Suzi Tortora - Dance Therapy - Current News & Upcoming Events

Regulation, Attachment and
Emotional Development - Part 2
An On-going Clinical Education Series in Infant and Early childhood Education

Families in motion:
understanding movement, gesture, and pre-verbal
communication in young children.
Presenter: Suzi Tortora, EdD, ADTR, CMMA, KMP
Friday, April 25, 2008
9 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.
&
Saturday, April 26, 2008
9 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.

Click Here for more details of event

SPRING WEEKEND WORKSHOP

DANCE THERAPY AND FOCUSING
With Dr. Miriam Roskin Berger, ADTR and Dr. Joan Lavender, PsyD
When: Sat & Sun, Mar 29 – 30 & Sat, Apr 5, 2008, 1 – 6pm
Cost: $250 plus reg. fee (save 50% on reg. fee by registering online below)
Where: 92nd Street Y
1395 Lexington Ave, NY, NY 10128
Mar 29, Lower Dance Studio, basement;
Mar 30,Buttenwieser Hall, 2nd Floor;
Apr 5, Lower Dance Studio, basement

REGISTER HERE or call 212.415.5500

Gendlin's Experiential Focusing is a bodily-centered therapy process which gives you access to a deep level of knowing, leading to inner transformation you can feel immediately and apply to your life. While most approaches to therapy are based on the assumption that it is good to be more "in touch" with yourself, Focusing teaches you how to do this. Focusing is a highly-regarded and well-researched process that has been shown to correlate with positive life change, enhanced self-esteem, and the experience of integration and wholeness. This workshop will explore the relationship from the dimension of Focusing to the world of movement and dance improvisation. Identify felt senses (as distinct from emotions) in your body. Enable the felt sense to communicate its message to you, from the edge of your awareness. Use dance movement improvisation and felt sensing together for healing. Eligible for ADTA CEUs.

SPRING ONE-DAY WORKSHOP

DANCE MOVEMENT PSYCHOTHERAPY: INFANTS AND YOUNG CHILDREN
With Suzi Tortora, Ed.D., ADTR, CMA, LCAT, LMHC

When: Sat, Mar 1, 2008, 2 – 6pm
Cost: $75 plus reg. fee (save 50% on reg. fee by registering online below)
Where: 92nd Street Y
1395 Lexington Ave, NY, NY 10128
Buttenwieser Hall, 2nd Floor

REGISTER HERE or call 212.415.5500

Sensitize yourself to the ways young children communicate, learn and express themselves through their movement and senses. Gain hands-on experience information that is useful for all professionals and parents of young children, with or without special needs. Learn about Dr. Suzi Tortora’s Ways of Seeing dance movement psychotherapy program through exploring nonverbal cues expressed by infants and young children and experiencing movement activities that support early attachment relationships and social, emotional, and cognitive development. For parents, caregivers, and professionals, these activities can be used with families or in groups and in dyadic and individual therapeutic, hospital, preventative and childcare settings.

2007 Joint National Conference

October 31st to November 3rd, 2007
Novotel—Sydney Olympic Park

Workshop 4- Suzi Tortora Ed.D., C.M.A., A.D.T.R., LCAT, LMHC

LETS DANCE! Nurturing Relationships through Multisensory Interaction
Based on the intricate relationship between the brain and body, participants will gain a deeper understanding of the role multisensory learning plays in all levels
of a young child’s development, using a program developed by this presenter called Ways of Seeing. The focus of this relationship- based program emphasizes
the primary significance of movement and multisensory experience in building the attachment relationship through nonverbal and experientially-based
engagement. Participants will learn how the nonverbal aspect of interactions with young children influence the child’s development in all areas, by emphasizing
why playful spontaneous movement-based interactions involving a mutual give and take between baby and significant adult, support the development of a
healthy bond. Discussion will include how the nonverbal aspects of a parents quality of touch and holding can influence the developing relationship and the
infant’s budding sense of self.

Participants will learn how to apply this multisensory and nonverbal perspective across a continuum of infant mental health practice, from typical parent- infant
relationships to special populations: such as medically ill young children in a hospital setting and children with developmental issues including sensory
processing, communication delay and Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD).
Nonverbal observational skills will be sharpened as participants learn how to organize and interpret the information observed to develop a program unique to
each child and family; using touch, rhythm, movement and body awareness techniques. Multisensory activities that capture the young child’s interest become a
tool for communication; helping the child navigate the environment, supporting relationships, enhancing self-expression, and, in the case of medically ill
children, for pain management.

