‘Her spirit is now free to dance’ is written on Elaine Siegel's death notice. One can hardly express any more than this about what was important to Elaine: ‘My Dears, lie down or dance, the psychological things will come out anyway!’ I heard those words 35 years ago, and was deeply affected and convinced. Elaine became my most important mentor in my search for a dance and psychotherapeutic identity. Later she became a wonderful professional colleague and friend, and was proud that her approach would strike new roots in her native country. For Elaine, it was never about the rigid concepts of psychoanalysis, but about the ‘Dance of Life’, about the deep understanding of the mind and the meaning of human freedom to individuals, including herself.
In the 1960s and 1970s, Elaine integrated the liveliness of dance expression with the stringent concepts of modern psychoanalytic theory. She engaged in psychoanalytically oriented research on infants, based on cultural theories proposed by Sigmund Freud. Elaine, the pioneer of psychoanalytic dance/movement therapy, published five books and numerous essays in well-regarded professional journals, in which she made novel associations between theory and clinical experience. She wrote case histories with understanding and compassion while maintaining an unclouded analytical focus that was the foundation of her sharp intellect. She wrote on a variety of topics, including books about lesbians, neglected children, a memoir about her early life in Nazi Germany and her groundbreaking book about dance/movement therapy, which was translated into German in 1986. In the early 1980s to the late 1990s, she spent half her time in Switzerland and the other half in the USA. She often visited us in Bonn and taught in Lindau and at various educational institutions abroad. In addition, we wrote our first book together in 1997, and she became the honorary Chair of the German Institute for In-depth Psychology, Dance Therapy and Expressive Art Therapy. What a fruitful and comprehensive two decades these were! During that time, she motivated us to establish the first German journal for dance therapy providing a voice and forum for the ‘new movement on the old continent’. She was a modest and humble woman. At the many events I accompanied her to, she exuded happiness with a warm and unassuming introduction: ‘I am Elaine Siegel. I used to live in Berlin and now live in New York. I am a dance therapist and a psychoanalyst. If you want to know more, ask now, otherwise, let us start with the dancing.’
As a Jewish child in Berlin, she survived the Nazi-inferno with the false papers secured by various adult relatives. At age 18, Elaine Siegel went to America. There she studied ballet and Haitian dance, and became a dance/movement therapist, a renowned psychoanalyst, a founding member of the American Psychoanalytic Association (APA) and educator at the New York Psychoanalytic Institute. She was taught by Liljan Espenak and Marian Chace, was one of the first American Dance Therapy Association (ADTA) members, met Frieda Fromm-Reichmann and Harry Stack Sullivan, opened psychotherapy clinics for children, adults and groups, and directed the Motor Development Department of Suffolk Child Development Center, at the State University of New York at Stony Brook. She had a loving husband, with whom she raised their two daughters. The depth and variety of her life fascinated me and I was inspired by her unbending conviction that one has to stand up for what one believes is right or wrong. I came to cherish Elaine foremost for her strength of character and as a priceless mentor and nurturing friend. I will always remember Elaine with gratitude and happiness.
Good-bye Elaine, and rest in peace.