What is DvT?
Developmental Transformations (DvT) is an embodied practice based on improvisational free play that can be used in therapeutic, educational, performance, and personal growth contexts. Explore our website to discover more about the theory, method, and playful community of people from around the world who are using DvT to reconnect with the benefits of natural, free play.
DvT Attitudes
DvT is a set of attitudes about existence, is based on a theory about the fundamental instability of experience, and is a method that helps people deal with that instability in their relationships with others, and in their understanding of themselves.
DvT Attitudes toward Existence
People are unnecessarily frightened by existence. People take themselves too seriously.
Being is Unstable
The aim of DvT is to lower our fear of instability, rather than lowering the instability of the world.
Experience vs. Representation
The representation of experience is not the same as experience: the map of the world is not the world.
DvT Method in a Nutshell
DvT Method involves the transformation of embodied encounters in the playspace.
Playspace
The entire session happens within a state of play.
Embodiment
Physical movement is encouraged throughout the sessions.
Encounter
The focus is on the interaction among the players, including the playor (therapist), who participates at all times.
No Props or Scripts
DvT uses no props, chairs, or objects; no scripts or set exercises.
Transformation
The improvisational play keeps changing the roles, scenes, and stories according to the changing feelings and thoughts of the players.
Clinical Applications of DvT
DvT is used in various settings and has various clinical applications. Primarily it can be incorporated into regular talk therapy, it can also be used in hospitals, clinics, schools, group settings, art spaces, workplaces, street and public spaces and more. Read some of the articles below to learn more.
Resources & Articles
Visit the main DvT Website. Learn more about the theory and community. Discover lectures and talks about the method.
Find reflections and articles in this perfectly imperfect DvT style Journal. Poetic and thoughtful pieces about the practice.
Although outdated, you can read the Text for Practitioners - Version 2 by clicking the link below.
DvT is about Presence
"The representation of
experience is not the same
as experience: the map of the world is not the world."
DvT is a relational practice that is about being in the present moment and being fully ALIVE. We practice not getting caught up in the schemas, ideas, scripts, anxieties, fears and dilemmas that take us away from delight and awe.