Through lecture, video, worksheets and experiential participation, participants will understand the role of movement in development; and learn age appropriate
movement, dance and play activities that support the attachment relationship while enhancing physical, cognitive, communicative and social/emotional
development. These activities can be used with families in group, dyadic, and individual therapeutic, hospital, preventative, and daycare settings.

Click here for more details

September 27 - 30, 2007
3 lectures: ADTA 42nd Annual Conference: NY Marriot at Brooklyn Bridge.: registration www.adta.org
- BEYOND CRYING: PAIN, TRAUMA, AND STRESS IN EARLY CHILDHOOD - EIGHTH FORUM ON EARLY CHILDHOOD SETTINGS
- Discussant: 13th International Panel: "Dance Therapy with Children Throughout the World"
- Dance Across America...The Andréa Rizzo Foundation Takes Flight

WALK.....DANCE......CELEBRATE!
The Andrea Rizzo Foundation
Invites You To The
6th Annual
“Walk for the Children”
A Family FUN Event Benefiting Children with cancer and special needs through:
The Andrea Rizzo Dance Therapy Program
4:00 pm Sunday August 19, 2007
Rodgers Rec Center, Salve Regina University
Ochre Pt. Ave. Newport RI 02840

Join us for a 2 mile walk along the scenic Cliff Walk
followed by dance performances, raffles and refreshments!

Want to form a team?
Walk in memory or in support of a loved one!
Walk as a school, business, youth group, organization etc.

Individuals Walkers Welcome!

To donate online:
www.dance-across-america.com
For any questions or team info packets email DreasDream@aol.com and check out our website www.theandrearizzodancetherapyfoundation.com

August 19, 2007
Cliff Walk Andrea Rizzo Foundation: "Collaborating With a Mission - ADTA/NDEO/RI Dance Alliance." Fee $25

Keynote lecture 1:45 PM Suzi Tortora

Held at Salve Regina University, Newport, RI at the O'Hare Academic Center
1:15 Registration O'Hare Academic Center 2nd floor
1:45 Keynote: Suzi
2:45 Breakout sessions: 2 dynamic seminars on dance/movement therapy in several settings. Speakers: Christina Devereaux, ADTR Public Relations Director of the national ADTA:; Cathy Lebeaux, ADTR President, NE Chapter of the ADTA

Collaborating With a Mission: Spreading the word on Dance/Movement Therapy

Followed by a Walk a thon along the scenic Newport Cliff Walk to support the work of The Andréa Rizzo Foundation

Collaborators:

American Dance Therapy Association/ New England Chapter

Rhode Island Dance Alliance/ An affiliate of the National Dance Educators Organization

The Andréa Rizzo Foundation/ a non profit organization dedicated to bringing dance/movement therapy to children with cancer and special needs.
The New England dance community invites ALL in the dance, education and health related fields to join us on
Place: Salve Regina University, Newport, Rhode Island

These seminars are geared toward anyone interested in Dance/Movement therapy in the fields of education, special education, DANCE and health related settings.

Walk: 2 miles in scenic Newport along the magnificent Cliff Walk overlooking Narragansett Bay

Join in a "Walk for the Children" benefiting The Andréa Rizzo Foundation's pediatric dance/movement therapy program for children with cancer and special needs, entitled "Dréa's Dream".

"Dréa's Dream" touches the lives of fragile children at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, Connecticut Children's Medical Center, Ronald Mc Donald Houses in NYC and Providence and public schools throughout the country.

Walk alone, with friends or FORM a TEAM to walk in honor of someone or something special in your life. A $500 prize is Awarded to the highest pledge raising TEAM.

email: DreasDream@aol for an info packet if you would like to form a TEAM.

DANCE: Enjoy FREE DANCE PERFORMANCES by area dance companies before and after the walk.

Kayak Raffle, Baskets, Free Refreshments, and family fun!

Proceeds will benefit the Andréa Rizzo Foundation which funds Dréa's Dream.

