Abstract. From my training with Marian Chace came much of the roots of my employment of dance therapy in my work. The use of empathic movement reflection assisted me in the development of the technique of somatic countertransference ( Lewis, 1984 , 1988 , 1992 ) and in the choreography of the symbiotic phase in object relations ( Lewis, 1983 , 1987a , 1988 , 1990 , 1992 ). Marian provided the foundation for assistance in separation and individuation through the use of techniques which stimulated skin (body) and external (kinespheric) boundary formation. Reciprocal embodied response and the use of thematic imaginal improvisations provided the foundation for the embodied personification of intrapsychic phenomena such as the internalized patterns, inner survival mechanisms, addictions, and the inner child. Chace’s model assisted in the development of structures for the remembering, re-experiencing, and healing of child abuse as well as the rechoreography of object relations. Finally, Marian Chace’s use of synchronistic group postural rhythmic body action provided access to the transformative power of ritual in higher stages of individuation and spiritual consciousness.
