Dynamic Bodies: A Framework for Somatic Engagement in Dance and Movement

Movement plays a fundamental role in human life, shaping how we think, communicate, and engage with ourselves and our surroundings. Somatic practice, which focuses on deepening the relationship between body and mind, offers a framework for understanding the human experience. This book examines the theoretical foundations of somatics and introduces SomaLab®, a system designed to support integrated mind-body learning.

The book contextualizes somatic experience by exploring how humans learn, regulate, and respond to different environments. Practical applications--designed across educational, artistic, and community contexts--are offered for dancers, musicians, and others who use movement as a means of expression, interaction, or connection.

A professor of contemporary dance at Indiana University in Bloomington, Elizabeth Limons Shea is a dance artist, scholar, and educator whose choreography for live performance and film has been presented across the U.S. and abroad. She specializes in somatic theory and practice, teaching her self-developed system, SomaLab®, for dance professionals and community practitioners.