Abstract
The current article is focused upon an exploration of the question of the nature of the
art audience, with a specific emphasis on dance considered as a performing art. Five
possible kinds of perceiver involved in the reception of dance as an art are discussed
in order to demonstrate that the much criticized metaphor of the mirror can indeed
function as a fruitful means to develop an understanding of how dance as an art is
perceived, specifically if a more nuanced understanding of the mirror metaphor is
applied. In its attempt to rehabilitate this metaphor, the paper draws upon and develops
selected aspects of the philosophy of art proposed by John Dewey in his often
overlooked Art as Experience (1934).