Performative healing: The use of expressive dance to support emotional recovery after cancer diagnosis
Abstract
Despite growing interest in psychosocial interventions for cancer patients, existing supportive care approaches often insufficiently address embodied emotional expression during the early phase following diagnosis. This study investigates the potential of expressive dance as a performative and body-based healing practice to support emotional recovery after cancer diagnosis. Using a controlled intervention design, standardized psychological scales, behavioral ratings, and physiological indicators were employed to evaluate the effects of expressive dance on emotional recovery outcomes. The findings reveal that expressive dance facilitates emotional release, enhances self-awareness, and reconstructs patients’ sense of agency by integrating bodily movement with emotional meaning-making. Unlike conventional verbal or cognitive interventions, this approach emphasizes performative healing through embodied expression, offering a novel psychosocial pathway for emotional support in psycho-oncology. These results highlight the unique therapeutic value of expressive dance and suggest its potential integration into holistic cancer care frameworks.
Copyright (c) 2026 Rui Ou
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
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