Dancing on Coals

An award-winning playwright's story of her madcap race to find fame or enlightenment, whichever comes first— perfect for fans of Lori Gottlieb's Maybe You Should Talk to Someone.

In Dancing on Coals, Cynthia Moore describes a multi-decade, harebrained search for love in all the wrong places, starting when her narcissistic mother abandons her to a Swiss finishing school. Desperately seeking belonging, she leapfrogs from a polyamorous commune into a high-octane all-male performance group, dancing as if her life depends on it. When she finally quits the theater, earns a masters degree in psychology and develops her own therapeutic approach, she is able to heal herself and find the true belonging and peace she longs for.

At times humorous and self-deprecating, at times poignant and heartbreaking, this is the story of one woman's path from abandonment to wholeness and authenticity.

Cynthia Moore is an award-winning playwright and performer who wrote and directed theater for over twenty years. A founding member of Otrabanda Company, she also worked in the Honolulu Theatre for Youth and the women’s collective Lilith before joining the Blake Street Hawkeyes. In 1990, she left the theater to earn a master’s degree in clinical psychology. She has now worked as a mental health counselor for twenty-three years, with a particular focus on the healing connection between spirituality and trauma. She has also taught numerous workshops in creativity, writing from the heart, and more. Cynthia lives in Berkeley, California, with her husband, David.