Transmission of the professional identity through an embodied artistic ritual: An investigation of a dance/movement therapy welcoming ceremony

•The role of embodied-enacted ritual as a non-textual means of communicating knowledge was explored.•The textual data were embodied and transformed into a dance to access what may otherwise be lost in verbal representations.•The embodied and artistic aspects of a ritual can build connection, resilience, and resources for empowerment.•Incorporating communal embodied interventions within appropriate cultural contexts may benefit psychotherapeutic growth.

The role of embodied enactment as a non-textual means of communicating knowledge was examined. A Welcoming Ceremony organized annually by the American Dance Therapy Association, in which newly registered and board-certified dance/movement therapists are inducted into the community, was selected as the site for this phenomenological investigation. Verbal data were collected via questionnaires and interviews from 10 inductees, one facilitator, and one non-inductee participant-observer. In addition to an interpretive phenomenological analysis (IPA), the textual data were embodied and transformed into a dance as a way to access what may otherwise be lost in verbal representations. By having done the ritual, participants could use the embodied experience as a resource for knowledge and strength in the real world. The findings point to the potential benefits of incorporating communal embodied interventions within appropriate cultural contexts.