Organizational Framework

The ISSC, the Institute for the Study of Somatic Communication, is an organization initiated by a dancer, Nita Little, and an anthropologist, Amanda Concha–Holmes, to enrich human relational practices. It has expanded to include other members whose work is also directive of our goals and the means to them.

The ISSC is a collective of research laboratories populated by dancer/researchers working in ensemble modalities, each with skills in physical/attentional practices of dance improvisation and Contact Improvisation. As of March 2020, the dance ensembles, called CoLaboratories (CoLabs), form a research network across seven cities located in five countries internationally. The network is growing with the purpose to span numerous nations and cultures, exceeding its origins and inviting cultural complexity and diversity.

The ISSC is organized in collaboration with experts in research practices across the sciences and humanities including but not limited to anthropology, cognitive science, neuroscience, neuropsychology, and mathematics. The work of these cross-cultural and multidisciplinary researchers explores and expands skills in somatic communication and develops new knowledge of creative interactive networks between humans and between the human and the non-human.