If you can not make the event but would like to make a donation online, you can go to:

www.Dance-Across-America.com

July 29, 2007
Authentic Movement Workshop taught
by Suzi Tortora
An inner focusing movement meditation practice
involving listening to your body & allowing your body to move you
Location:
Cold-Spring-on-the-Hudson - in the beautiful Hudson Valley region

Dates: Sunday, July 29th
Time: 1:30 - 4:15PM
Fees: $40

Call or email for: questions register directions

July 17 - 19, 2007
Keynote Lecture: Movement as a Vehicle for Communication; Creative Family Dance Workshop; & Private Sessions with Dr Suzi Tortora for the Summer Institute 2007: Communication through the Arts: University of Syracuse Ways of Seeing Dance movement Psychotherapist Dr Tortora States: "Young children communicate, learn, and express themselves through their movements and senses. For adults - parents, caregivers, and professionals - it is of vital importance to connect with children of all ages on this nonverbal level. This is an especially effective tool for children with communication differences. Using the language of movement and the senses as an entryway into the child's world. Dr Tortora creates activities that join the children, stimulate their social, emotional, physical, communicative and cognitive development, improve their body awareness and coordination and quality of life.
CONTACT INFO Syracuse for keynote & workshop: soeweb.syr.edu - research - institutes - facilitated communication - training; or phone 315-443-9379 to book private sessions contact Dr Suzi Tortora at suzi@suzitortora.org or 845-265-1085

Authentic Movement Workshop
June 23, 2007
A 3 Session Workshop
by Suzi Tortora

June 21, 2007
9-11:15 AM, & 1-3:15 PM:
"Exploring Children’s Love of Movement from typical to atypical development:"
Infancy Institute Infants, Toddlers, Families: Supporting their Growth, at Bank Street College

June 9, 2007
Region 7 Department of Health and Welfare, Child Development Center, Idaho Falls, Idaho:
The Dancing Dialogue: using the Communicative Power of Movement with young Children, Sponsored by Brookes -On-Location , a program offered by
Paul H Brookes Publishing Co, Inc.

April 21, 2007
Transmission of Trauma: Implications for Intervention in the Wake of Loss Derived from the World Trade Center Project:
The Use of Nonverbal Movement Analysis in the Treatment of Women Pregnant and Widowed on 9-11, for Division 39 Division 39 American Psychological Association (APA), Toronto, Canada: presented with Phyllis Cohen, Rita Reiswig, Sally Moskowitz, Donna Demetri Friedman , and K. Mark Sossin

New Fall 2007 Series
B.I.T.E.
The Body Image Transformation Experience®
Two interconnected Workshops

Workshop I:
FALL DATES TO BE ANNOUNCED
Owning My Body My Self "Why Can't I Just Do It?"...Explores participants' eating experiences, self-perception, and resistance to change.

Workshop II:
FALL DATES TO BE ANNOUNCED
Transforming My Body My Self...Combines innovative group therapy techniques with body-oriented therapy. Special Guest Collaborator: Dance Movement therapist Suzi Tortora Ed.D.,ADTR,CMA,LCAT,LMHC

DANCE MOVEMENT PSYCHOTHERAPY:
INFANTS AND YOUNG CHILDREN
With Dr. Suzi Tortora, Ed.D., ADTR, CMA, LCAT, LMHC
Sensitize yourself to the ways young children communicate, learn and express themselves through their movement and senses. Gain hands-on experience information that is useful for all professionals and parents of young children, with or without special needs. Learn about Dr. Suzi Tortora's Ways of Seeing dance movement psychotherapy program through exploring nonverbal cues expressed by infants and young children and experiencing movement activities that support early attachment relationships and social, emotional, and cognitive development. For parents, caregivers, and professionals, these activities can be used with families or in groups and in dyadic and individual therapeutic, hospital, preventative and childcare settings.

METHODS IN DANCE/MOVEMENT THERAPY I
15 sessions, begins January 29, 2007
Mondays, 1:30 - 3:30 pm
Instructor: Dr. Miriam Roskin Berger, ADTR & Patricia Capello, MA, ADTR
Tuition: $550 plus $27 registration fee

DANCE FOR THE SPECIAL CHILD
15 sessions, begins September 19, 2006
Tuesdays, 8:00 - 10:00pm
Instructor: Diane Duggan, Ph.D., ADTR, Licensed Psychologist
Tuition: $550 plus $27 registration fee

DANCE MOVEMENT PSYCHOTHERAPY: INFANTS AND YOUNG CHILDREN
Saturday, February 24, 2007
1:00 - 5:00 pm
Instructor: Suzi Tortora, Ed.D., ADTR, CMA, LCAT, LMHC
Tuition: $75 plus $7 registration fee

Click Here to download a PDF file
with all the details including information
about the faculty.

