Dr. Suzi Tortora
Founder & Director
Ed.D., BC-DMT, LCAT, LMHC, CMA, NCC
Board Certified Dance/Movement Therapist, Licensed Creative Arts Therapist, Licensed Mental Health Counselor
Infant Mental Health & Preverbal Trauma
Autism Spectrum Disorder
Chronic Pain
Attachment Across the Lifespan
Clinical Practice Locations
New York City and Cold Spring, NY
Client Focus
Infants, children, adolescents, adults, and older adults. Parent-infant dyads, families, and individuals dealing with preverbal trauma, attachment challenges, autism spectrum disorder, medical illness, and life transitions.
Therapy Approaches
Dance/Movement Therapy, Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), Authentic Movement, Meaning-Centered Psychotherapy, Laban Bartenieff, Kestenberg Movement Profile, Mindfulness, Reiki, Body-Mind Centering principles, MBSR (Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction)
Specialties
Infant Mental Health & Preverbal Trauma, Attachment Across the Lifespan, Autism Spectrum Disorder, Childhood Trauma, Family Dynamics, Postpartum Depression, Anxiety, Depression, Grief and Loss, Medical Illness, Nonverbal Communication, Chronic Pain
Dr. Suzi Tortora is the founder and director of Dancing Dialogue, an innovator in the field of dance/movement therapy, and an internationally recognized expert in infant mental health, preverbal trauma, and nonverbal movement analysis.
She works with clients from infancy through older adulthood, bringing a deep understanding of how the body holds and communicates experiences that words alone cannot reach. Her therapeutic approach incorporates dance/movement therapy, EMDR, Authentic Movement, Meaning-Centered Psychotherapy, nonverbal movement analysis (Laban Bartenieff and Kestenberg Movement Profile), and mindfulness practices. Dr. Tortora believes deeply in the body-mind connection, understanding that healing begins with felt experience rather than working from the mind down to the body.
Dr. Tortora graduated with honors from the Eliot-Pearson Department of Child Development at Tufts University, where she specialized in child development, education, and psychology, earning her K-8th grade teaching certification and special education certification for ages 3-7. She received her Master's degree in Dance/Movement Therapy from New York University and her doctorate with a specialization in infancy and early childhood development, psychology, and education from Teachers College, Columbia University. She has completed extensive training through the Zero-to-Three Institute with Dr. Stanley Greenspan and Dr. Serena Wieder, and has studied Authentic Movement with Janet Adler and Body-Mind Centering with Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen. She has also trained in Meaning-Centered Psychotherapy with Dr. William Breitbart at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and is a Level II Reiki practitioner. She also supports clients dealing with childhood trauma, family dynamics, postpartum depression, autism spectrum disorder, anxiety, depression, grief and loss, and medical illness.
Dr. Tortora's hope for clients is that they discover their own inner resources and develop a compassionate relationship with their bodies. "At Dancing Dialogue, we believe the body speaks its own language. We help clients learn to listen to what their bodies are telling them, honoring the wisdom held in felt experience. Healing happens when people feel safe, seen, and supported in their whole selves."
Outside the therapy room, Dr. Tortora teaches globally and serves as senior dance/movement therapist with the Integrative Medicine Service at MSK Kids, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. She is the author of The Dancing Dialogue: Using the Communicative Power of Movement with Young Children and co-author of Dance/Movement Therapy for Infants and Young Children with Medical Illness.
Dr. Tortora developed the Ways of Seeing™ International Training Program, teaching therapists worldwide how to use nonverbal movement analysis to understand attachment, trauma, and developmental challenges in infants, children, and families.
Her pioneering work with preverbal trauma and infant mental health addresses therapeutic needs that traditional talk therapy cannot reach. She works with the earliest experiences held in the body, helping clients of all ages access and heal from experiences that occurred before language developed.
With decades of international teaching experience across five continents and extensive publications in leading journals, Dr. Tortora brings unparalleled expertise in body-mind approaches to therapy. Her work has been featured at major conferences worldwide and she maintains clinical practice in both New York City and Cold Spring, NY.
"At Dancing Dialogue, we believe the body speaks its own language. We help clients learn to listen to what their bodies are telling them, honoring the wisdom held in felt experience. Healing happens when people feel safe, seen, and supported in their whole selves."
- Dr. Suzi Tortora
