This research scrutinises forms of artistic collaboration of the field of contemporary dance and performance that are readable as non-hierarchical working processes. By relating sociological methods such as qualitative network analysis to a social ontology, as developed by the philosopher Jean-Luc Nancy, subjectivistic and objectivistic perspectives are to be intertwined. In this article, methods applied by the sociologist Pierre Bourdieu have been examined in order to discuss their points of connection to Nancy’s theory. The aim is to build a chart of perception that includes theories of philosophy as well as sociological tools for empirical investigations, in order to scrutinise forms of artistic collaboration.