Drawing on my work with the dance project Theory of Holes, this blog explores the meeting point of creativity, wellbeing and performance.
Susan McQuakerÂ
When people hear the word therapy, they often imagine a private room, two chairs and a conversation. Yet therapeutic practice can also exist within creative spaces, supporting artists as they navigate emotionally rich material whilst remaining grounded, safe and connected to themselves.
Recently I had the privilege of working as Dramatherapist alongside choreographer Lynn Shaw during the Research and Development (R&D) phase of a new dance project, Theory of Holes (working title). Following the initial R&D, the project developed into a week-long creative residency at Dance Base in Edinburgh, culminating in a sharing of the work with an invited audience. The longer-term ambition is to use the material created during this process as part of a larger funding application to develop a full-length touring dance production, alongside workshops that invite audiences and participants to engage more deeply with the themes explored in the work.
My role throughout the process was not to provide therapy for the dancers. Rather, I offered therapeutic holding, creating a psychologically informed framework that enabled the dancers to explore challenging themes safely whilst supporting the creative process.
Crossing the Threshold
One of the first ideas we introduced was the concept of crossing the threshold.
Rather than beginning rehearsals by immediately learning choreography, we invited the dancers to consciously acknowledge that they were leaving the outside world and stepping into a different kind of space.
In Dramatherapy, this can be understood as entering a liminal space, a transitional space that exists between everyday reality and the imaginative world of creative exploration. It is a place where symbolic thinking, movement, imagination and personal experience can inform artistic expression without becoming everyday reality.
Within this liminal space, dancers were invited to become curious about movement, sensation and imagery. Their lived experiences could inform the creative process, not through personal disclosure or performance of autobiography, but through embodied exploration that generated authentic choreography.
The rehearsal room became a container where emotional truths could be transformed into movement rather than simply expressed.
Therapy or Therapeutic Holding?Â
This distinction is an important one.
The dancers were not receiving therapy, nor was the rehearsal room used as a therapeutic group. The primary purpose was always the creation of high-quality artistic work.
However, creative processes that draw upon emotion, imagination and lived experience require thoughtful containment.
As Dramatherapists, we understand how symbolic material can emerge through the body and creative process. Therapeutic holding means providing a framework that supports psychological safety, choice and agency whilst allowing artists to take creative risks.
It is about recognising that artists are human beings first.
Rather than encouraging vulnerability for its own sake, therapeutic holding creates conditions where vulnerability can be approached safely, ethically and with clear boundaries.
Exploring Theory of HolesÂ
The creative research drew inspiration from the Diamond Approach concept known as the Theory of Holes.
The theory explores how, through life experiences, conditioning and self-protection, we can become disconnected from aspects of our true essence. These “holes” are not flaws but places where unconscious protective strategies develop. They may appear as perfectionism, over-achieving, avoidance, defensiveness or a continual search for validation from the outside world.
The creative process explored these themes physically rather than intellectually, allowing movement to become a language through which the dancers could investigate what it means to lose and rediscover connection with ourselves
Dynamic Meditation and Creative InquiryÂ
Each day often began with dynamic meditation, combining chaotic breathing, cathartic release, stillness and free movement.
This practice allows dancers to arrive fully in their bodies before entering choreographic exploration. As dancer Laura Booth describes it:
“This is a hugely grounding exercise that frees the body and quietens the mind prior to starting the creative process.”
From this place, choreography emerges through curiosity rather than control.
The dancers also explored the Diamond Approach’s Coloured Latifas. These are qualities of consciousness that became creative prompts for movement generation.
White invited relaxed confidence and trust whilst exploring the tendency to overthink.
Red explored courage, creativity and passion alongside defensiveness.
Black invited encounters with stillness and shadow whilst examining false identities.
Green centred compassion, vulnerability and self-acceptance whilst acknowledging self-criticism.
Yellow opened playful curiosity, joy and spontaneity where seriousness or inhibition might otherwise dominate.
These qualities became choreographic invitations rather than psychological labels.
Leaving the Liminal SpaceÂ
Just as important as entering the rehearsal process was learning how to leave it.
At the end of each day, I guided the dancers through a process of de-roling.
Although commonly associated with actors, de-roling is equally valuable in dance when performers have worked with emotionally resonant material. It offers an intentional transition out of the symbolic world of rehearsal and back into everyday life.
Through grounding exercises, reflection and conscious closure, dancers were supported to recognise that the movement, imagery and emotional material belonged to the creative process rather than needing to be carried home with them.
Crossing back over the threshold is an important act of care. It allows performers to reconnect with themselves outside the work, reducing the possibility that emotionally charged material remains activated after rehearsals end.
In this way, entering and leaving the liminal space becomes a ritual that protects both the artist and the creative process.
Looking AheadÂ
The week-long residency at Dance Base demonstrated the richness of combining choreographic research with psychologically informed creative practice. Sharing the work with an invited audience offered valuable insight into how these ideas resonate beyond the rehearsal room.
The next stage is to build upon this research through a larger funding application, with the aim of developing Theory of Holes into a full-length touring dance production accompanied by workshops that deepen audiences’ engagement with the themes of human essence, conditioning and transformation.
Working on this project reaffirmed for me the unique contribution Dramatherapy can make within theatre, dance, film and television.
It is not about turning rehearsals into therapy.
It is about creating spaces where artists feel psychologically safe enough to explore complex human experiences through creativity. By holding the rehearsal process with care, clear boundaries and intentional transitions into and out of the liminal space, performers are free to create work that is courageous, authentic and deeply human.
For me, that is where Dramatherapy and performance meet, not in treatment, but in the careful holding of creativity itself.
Working Together
As this project continues to evolve towards a full-length touring production, it highlights the value of integrating Dramatherapy into creative practice from the earliest stages of development. Therapeutic holding can support performers to engage deeply with creative processes whilst maintaining psychological safety, clear boundaries and ethical practice.
I am available for work with theatre companies, dance organisations, film and television productions, offering therapeutic holding, psychologically informed rehearsal support, de-roling processes, reflective practice and wellbeing consultation throughout the creative process.
If you are interested in exploring how Dramatherapy can support your creative team or production, I would be delighted to hear from you.
Email: susan@mcquakerdramatherapy.co.uk
Telephone: 07712 519975
