Jung Forum: The Tao of Tango meets the Dance of Analysis
This is the presentation of a paper connecting the deep dyadic engagement and sustained attunement of Psychoanalysis and Jungian Analysis with the dance of Argentine tango. The paper explores developmental and psychoanalytic aspects together with symbolic and transpersonal dimensions.
Date: 24/09/2026 Time: 20:00 - 21:30 Venue: Online via Zoom
Price: £12.50 for non members, free for members with code provided in membership area
Event Details
Description
Speaker: Sally Arthur
Chair: Joanna De Waal
At first glance the dance of Argentine tango has nothing at all to do with Psychoanalysis or Jungian analysis. In this paper, the author finds parallels between these disparate activities and examines them through a combination of theoretical and phenomenological lenses.
The paths of tango and analysis are ones that rely on deep, dyadic engagement and sustained attunement between two people over time. Each requires a basic framework of theory and technique, followed by years of practice.
This essay explores developmental and psychoanalytic aspects in Part I and then flows in Part II into Jungian and symbolic dimensions. We begin with an overview of Argentine tango. Then, the paper proposes the theoretical and heuristic conception of a “kinetic object”, a clinical metaphor for an early psychological structure of mind linking soma and psyche; a structure that shapes how individuals move, relate and respond to others later in life.
The tango embrace and the analytic frame are examined as relational containers that can provide a space for transformation. A Jungian perspective offers the possibility of tango and analysis as psycho-spiritual practices, and the Tao of Daoist philosophy is invoked to suggest them as relational gateways to the numinous and transpersonal.
The paper echoes the call of many theorists (Schore, 2012, Van der Kolk, 2014, Lemma, 2015, McDougall, 1989, Bloom, 2006) to attend to the body as well as to the mind of the patient in psychotherapy. Clinical vignettes illustrate how movement, sensation and embodied attunement can inform and enliven analytic work.
About the Speaker
Sally Arthur is a BJAA-trained Jungian Analyst and accredited Balint Group Leader. She is a psychotherapist at the West London NHS Trust Cassel Hospital, which provides treatment to patients who have a diagnosis of EUPD and complex trauma. She also works as a supervisor and psychotherapist in private practice in South West London.
She ran an infant observation group and co-chaired the bpf infant observation course in recent years. This, and the study and practice of Argentine tango, have expanded her capacity to attend to the body as well as to the mind in the consulting room.
*If you are a psychotherapist or counsellor residing in an active conflict zone, you are eligible to attend this event free of charge (regardless of whether you are a bpf member or not). Please email events@bpf-psychotherapy to enquire about a ticket.