This article focuses on Human Structural Dance, developed by

Günter Ammon in Munich. Following a brief history of the development of dance therapy, the author documents the proven benefits of dance therapy, particularly in enabling patients to verbalize their feelings and supported by research findings relating to a group of 30 patients, all of whom had been diagnosed with ‘archaic ego disorders ’ and with all ages represented. Key words: archaic ego disorders, dance, dance therapy, group, TATs (Thematic Apperception Tests) Over the past few decades, various forms of body-centred therapies have been developed. The main focus of dance therapy is to transform emotions directly into movements. Generally, this aspect was not originally included in psychotherapeutic concepts. Petra Klein (1983) criticized the fact that not enough attention is paid to the body in psychotherapeutic settings and called this phenomenon the ‘forgotten body’. One exception to this was Freud and Breuer (1895), who took the expression of psychic processes through the body very seriously, rather than dismissing them as a system of mere conventions. He also developed a technique of direct contact, which he subsequently rejected in favour of free association, which he found more useful in a therapeutic setting. Ferenczi (1921) and Reich (1972), with his respective techniques of ‘neo-catharsis’ and vegetative therapy recognized the intensive correlation between the psyche and the body. However, their work has only been incorporated into the field of psychotherapy for the last few decades