Our international network brings scholars, researchers and practitioners in creative therapies, and performers to develop innovative collaborative research, including practice-based and practice-led research in arts therapies with a specific focus on dance.
The conference will draw together our previous three workshops and will initiate discussions for future avenues of research. It is intended as a forum for scholars in the field of neuroscience, dance and therapy to present their work and develop interdisciplinary ideas. It will explore concepts such as embodiment, relationality, movement metaphor and narrative, advancing the practice of dance and dance movement psychotherapy in enabling wellbeing and supporting mental health. It will also expand our knowledge on applications of neuroscientific research in the arts and arts therapies more generally.
Opening the day we have our keynote speaker, Dr Asaf Bachrach (Paris, CNRS) and his talk on ‘Improvising Science’. The day will include short experiential workshops and thought-provoking panel discussions featuring neuroscientists and arts professionals, as they share their expertise and insights, sparking dynamic conversations at the intersection of neuroscience and creativity. Dr. Guido Orgs (UCL, UK) will conclude the day with a captivating performance utilizing a state-of-the-art multi-system EEG hyperscanning setup. This innovative approach will allow for the real-time exploration of individuals’ experiences during engagement with arts therapies.
We are accepting posters from early career researchers to showcase at the conference. Please send a title and abstract to R.J.Clark@ljmu.ac.uk by the 15th May.
Improvising Science
Our keynote speaker is Dr. Asaf Bachrach, the leader of the Labodanse project (labodanse.org). Originally trained in theoretical linguistics (at Paris 3 and Paris 7), Asaf obtained a PhD from M.I.T during which he gained expertise in cognitive neuroscience and developed an interdisciplinary research program in neurolinguistics. He subsequently completed a post-doc at Stanislas Dehaene’s laboratory at Neurospin (INSERM/CEA). He is currently a permanent researcher to the UMR “Formal Structures of Language”. His main research interests include theoretical linguistics, neurolinguistics, and particularly dance and cognition. His recent work includes a Virtual Reality platform for the study of joint improvisation (Articulations, in collaboration with the ENSADlab), a research-action project concerned with the effect of Improvisation on classroom dynamics, and in particular attention, in middle school and more recently participatory research on embodied response-ability to the ecological crisis.
Alongside his academic career, Asaf has had over 25 years of regular practice in contact Improvisation, which he has been teaching for several years, as well as other types of dance (Butoh, release technique, tuning score). Since 2020, Asaf has been part of the Larret en Mouvements collective in southwest France which engages with dance improvisation as part of an ecology of practices (larret-a-venir.fr).
“The title of my talk is ambiguous: is it about the scientific study of improvisation or an (improvised) approach to doing science? I would like to answer yes to both, and in fact, I have come to believe that the two are complementary and co-dependent. In this talk, I will share with you some of our experiences in scientifically studying dance improvisation, or more accurately, making use of dance improvisation as a tool to ask questions about cognition, both individual and social. I will present some results of studies with adults and children with specific brain characteristics. For example, the effect of improvised dance training on the social and temporal abilities of children with unusual cerebellum features, and the interplay of agency and creativity during dance improvisation in Virtual Reality. However, my main focus will be on the how, on the process of a transdisciplinary collective inquiry, where improvisation plays a role in the elaboration of the scientific questions as well as in the approach to addressing them. I will revisit the notion of ‘community of practices’, where actors from different fields, with different agendas and motivations, come together to study. Working as a community of practices is particularly important in projects that connect scientists, artists, therapists, caregivers, and patients. I will propose that collective improvisation is the appropriate ethical and epistemological framework within which communities of practices or contact zones can emerge”
NEUROLIVE Performance: ~ snakeskin in the wild ~
Dog Kennel Hill Project, Photo by Paula Puncher
~ snakeskin in the wild ~ is a performance created in 2023 by Dog Kennel Hill Project (artists Ben Ash, Heni Hale and Rachel Lopez de la Nieta), bringing their combination of formalism and anarchy to the examination of liveness and the aesthetics of science. With closely integrated artistic and scientific experiments, the performance confronts head-on the slippery task of attempting to measure liveness in the wild situation of a theatrical performance event instead of controlled lab conditions.
~ snakeskin in the wild ~ is both an artistic event and part of a scientific research process.
Creative team credits:
Artists: Ben Ash, Henrietta Hale and Rachel Lopez de la Nieta
Collaborating Artists for 7 June 2024 excerpt performance: Matthias Sperling, Guido Orgs
Collaborating Artists for November 2023 full length performances: Siin Lee, Nathaniel Parchment, Iris Chan
With thanks to November 2023 artistic collaborators Jamie Forth (sound design and EEG sonification), Marty Langthorne (lighting design and production), Tony Wadham (filmmaking and documentation), Mo Yousef (AV technician), Samuel Rojas (BSL interpreter), Paula Puncher (Photography), and the NEUROLIVE scientific team.
Commissioned by NEUROLIVE, funded by the European Research Council
NEUROLIVE is a 5-year interdisciplinary research project bringing artists, scientists and audiences together to study what makes live experiences special. ~ snakeskin in the wild ~ is the third performance commission created as part of this research.
Dog Kennel Hill Project is a collective of artists working collaboratively and across disciplines led by Ben Ash, Heni Hale and Rachel Lopez de la Nieta. Their work is performance, dance, embodiment, choreography and lived philosophy. In collaboration and alongside selected associate artists and partners, they have developed investigative projects to specific contexts or communities including theatres, galleries, screenworks, and non-traditional or outdoor sites since 2004.
Conference Programme
9:30 – 10:00: Registration
10:00 – 10:30: Welcome
- Prof Dr Valentina Cazzato
- Prof Vicky Karkou
10:30 – 11:30: Keynote Talk
- Dr Asaf Bachrach (CNRS France)
11:30 – 12:00: Coffee Break
12:00 – 12:15: Short Experiential Workshop
12:15 – 13:00: Panel One: Observing Dance
- Dr Stergios Makris
- Emma Perris
- Dr Bettina Bläsing
- Prof Beatriz Calvo-Merino
- MacKenzie Trupp
- Dr Nisha Sajnani
13:00 – 14:00: Lunch Break
14:00 – 14:15: Short Experiential Workshop
14:15 – 15:00: Panel Two: Dancing with Another
- Prof Vicky Karkou
- Dr Cecilia Fontanesi
- Prof Rainbow Ho
- Dr Corinne Jola
- Dr Rinat Feniger-Schaal
15:00 – 15:30: Break
15:30 – 15:45: Short Experiential Workshop
15:45 – 16:30: Panel Three: Inner Dancing
- Valentina Cazzato
- Prof Sabine Koch
- Dr Merritt Millman
- Prof Jörg Fachner
- Kunle Adewale
16:30 – 17:00: Break
17:00 – 18:00: NEUROLIVE Performance
- Dog Kennel Hill Project
- Dr Guido Orgs
- Dr Matthias Sperling
18:00 – 18:15: Plenary