Dr. Leventhal is the President Elect of the American Dance Therapy Association (ADTA), and is the recipient of the 2019 Lifetime Achievement Award of the ADTA. Dr. Leventhal holds a Doctorate in Clinical Psychology, is a Board Certified Dance Movement Therapist (BC-DMT), and is a Certified Movement Analyst (CMA). 

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Teaching and lecturing worldwide, she has received many awards and grants for her innovative and healing training programs. She is a widely published author and is the process of completing her book, Journey to the Heart of Matter; Dance Therapy as an Agent of Change and Transformation. ©

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Dr. Leventhal’s theoretical contributions to the field of Dance Movement Therapy include: The Integrative Treatment Model ©, The Conscious Healing Dance ©, The Quantum Healing Dance©, The Five Part Session©, and Dance Therapy as a Primary Treatment Modality ©. These models allow one to develop age and developmentally appropriate treatment programs for a wide variety of both clinical and non-clinical populations, supporting dance therapy within a holistic/humanistic treatment model.

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Dr. Leventhal was the 2007 Marian Chace honoree and key- note speaker for the American Dance Therapy Association. She was the Director of the Graduate Dance/Movement Therapy Program at New York University, where she was a Professor from 1973-1990. She also founded the first two European Programs in DMT in Stockhom, Sweden, and in the UK (Froebel College at Roehampton University). Dr. Leventhal co-founded the International Dance Therapy Institute of Australia, (IDTIA) where she developed the training program leading to a Diploma in Dance Therapy. The IDTIA is approved by PACFA-The Psychotherapy and Counseling Federation of Australia as a provider to offer Psychotherapy services and training to the public. Dr. Leventhal directed education and training for the IDTIA for 16 years. She co-founded the Dance Therapy Institute of Princeton and founded Dance Therapy Intensive Training Programs in Kyoto, Japan, Buenos Aires, Argentina, Athens, Greece, and has taught as well in France, Italy, throughout the UK, China and Trinidad-Tobago. Dr. Leventhal is the Co-Founder and former Co-Director of the International Institute for Advanced Training in Dance Movement Therapy. The institute has been conducting training programs in Beijing, China, Istanbul, Turkey, and throughout the USA since 2006. 

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Within the ADTA she is a previous Co-Editor in Chief of the Journal, a former Board Member, and has served on and helped to develop numerous ADTA committees since their inception. 

 

Some of Dr. Leventhal’s holistic healing model of DMT is informed by her training worldwide in alternative and complementary healing practices, and her experiences as a professional actor and former professional dancer. Her dance therapy practice has included work with exceptional children, adolescents, adults, juvenile offenders, and incarcerated male offenders. She uses and has developed methodology which supports dance therapy as a primary therapeutic modality.