ages between 13 – 24 years. There is a crossover of ages so we can cater to both the young at heart and the more mature clients.

Each session is delivered by a registered dance movement therapist with the support of an assistant. Dance 4 Us sessions help foster social connections and emotional literacy through creative and expressive dance movement based activities, co-create meaningful shared experience in the community, and support individual self-expression.

Clients can drop-in and we encourage carers to participate for the safety and wellbeing of their clients.

What is Arts 4 All?

Arts 4 All is a creative arts therapy programme for people with disabilities aged 15 years and over that allows participants to have fun and express themselves. Group numbers can range from 6 to 20, running over nine weeks of each school term. Sessions are also open to carers.

Each session is delivered by a registered art therapist with the assistance of up to three assistants. A typical session would involve a welcome followed by an interactive segment that uses art materials such as drawing, painting, clay, collage and sensory objects like water or rice.

How does creative art therapies help people with a disability?

Dance movement therapy recognises the connection between body and mind, and understands that change and growth in one area supports change and growth in another. Dance Movement Therapists look for ways to use an individual’s actions to create a relationship in which the person can grow and thrive.

Arts therapy is based on the idea that creativity enhances wellbeing, and that creative processes are used to help explore and express unconscious material that may be difficult to articulate in words. It is an approach that uses different methods to promote the emotional, social, cognitive, physical, and cultural (including spiritual) functioning of a person including drawing, painting, sculpture, drama therapy, sand play, music, storytelling and creative writing and poetry.

Art Therapists help their clients improve cognitive and sensorimotor function, enhance body image, develop effective communication skills and relationships, gain insight into patterns of behaviour, and create new options for coping.

Dance Movement and Art Therapists combine their specialist knowledge with skills of psychotherapy, counselling and rehabilitation to help individuals living with special needs. This results in many benefits including:

• Increased physical fitness and gross motor skills development
• Improved confidence and self-esteem
• Invites emotional expression in unique ways
• Encourages creativity and imagination
• Provides stress release

What are the costs for Dance 4 Us & Arts 4 All?

The cost to attend either a Dance 4 Us or Arts 4 All session is a gold coin donation/koha.

Where can I attend a Dance 4 Us or Arts 4 All session?

We’re proud to offer sessions in multiple locations throughout New Zealand. They run parallel to school terms and there are eight to nine sessions per term.

Further information

If you have any questions or would like further information, please call 09 636 3029 or email info@dancetherapy.co.nz.