Improvising New Realities: Movement, Sound and Social Therapeutics

Focusing on dance and music improvisation, this paper explores the parallels between these practices and social therapeutics - a performative and radically humanistic approach to psychology, therapy, education and community building. This methodology has helped us further frame our experience of performance and improvisation as powerful tools for social transformation. We structure the paper around the growth and development of the artistic and community-based work of the Institute for Improvisation and Social Action (ImprovISA), an organization we co-founded and now direct on the U.S.-Mexico border.