Melody Gamba, LMHC, BC-DMT

Melody (she/her) is a dance artist, educator, licensed mental health counselor, and board-certified dance/movement psychotherapist. She advocates for inclusive, equitable, and just educational outreach, therapeutic interventions, and social justice programming within her community. She holds her Master of Arts in Mental Health Counseling with a specialization in Dance/Movement Therapy from Lesley University and received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance from Marymount Manhattan College (MMC) in addition to being awarded the “Silver M” for outstanding leadership and involvement in the MMC community. Melody was the recipient of the Davis Fellowship from Salve Regina University for her thesis research utilizing dance/movement therapy as a tool to dismantle racism and injustice in service learning and was invited to deliver the keynote address “Embodying Brave Space: A Mental Health Informed Classroom” for their annual conference on Youth Mental Health (2019). As a Diversity in Motion Research Collective co-founder, who uses principles of psychology, education, and dance theory for well-rounded, strength-based, trauma-informed, and person-centered embodied experiences, she has co-presented workshops nationally.

Her work infuses heart-centered leadership, self-compassion, relationship building, and collective liberation - where well-being is achieved together through shared responsibility and mutual support - as foundational components of her evolving theoretical framework and teaching philosophy. She collaboratively explores ways community engagement grounded in a strength-based, trauma-responsive, embodied allyship can influence pedagogy and clinical interventions driven by individual narratives. Melody utilizes her evolving framework to train leaders, educators, therapists, and community members, helping them gain deeper self-awareness, build authentic relationships, and cultivate more open and compassionate communities.

Melody focuses on arts-based approaches to public health priorities, believing that consistent access to quality health and wellness services combined with the arts fosters healing and long-term systemic change, ultimately building thriving communities. As the 2022 Health and Human Services Artist in Residence, embedded in the Rhode Island Office of Health and Human Services, she shared her creative experiences to address specific public health priorities. This residency, part of the Rhode Island Arts and Health Network (RIAH), aims to advance the integration of the arts, art therapies, and health and well-being for Rhode Islanders, through a unique partnership between the Rhode Island State Council on the Arts (RISCA) and the Rhode Island Department of Health (RIDOH).

During her six-month residency, Melody utilized her artistic practice, counseling, and teaching experience to develop creative health solutions and outcomes for the Health and Human Services Agency. She focused on the Children’s Behavioral Health System of Care, overdose, addiction, and adult behavioral health. Melody continues to collaborate with the RI Arts and Health Network.

She is the past assistant artistic director and company member of Fusionworks Dance Company and has been invited to perform with ESS/Dance Works, SOKOLOW NOW! Anna Sokolow Contemporary Dance Company, Dancing Legacy, and Bill Evans Dance Company, in addition to teaching and choreographing throughout New England and beyond. She has worked as a program therapist at Butler Hospital in Providence, RI, and has served as an adjunct professor and guest lecturer at Framingham State University, Providence College, PRATT Institute, Salve Regina University, and Lesley University. Melody is a member of the American Dance Therapy Association and has previously served on the Multicultural and Diversity Committee as well as the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Task Force. The organization awarded her the “Leader of Tomorrow” (2019). Lesley University awarded her the Presidential Scholarship to advance her research on using the arts to evoke equitable and just social change. She is now a doctoral candidate in Lesley University’s Ph.D. program in Counseling and Psychology: Transformational Leadership, Education, and Applied Research.