2022 International Workshop on the Neural and Social Bases of Creative Movement

This international interdisciplinary workshop is focused on the theme of creative movements and the brain. The in-person workshop will take place at the Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts. The planning committee invites an exceptionally wide range of scientists, engineers, and clinicians to exchange ideas with and to integrate knowledge and experience among creative movement professionals and other performing artists. The primary goals of the event are to encourage all participants to reach beyond the confines of their expertise to explore the science of learning to move, how the creative process is manifested in the brain, and how it can be harnessed to enhance health and the quality of life.

The workshop will include 3 days of scientific presentations and 1 final day of educational outreach and performances. Presentations will include demonstrations within sessions.

Concurrent themes that run throughout all sessions: biological and social evolution of creative movement and its relation to music; learning and memory of complex motor sequences in creative movement; transformation of movement and performance to artistic expression; action and performance to perception; and the therapeutic and life-enhancing value of creative movement.

• Session 1: Anthropological and Evolutionary Biology of Creative Movement 
• Session 2: Cognitive Neuroscience of Creative Movement
• Session 3: Artificial Intelligence, Robotics, Technology, and Creative Movement
• Session 4: Embodied Cognition and Learning of Creative Movement
• Session 5: Creative Movement for Health
• Session 6: The Shared Experience of Creative Movement: Improvisation, Synchronicity, and Creative Child Education
• Session 7: Educational Outreach and Performance at Wolf Trap

View the workshop website for more details: https://yourbrainanddance.egr.uh.edu/

Sponsorship or significant contributions for this workshop have come from the National Science Foundation (Sessions 1 to 4), the Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts (Sessions 6 and 7), the National Endowment for the Arts Research Lab at Rice University (Session 7), and the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (Sessions 1 and 5).