Using the Communicative Power of Movement with Young Children
presented by
Suzi Tortora, Ed.D., ADTR, CMA

Dr. Tortora is the founder and director of Dancing Dialogue: Healing & Expressive Arts - A center for movement, music, and dance-based arts that support healing and self-expression, in Cold Spring and NYC. Among her many roles and activities, she instructs parent-infant/toddler classes, and is the author of The Dancing Dialogue: Using the Communicative Power of Movement with Young Children.

Learning Outcomes:
Participants will be able to:

Describe the role of nonverbal and movement-based play experiences in all aspects of development
Describe how the nonverbal component of multisensory experience influences the attachment relationship
List specific tools for children with issues in communication/relating and motor delays
Describe how to add movement and music activities with families and in community settings.

November 2, 2006 - Come Dance with me! An Integrative Team Approach to PEdiatric Cancer Care through Dance Movement Psychotherapy , Integrative Medicine & Child Life -- Suzi Tortora & Jocelyn Shaw, for Child Life of Greater New York, 13th Annual Professional Development Conference, New York Academy of Medicine, 2 E 103rd St, NYC

November 21 - 26, 2006 - Brecha Graduate Course in Dance/Movement Therapy, Buenos Aires, Argentina

Choreographing Collaboration:
A joint conference of American Dance Therapy Association (ADTA) & National Dance Education Organization (NDEO)

October 27, 2006 - Friday (9-11am)
4th Annual LEICC Provider Day
Sponsored by Dutchess and Ulster Counties and St. Francis Hospital & Health Centers
Where: The Atrium (St. Francis Hospital)
241 North Road, Poughkeepsie

October 21 - Collaborating with a Mission: Spreading the Gift of DMT - A panel with Susan Rizzo Vincent, Suzi Tortora, Christina Devereaux, Jocelyn Shaw, Sharon O' Neill Mulcahy, and Jean Basiner

October 21 - Autism Unfolded: Following a Young Child's Journey from Object to Relationship

October 20 - THE ROLE OF MOVEMENT-RELATED THERAPISTS IN EDUCATIONAL SETTINGS - A panel with Nancy Beardall, Martha Eddy and Suzi Tortora

October 20 - Move Baby Move! The Essential Role of Movement in all Levels of development - 7th Forum on Early Childhood Settings

October 19 - 22, 2006 - Long Beach, California

The Laban/Bartenieff Institute of Movement Studies - LIMS NYC and the Bratislava in Movement Association invite for

"LABAN FOR THE 21ST CENTURY PROJECT"
Performances, Conference, Workshops and Panel Discussions

Celebrating the 10th Anniversary of the International Festival of Contemporary Dance

BRATISLAVA IN MOVEMENT 2006
October 6 – 13th, 2006

Artistic Director: Miroslava Kovarova Laban Curator: Regina Miranda

The Festival includes Performances, Conference, Workshops and Panel Discussions As a part of the Festival, the CONFERENCE, entitled Laban & Performing Arts, is intended for researchers and scholars of performance, dance, theater, music, and dance education.

OPEN HOUSE
Come meet the teachers and have some fun!
10% discount if you sign up for a class!
FREE DEMO CLASSES!
click here to download flyer

Symposium 9: Support Groups and Mother-infant Bonding Consultations for Mothers Pregnant and Widowed on 9-11-01; with Anni Bergman, Donna Demetri Friedman, Rita Reiswig, Mark Sossin, and Suzi Tortora: World Association for Infant Mental Health (WAIMH) Symposium Paris, France:

Exploring Children’s Love of Movement
from typical to atypical development Infancy
Institute Infants, Toddlers, Families:
Supporting their Growth Bank Street College, NYC
June 22, 2005
9-11:15 am, & 1-3:15 pm
Contact www.infancyinstitute@bankstreet.edu
212-875-4728
for more info & to register

Featured in Malcolm Gladwell's article titled
"What the Dog Saw"
Cesar Millan and the enigma of presence.

The subject of the entire piece is The Power of Presence - how the Dog Whisperer does it. It is about a dog trainer (Cesar Millan) who is brilliant rehabilitating and training dogs. Dr Tortora was interviewed as a movement specialist and was asked what she saw in Cesar and the dog's owners movement and overall presence that might explain Cesar's success - after meeting Dr Tortora, the journalist looked further into her work with children, particularly her work with children along the autistic spectrum, and wrote about that as well.

