Registration for October 10th
Early bird if registered before the 31th of August
Dancing my mind
-a conference on dance, brain health and artistery
We’ll explore how dance can support – but sometimes also undermine – mental well-being and cognitive function in both community and elite settings, and examine the key elements that can make dance so beneficial for health, including the role of artistry.
Whether you're a dancer, educator, researcher, or health professional, this is a chance to connect, learn, and move with researchers and dance professionals.
Where and when?
October 10th-11th at the Swedish School of Sport and Health Sciences (GIH) and Balettakademien, in Stockholm.
10th of october at The Swedish school of sport and health science (GIH)
Brain health via dance: Neuroscience, dance, and artistry
10.30 - 10.45 Conferens opening
Per Nilsson, vice-chancellor at The Swedish school of sport and health science (GIH). Gunnar Bjursell, professor emeritus at Karolinska Institutet. Jan Åström, principal at Balettakademien Stockholm
10.45 - 11.30 Lecture by Maria Ekblom and Gisela Nyberg. Enhancing Brain Health and Cognitive Function Across the Lifespan: The Role of Exercise and School-Based Interventions in Youth.
In this joint presentation, Maria will first describe how the translational center of excellence E-PABS co-produces knowledge in collaboration with societal stakeholders, enabling them to improve their products and services to support brain health in their respective fields. Next, Gisela will describe a large-scale school-based intervention designed to improve mental health, cognitive function and academic performance in Swedish adolescents. Preliminary findings will be presented, with a particular focus on the role dance has played in the project, especially in engaging girls.
11.30 - 11.45 Short break
11.45 - 12.30 Workshop by Åsa N. Åström: Emphasizing artistry in dance for health work.
This workshop is led by Åsa who is in charge of developing Dance for Health in Sweden at Balettakademien. From knowledge and experience in teaching Dance for PD and elderly in different settings like elderly care, refugees center, ediction center and cancer care. She will share practical knowledge, putting it in an artistic approach, and in a health perspective. The workshop is open to anyone.
12.30 - 13.30 Lunch
13.30 - 14.15 Lecture by Dr Reyna L. Gordon: Genetic Signatures of moving in synchrony with music as a scientific window into human dance
Dr Reyna L. Gordon: Assistant Professor in the Department of Otolaryngology at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Director of the Music Cognition Lab, and Associate Director of the Program for Music, Mind & Society at Vanderbilt. Reyna is presenting her current research program focused on the role of rhythm in language development and disorders from behavioral, cognitive, neural, and genetic perspectives.
14.15 - 14.30 Short break
14.30 - 15.15 Lecture by Dr Guido Orgs: The Neurocognition of Dance
People across all known cultures dance. Evolutionary theory proposes that human dance has evolved as a form of ritualistic communication between groups of people, promoting and signaling group affiliation. In this talk, I will review evidence from experimental and real-world studies illustrating that dance indeed communicates non-verbal information via the dynamics of individual and collective movement. Comparing the experience of live and recorded dance performances reveals that dance is an inherently social art form in which performers, artists and spectators share experiences. Beyond a conventional definition as mere movement-to-music, dance provides a rich and naturalistic research tool and topic to study how humans and other animals convey emotions and intentions through body movement. Moreover, dance offers new avenues for improving physical and mental health through exercise and altering body awareness.
15.15 - 15.45 Swedish fika break
15.45 - 16.30 Panel discussion - What are the active ingredients in making dance for health so health-promoting? How important is artistry?
With Reyna Gordon, Gunnar Bjursell, Guido Orgs, Åsa N. Åström and others.
Moderator: Sanna Nordin Bates
Day 1 speakers:
Maria Ekblom is a professor of Sport Sciences and pro vice chancellor at the Swedish School of Sport and Health Sciences. She leads E-PABS, a translational center of excellence that focuses on physical activity for brain health and sustainability. She has extensive experience conducting experimental studies investigating the effects of different types of exercise on neural mechanisms for brain health. Currently, she is evaluating how aerobic exercise influences neuroplasticity in the context of stroke rehabilitation.
Gisela Nyberg
Professor of Sport Sciences at the Swedish School of Sport and Health Sciences. She has been involved in several intervention and implementation studies to promote healthy dietary and physical activity habits among children and families. She also has extensive experience conducting research in disadvantaged communities. Currently, she is evaluating a school-based project, involving more than 1000 Swedish adolescents, which includes physical activity and homework support, with the aim to promote mental health, cognitive function and academic performance.
Dr Reyna L. Gordon, PhD
Dr. Reyna Gordon is an integrative scientist interested in the biological underpinnings of human musicality and how musicality relates to the language, health, and social interaction. She is currently a tenured Associate Professor in the Department of Otolaryngology - Head & Neck Surgery at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, where she directs the Vanderbilt Music Cognition Lab. She is also an Investigator at the Vanderbilt Genetics Institute. Her work integrates approaches from the fields of Psychology, Neuroscience, Medicine, Genetics, Linguistics, Music Cognition, and Communication Disorders.
Dr. Gordon holds a Bachelor of Music in Vocal Arts from the University of Southern California, an M.S. in Neuroscience from the University of Provence, and a Ph.D. in Complex Systems and Brain Sciences from Florida Atlantic University. Dr. Gordon is a Co-Founder and Co-Chair of the Musicality Genomics Consortium, a new international network dedicated to large-scale population-based studies of human musical traits and their relationship with health.
Guido Orgs
Associate Professor and Group Leader of the Movement & Performance Group at the Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience at UCL. My research focusses on human movement in real-world contexts and evolves around three broad research areas: the cognitive neuroscience of dance and the performing arts, the role of movement, sport and exercise for physical and mental health, and mobile neuroimaging in real world contexts.
I studied Psychology and Performing Dance at the University of Düsseldorf and the Folkwang, University of the Arts in Germany. After completing my PhD in Cognitive Neuroscience, I performed with German dance company NEUER TANZ/VA WÖLFL between 2008 and 2011.
Since 2009 I have worked in London, first as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience here at UCL, and then as a Lecturer in Psychology at Brunel University from 2013 until 2015. In 2015 I moved to the Department of Psychology at Goldsmiths, University of London where I founded the MSc in Psychology of the Arts, Neuroaesthetics & Creativity in 2018. Since 2020 I am Principal Investigator of NEUROLIVE, a 5-year EU-funded interdisciplinary research project that aims to understand what makes live experiences special.
Åsa N. Åström
Choreographer, Dancer and Educator.
Åsa is head of Dance for Health at Balettakademien in Stockholm, Sweden. She is organizing Dance for Parkinsons network in Sweden. Teaching Dance for Parkinsons both live and digital, Dance for people suffering from stroke, cultural integration and for people living with cancer. She is creating collaborations between dance in research and art institutions.
Åsa N. Åström is a former dancer with an extensive career within contemporary dance in Sweden, France and Germany. She has been working with known dance companies as well as freelancing with different choreographers. Often in the field of contemporary, show, African and flamenco-inspired dance styles.
Organized by
Åsa N Åström (BA), Sanna Nordin Bates (GIH), Gunnar Bjursell(KI), John Sennet (KI)
Adress:
The Swedish school of sport and health science (GIH) Lidingövägen 1, Stockholm
Price
Early bird if registered before the 31th of August
One day – 800 SEK
From September 1st
One day – 1000 SEK
Registration for both days can be found here
Har du frågor?
Kontakta Folkuniversitetet i Stockholm