Moving Towards Wholeness - dissertation excerpt

Excerpt from chapter 2, 2017:

Moving Towards Wholeness:

An Exploration of the Unconscious through

Dance and Movement to Support Individuation

According to Jung, assimilating the shadow “gives man a body, so to speak; the animal sphere of instinct, as well as the primitive or archaic psyche, emerge into the zone of consciousness.”[1] Although dancing disavowed or unwanted parts of the psyche is difficult work, it allows the client to consciously move into and transform the shadow, meaning that they are not controlled by its contents. Since no one attitude dominates, power is restored to the ego; the client can bring more of himself into awareness.

The shadow responds particularly well to creativity as a vehicle of expression. Butoh, conceived by Tatsumi Hijikata and Kazuo Ohno, is a form of dance that originated in late 1950s Japan. Unlike Western ballet with its movement of energy upwards, Butoh descends into the body to encourage exploration of the unconscious.[2] Similar to Jung’s work on darkness and symbols of transformation, Hijikata “embraced the darkness, naming his dance ‘darkness dance’ and conceiving it in light of transformative potency.”[3] However, for Hijikata, the way to the unconscious is not archetypal but “immediately available through the body in its spirituality.”[4] Indeed Ohno describes its message as follows: “we cannot turn away from the messy refuse of life”[5] suggesting turning towards the contents of the shadow. Butoh combines somatic movement with improvisation and imagination, using creativity in the form of active imagination to bridge the conscious and the unconscious. Butoh dancers are in a process of transformation, “guided by imagery, connectivity and surrender”[6] and for these reasons its approach can help exploration of the unconscious. Although created as an art form to be performed, Butoh also has deeply therapeutic effects.

In order for the individual to feel safe enough to enter into this exploration in a therapeutic context, the relationship between therapist and client is fundamental. Creativity “cannot be forced, but must be permitted to emerge.”[7] As well as the core conditions of the therapeutic relationship, Carl Rogers explored the therapist’s role in setting up the conditions for creativity. The client’s sense of psychological safety comes in part from a therapist who “feels basically that this individual is of worth in his own right and in his own unfolding, no matter what his present condition or behaviour.”[8] Similar to the idea of unconditional positive regard, this belief in the client can lower facades and reduce rigidity, meaning he “can discover what it means to be himself, can try to actualize himself in new and spontaneous ways.”[9] This can lead to a sense of curiosity and a freedom to express himself.

A sense of freedom is also generated by removing external evaluation (measuring the dance by some external standard), which would otherwise threaten the client’s locus of evaluation. For the therapist to react to a piece of work is natural, however, since it means that I, as an individual, am able or unable to appreciate something that you have created.[10]

Understanding the client empathically means the therapist holds the attitude of: “[I] see you and what you are feeling and doing from your point of view, [I] enter your private world and see it as it appears to you – and still accept you.”[11] This provides great psychological safety, which permits freedom of symbolic expression.[12]  

The body then can provide direct access to the unconscious. Seen from a cultural and historical perspective, the body in Western society has been in shadow or divided into parts. Increasing awareness of the body’s internal impulses, movements, sensations and language returns a sense of wholeness to an individual’s experience. Authentic Movement (Active Imagination in movement) and Butoh dance are examples of movement practises with an internal focus, through which different parts of the unconscious can be explored. The therapist who witnesses the movement can foster creativity and psychological safety by fully respecting the client, removing external evaluation and communicating empathic understanding.

[1] Jung, C. G., Collected Works vol. 16 (Routledge, 1985) p. 239

[2] Fraleigh, S. and Nakamura, T.,  Hijikata Tatsumi and Ohno Kazuo, (Routledge, 2006) p. 40

[3] Fraleigh, S., Butoh, Metaphoric Dance and Global Alchemy, (University of Illinois, 2010) p. 70

[4] Ibid. p. 71

[5] Fraleigh, S. and Nakamura, T., Hijikata Tatsumi and Ohno Kazuo, (Routledge, 2006) p. 40

[6] Fraleigh, S., Butoh, Metaphoric Dance and Global Alchemy, (University of Illinois, 2010) p. 73

[7] Rogers, C., On Becoming A Person, A therapist’s view of Psychotherapy, (Constable, 1961) p.356

[8] Ibid. p. 357

[9] Ibid.

[10] Ibid. p.358

[11] Ibid.

[12] Ibid.