Moving Out of the Black and Into the Blue: The Cross-referencing of Performative Metaphor in Dancing, Psychotherapy, and Writing

Abstract

Introduction: This article cross-references metaphors in therapy, performance, and writing. It is an exploration of the power of metaphor and image in a path of personal discovery. Utilizing interpretive and aesthetical modes of inquiry, I investigate my lived experience in these three activities as applied and manifested in a concert performance, “No Two Alikeand Other Dances by Alan Good and Philip Grosser” (Grosser 2001a), within which I was a featured dancer. Through meta-analysis of my clinical work in therapy, deconstruction of certain sections of the dance work as it was created and performed, and a review of personal journals, text and drawings, I examine the transverse effects of the dance, psychotherapeutic processes, and writing, as well as the aesthetical concern of discovering and conveying personal voice in performance.