Dance/Movement Therapy for Couples: How Movement Can Help Heal and Strengthen Your Relationship
When relationships face challenges, whether it’s repeated arguments, challenges with in-laws, or intimacy issues, it can feel difficult to find a way back to connection. Traditional talk therapy can be very helpful, but sometimes words alone aren’t enough. That’s where dance/movement therapy for couples comes in—a unique, body-centered approach that uses movement as a pathway to deeper understanding and healing.
If you’re curious about how this therapy works and whether it could benefit your relationship, this article will guide you through the basics, what to expect, and how movement can support you and your partner in creating a healthier, more connected bond.
What Is Dance/Movement Therapy for Couples?
Dance/movement therapy (DMT) is a form of expressive arts therapy that views the body and mind as deeply interconnected. It uses movement as a language to explore emotions, relationship dynamics, and patterns of connection or disconnection.
For couples, DMT can uncover nonverbal ways you relate to one another—how you move together, respond physically, or hold space emotionally. This can unveil powerful insights that may be difficult to access through conversation alone.
Why Might Couples Choose Dance/Movement Therapy?
Couples therapy can feel stuck if it relies only on talking about problems. Movement therapy adds a new dimension by engaging your bodies and emotions directly. Here are some common reasons couples turn to dance/movement therapy:
Difficulty expressing emotions verbally
Feeling emotionally disconnected or distant
Repetitive negative interaction patterns
Challenges rebuilding trust after hurt or conflict
Wanting to deepen intimacy and emotional attunement
Coping with trauma, anxiety, or grief affecting the relationship
By using movement as a form of communication, couples often find new ways to relate that foster empathy, understanding, and closeness.
How Does Dance/Movement Therapy Work for Couples?
In sessions, a therapist guides you and your partner through gentle movement exercises designed to help you tune into your bodies and your connection. Examples of what this might look like:
Symbolism: Movement often serves as a powerful metaphor for inner emotions and relationship dynamics, allowing couples to embody and express feelings and patterns that may be difficult to articulate with words—turning the body into a living symbol of connection, conflict, and healing, and enabling meaningful, visible changes to those patterns.
Mirroring: One partner’s movements are witnessed and mirrored by the other, helping build empathy and attunement
Improvisation: Unlock authentic movements to express feelings or respond to each other’s energy
Synchronized movement: Paying attention and moving together in rhythm to foster harmony and cooperation
Exploring personal boundaries: Learning to recognize and respect each other’s physical and emotional space, practice embodied consent, and learn skills to set healthy boundaries
The therapist helps you reflect on these experiences, translating movement into understanding about your relationship.
What Are the Benefits of Dance/Movement Therapy for Couples?
Improved Communication: Movement reveals unspoken feelings and patterns, making it easier to understand each other beyond words.
Stronger Emotional Connection: Embodied experiences deepen empathy and intimacy by helping you understand your partner’s emotional state more clearly.
Conflict Resolution: Moving through tension physically can help break negative cycles and create new ways of responding.
Increased Trust and Safety: Sharing movement and vulnerability fosters a safe space where healing can happen.
Emotional and Physical Well-being: Movement reduces stress and anxiety, benefiting both partners’ mental and physical health.
Is Dance/Movement Therapy Right for Your Relationship?
If you and your partner are struggling with communication, feeling disconnected, or stuck in negative patterns, dance/movement therapy may offer a fresh and effective way forward. It’s particularly helpful if you:
Find it hard to express emotions verbally
Are interested in a creative, holistic approach to couples therapy
Want to reconnect physically and emotionally
Are open to exploring new ways of understanding each other
This approach can be adapted for couples at any stage of their relationship.
Who Might Not Be Ready for Couples Dance/Movement Therapy?
While dance/movement therapy can be deeply healing and transformative, it may not be the right fit for every couple or at every stage. Couples might want to consider other forms of therapy or wait until certain conditions are met if they:
Are experiencing acute crisis or safety concerns, such as ongoing domestic violence or abuse, where immediate safety and stabilization need to be prioritized first
Are not both committed to improving the relationship, and are instead considering divorce or separation, since DMT relies on shared engagement and willingness to rebuild connection
Prefer exclusively verbal or traditional talk therapy and are not interested in a more experiential, embodied approach
If any of these apply, it’s important to discuss your concerns with a therapist who can help guide you to the best type of support for your unique situation.