WHAT WE HAVE LEARNED IN OUR WORK WITH MOTHERS AND INFANTS AFFECTED BY THE TRAUMA OF 9/11

ANNI BERGMAN is Faculty and Member, IPTAR and New York Freudian Society (NYFS); Associate Professor, NYU Postdoctoral Program in Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis; Co-Founder and Co-Director, Parent-Infant Training Program at the NYFS. SALLY MOSKOWITZ is a Member, Faculty, and Supervisor, IPTAR; Supervisor, CUNY Doctoral Program in Clinical Psychology and NYU Postdoctoral Program. RITA REISWIG is Member and Faculty, IPTAR; Member and Faculty, NYFS Child Analytic Training Program; Co-founder and Co-director, NYFS Parent-Infant Training Program. MARK SOSSIN is Associate Professor of Psychology, Pace University; Faculty and Supervisor, NYFS; Vice-President, Child Development Research; Faculty and Supervisor, Derner Institute Postdoctoral Programs in Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy. SUZI TORTORA is a Nonverbal Movement Analyst, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center Pediatrics; Faculty, Postgraduate Institute for Infants, Children & Families, Jewish Board of Family and Children's Services, and Pratt Institute.

The World Trade Center Project was conceived by Beatrice Beebe, Phyllis Cohen, and Joseph Jaffe, in collaboration with Anni Bergman and Sally Moskowitz, as a primary prevention and intervention project for pregnant 9/11 widows and their unborn or newly born babies and their older children. The Project consists of support groups for mothers and their babies and toddlers; mother-child video bonding consultations; feedback sessions with the mothers using the videotapes; and therapist peer-supervision and support group. The authors will present specific aspects of their work with these families, including the mother’s transmission of the lost father to the infant (Reiswig), the disruption of primary maternal preoccupation in grieving mothers (Moskowitz), the nature of children’s play in the wake of traumatic loss (Sossin), and the dynamic interplay of the maternal psychic state and the infant’s emerging psyche as viewed through nonverbal movement analysis (Tortora).

Phyllis Cohen, CO-director of the World Trade Center Mother-Infant Project will lead a discussion following the presentations. Dr. Cohen is Founder, Director, Faculty, and Supervisor, The New York Institute for Psychotherapy Training in Infancy, Childhood and Adolescence; and Adjunct Assistant Professor at NYU Department of Applied Psychology.

Program Committee: Jeanne Even, Roslyn Goldner, Laurence Gould, Judy Ann Kaplan, Carol Kaye,

Kathy Krauthamer, Ellen Sinkman, Neal Vorus, Tracey Strasser Vorus, Florence Williams, and Arnold Wilson

Thursday, May 11, 2006 (10:00 – 11:30am)
Pain & Palliative Care Grand Rounds Lecture:
Sensory Therapies In Pediatric Pain And Symptom Management
Suzie Tortora, Ed.D, ADTR, CMA, LCAT, LMHC
Integrative Medicine's Dance Therapy Program

Wed, May 3, 2006 (7:30 - 9:00 PM)
The Dancing Dialogue: Using the Communicative Power
of Movement with Young Children to Enhance
Social-Emotional Development For Developmental Delays Resources, at Lifespire Conference Room, Empire State Building, NYC

February 21st 2006 (Tuesday)
Don't miss the "New York Zero-to-Three Network: clinical roundtable presentation" at the Ackerman Institute, 149 E. 78th St, New York, NY. 6-8pm

In this roundtable, Dr. Suzi Tortora will explore the expressive quality of infants' and young children's nonverbal cues with the help of videos presenting typical children, including a case study of a child with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Participants will learn about Dr. Tortora's "Ways of Seeing" program and experience movement activities that support early attachment as well as social, emotional, and cognitive development. Which can be used with families, in group, dyadic and individual therapy, in hospital, preventative, and child care settings.

February 16, 2006,
Suzi Tortora, EdD, ADTR, CMA
Book Signing Party & Presentation from her newly published book: "THE DANCING DIALOGUE: Using the Communicative Power of Movement with Young Children. Infant-Parent Study Center - 120 West 57th Street on the 14th floor.

Tortora,S. (January 2006). Dr Tortora's new book, The Dancing Dialogue: Using the Communicative Power of Movement with Young Children, in now available on Amazon.com! Click here to go to Amazon and order the book.

For more information about the book and other publications by Brookes Publishing "click here"

January 6th 2006,
Utah Association for Infant Mental Health (UAIMH): full day workshop in Provo Utah. Click here to download the flyer