Nana Koch, a dance therapist for almost 50 years, shares her guiding principles of dance therapy and how she continues to embrace joy, positivity, and energy through all her working years.
Nana Koch, Ed.D, BC-DMT, LCAT, NCC, LPC, CMA is a board certified dance movement therapist, licensed creative arts therapist and educator. She studied with Liljan Espenak in one of the earliest courses she offered at Flower and Fifth Avenue Hospital/Mental Retardation Clinic. Based on Espenak’s work, Dr. Koch has taught courses in the United States at numerous conferences and in classes at Kinections in Rochester and internationally in courses in Japan, Costa Rica, Mainland China (Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen), India and now Hong Kong. She also specializes on teaching courses on group process in dance/movement therapy.
Currently, Dr. Koch is on sabbatical from Long Island University-Post, where she is an Associate Professor and newly retired Chairperson of the Department of Health, Physical Education and Movement Science.
Dr. Koch is the former coordinator of the Hunter College Dance/Movement Therapy Masters Program, and the former Chairperson of the American Dance Therapy Association (ADTA) Sub-Committee for Approval of Alternate Route Courses. Additionally, she is a former chairperson of ADTA’s Credentials Committee and member of the Approval Committee. In 2012, the ADTA honored her with their Excellence in Teaching award.
Dr. Koch’s interviews of three dance/movement therapists formed the basis for much of the dialogue used in the film produced by the New York Chapter of ADTA: Moving Stories Portraits of Dance/Movement Therapy. She is the author of several articles appearing in the Journal of the American Dance Therapy Association, and her 1981 interview with Liljan Espenak is among them.
Check out Nana’s ADTA talk about dance/movement therapy