Dance-movement therapy as a formal profession began in the United States in the 1940s, when professional dancers were invited by psychiatrists to work with groups of returned servicemen recovering from war trauma and other patients in psychiatric hospitals. In the 1960s the American Dance Therapy Association was formed.
In Australia, dance-movement therapy grew out of dance in education and creative dance and the early Australian pioneers were already working in the 60s. The Dance-movement therapy Association of Australia was formed in 1994.