Note: Dance/movement therapy can be adapted to meet each individual’s physical and emotional needs. You do not need to be a dancer or have any movement experience to benefit from this approach. Nikki is also trained in traditional talk therapy. If you decide DMT is not right for you, feel free to let Nikki know so she can tailor therapy to you.
How Does Virtual Dance/Movement Therapy Work?
You might be wondering: can movement therapy work online? The answer is yes! Many therapists now offer virtual dance/movement therapy sessions, which can be especially convenient if you live anywhere in Massachusetts—from Boston to Springfield or the Berkshires.
Virtual sessions allow you to:
Participate from your own home, in a private and comfortable space
Schedule therapy that fits your lifestyle and time zone
Access expert therapists regardless of geographic location
During virtual sessions, the therapist will guide you through movement exercises using video conferencing platforms, adapting activities so you can safely and meaningfully engage through the screen.
What Can You Expect in a Session?
Embodied Check-In: Tuning into your physical sensations, emotions, and body language to bring awareness to how you’re arriving in the session, creating space for a more grounded and present experience.
Creative Exercises: Engaging in guided activities designed to explore emotions, build connection, and transform relational patterns.
Verbal Reflection: Sharing and discussing what you noticed about yourself, your partner, and your relationship through the movement experience.
Psychoeducation: Learning practical skills to communicate more effectively, express emotions freely, and deepen emotional intimacy.
Home Practice: Simple, accessible movement or mindfulness exercises may be offered to continue the work between sessions and support integration into daily life.
Finding the Right Therapist for Your Couple’s Dance/Movement Therapy
If you’re considering dance/movement therapy, it’s important to find a therapist who is both well-trained and experienced in working with couples, and who can provide a safe, supportive environment for exploration and growth.
When searching for the right fit, you may come across therapists with different credentials. Two relevant fields often overlap in relational work:
Dance/Movement Therapy (DMT):
DMT is a form of psychotherapy that uses movement as a primary tool for emotional expression, self-awareness, and relational healing. A trained dance/movement therapist helps couples access and communicate feelings that may not be easily expressed through words alone. DMT practitioners are skilled at observing body language, facilitating movement experiences, and translating those experiences into meaningful therapeutic insight. This approach is especially powerful for addressing emotional disconnect, communication difficulties, and patterns that live beneath the surface of verbal exchange.Marriage and Family Therapy (MFT):
Despite the name, marriage and family therapists don’t work exclusively with married couples or traditional families. MFTs work with any relational system—including couples, polycules, siblings, parent–child relationships, friends, and even roommates. Their training focuses on understanding and shifting relational patterns, improving communication, and helping people build healthier ways of relating to one another.
Some therapists integrate both DMT and MFT approaches, blending body-based exploration with systemic relational work. This combination allows couples and other relational systems to address both embodied emotional experiences and interactional patterns, creating a more holistic and impactful therapy experience.
When looking for a therapist, consider:
Checking for credentials and licensure in DMT (R-DMT or BC-DMT) and/or MFT (LMFT)
Asking about their experience with couples and other relationship constellations and how they integrate movement into their work
Ensuring they provide a safe, inclusive, and nonjudgmental space, whether in person or virtually
Finding someone whose communication style and therapeutic approach feel like a good fit for you and your partner (or partners)
About Kitchen Table Psychotherapy and Nikki
Nikki Li is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT) and Registered Dance/Movement Therapist (R-DMT). She specializes in working with couples and other relational systems through an embodied, relational, and trauma-informed lens.
Nikki integrates systemic therapy with somatic therapy to help partners reconnect, communicate more openly, and create meaningful change together.
If you’re curious about trying dance/movement therapy for couples or exploring a new way to strengthen your relationship, you can reach out to Kitchen Table Psychotherapy to learn more or schedule a session.
