Dancing My Mind

Registration for Both Days, October 10th-11th

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 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

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

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 holds secondary appointments in the Department of Psychology, the Vanderbilt Brain Institute, The Vanderbilt Genetics Institute, and the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center.

Reyna holds a Bachelor of Music in Vocal Arts from the University of Southern California, a Master of Science in Neuroscience from University of Aix-Marseille, and a PhD in Complex Systems and Brain Sciences from Florida Atlantic University. She also completed postdoctoral training in developmental disabilities at the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center. The intersection of these multi-disciplinary interests eventually to her current research program focused on the role of rhythm in language development and disorders from behavioral, cognitive, neural, and genetic perspectives.

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.

11th of october at Balettakademien

Brain health for dancers: Making elite dance health-promoting

9.30-10.30 Workshop with Matthias Sperling and Guido Orgs

Choreographer Matthias Sperling and cognitive neuroscientist Guido Orgs have collaborated on artistic and scientific research for 15 years. In this workshop, Matthias shares artistic principles and practices drawn from three works that have contributed to this collaboration: Group Study (2015), No-How Generator (2019) and Readings of what was never written (2024). As choreographic investigations, these works share an interest in embodied ways of knowing as an intrinsic part of live dance experiences.

For performers and audience members alike, this can span a generative meshwork of our bodily capacities for knowing that are variously ‘scientific’ (rational, languaged, explicit) and ‘magical’ (more-than-rational, felt sense, intuitive). The workshops will be suitable for people with and without prior dance experience.

10.30 - 11.00 Swedish fika break

11.00 – 11.45 Lecture Dr Jennifer Cumming:

Behind the Curtain: Mental Health in High-Level Dance

Mental health in elite dance is gaining overdue attention, yet current research reveals a troubling picture. This talk will explore why so many dancers may silently struggle, whether the very qualities that support elite performance can also harm mental health, and what we can do - individually and collectively - to better prevent mental illness and support wellbeing in high performance environments.

11.45 – 12.45  Lunch

12.45 - 13.45 Workshop Joakim Stephenson: Well-Being in Motion: Rethinking the Traditional Dance Class

13.45 - 14.30 Panel discussion: how can elite/high-level dance be made more health-promoting?

With Jennifer Cumming, Joakim Stephenson, Sanna Nordin Bates and others.

Moderator: Jan Åström

14.30 - 15.00 Swedish fika and departures

Day 2 speakers:

Dr Jennifer Cumming

Prof Jennifer Cumming is a Chartered Psychologist, expert in Sport and Dance Psychology at the University of Birmingham (UK), and co-director of The SPRINT Project (www.sprintproject.org). Drawing on a career that spans over two decades, she specialises in enhancing performance and mental well-being. Her research—supported by over £4M in funding—has shaped interventions that empower individuals to self-regulate and refine their mental skills. Prof Cumming collaborates widely, translating research into practice and policy, such as by identifying risk and protective factors of dancers’ mental health. She is a passionate advocate for using strengths-based approaches to preventing maltreatment and promoting a safer and more equitable dance environment.

Matthias Sperling, choreographer

Matthias Sperling is an artist, choreographer and performer, and is the Artistic Director of NEUROLIVE. His work includes creating performances in theatre, gallery and museum contexts, as well as extending to curatorial work and scientific research collaborations. His work has been presented at Sadler’s Wells, Tate Modern, Southbank Centre, Royal Opera House, Wellcome Collection, Dance Umbrella and Nottdance, among others. He has been a frequent collaborator with Siobhan Davies Dance, an Associate Artist with Dance4 and a Sadler’s Wells Summer University Artist. He created an adaptation of a solo choreographic score by Deborah Hay, and has created commissions for Candoco Dance Company and Weld Company among others. He completed his artistic doctorate in 2022 at De Montfort University, supported by Midlands4Cities in partnership with Dance4/FABRIC and Siobhan Davies Studios.

Joakim Stephenson, teacher and choreographer

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

Balettakademien, Birger Jarlsgatan 70, Stockholm

Price

Early bird if registered before the 31th of August

One day – 800 SEK

Two days – 1200 SEK

From September 1st

One day – 1000 SEK

Two days – 1500 SEK

 

Har du frågor?

Kontakta Folkuniversitetet i Stockholm

direkt@folkuniversitetet.se