THE EMBODIED BRAIN LABORATORY
The Science & Art of Movement Festival is hosted by Dr. Julia Basso and Rachel Rugh, MFA. This inaugural festival is an initiative of the Science & Art of Movement Laboratory, co-directed by Institute for Creativity, Arts, and Technology research fellows Dr. Julia Basso, Dr. Robin Queen, and Scotty Hardwig, MFA. This collaborative effort centers around scientific and creative projects of embodiment and human movement.
The festival, which will take place from June 17th to 21st will include morning movement sessions, morning dance scholar lectures, and afternoon dance workshops. The first workshop, offered on Monday and Tuesday, will be led by Scotty Hardwig. The second workshop, offered on Wednesday through Friday, will be led by The Architects.
Morning sessions will be open to the public, but will still require registration. Afternoon workshop sessions will be by admission only for 30 dancers (see application in registration link below). To register, please fill out the registration form at the link below.
**Please note, there is no fee for the festival, but you will need to pay for your travel, accommodations, and food.**
Image from Epiphany Machine, performance on Tuesday, June 18th 7:30 pm
FESTIVAL DETAILS:
MONDAY (6/17/24):
<> 9:15 am - 10:30 am: Contemporary dance offered by Rachel Rugh
<> 11:00 am - 12:30 pm: Lectures by Drs. Julia Basso, Robin Queen, and Audrey Reeves
<> 12:30 pm - 2:00 pm: Lunch on own
<> 2:00 - 5:00 pm: Dance workshop with Scotty Hardwig, Body Landscapes
<> 5:30 - 7:30 pm: Dinner on own or join us at TBD
TUESDAY (6/18/24):
<> 9:15 am - 10:30 am: Flamenco dance offered by Dr. Constantina Theofanopoulou
<> 11:00 am - 12:30 pm: Keynote scientific lecture by Dr. Madeleine Hackney
<> 12:30 pm - 2:00 pm: Lunch on own
<> 2:00 - 5:00 pm: Dance workshop with Scotty Hardwig, Body Landscapes
<> 5:30 - 7:30 pm: Dinner on own or join us at Maroon Door
<> 7:30 pm: Performance of Epiphany Machine with artist talk back
WEDNESDAY (6/19/24):
<> Juneteenth celebration, festival activities will be announced shortly
THURSDAY: (6/20/24):
<> 9:15 am - 10:30 am: Popping and animation dance offered by Noor Tasnim
<> 11:00 am - 12:30 pm: Lectures by Drs. Samantha Harden, Constantina Theofanopoulou, & Jennifer Kayle
<> 12:30 pm - 2:00 pm: Lunch on own
<> 2:00 - 5:00 pm: Workshop with The Architects, Movement Intensive in Compositional Improvisation
<> 5:30 - 7:30 pm: Dinner on own or join us at Eastern Divide
<> 7:30 pm: Performance with The Architects, Rachel Rugh & Annie Stevens, and Dr. AZA Allsop
FRIDAY (6/21/24):
<> 9:15 am - 10:30 am: Yoga with Dr. Samantha Harden
<> 11:00 am - 12:30 pm: Discussion with all science/artist scholars
<> 12:30 pm - 2:00 pm: Lunch on own
<> 2:00 - 5:00 pm: Workshop with The Architects, Movement Intensive in Compositional Improvisation
<> 5:30 - 7:30 pm: Dinner on own or join us at TBD
FEATURED DANCE WORKSHOPS:
BODY LANDSCAPES | CUERPO TERRITORIO
In this workshop we’ll develop a morphing
physical landscape that folds and shifts over
the course of the practice, weaving through
evolutionary movement patterns organized
to build adaptive mobility, soft-strong joints,
and fluid resilience throughout the body. The
class will cycle through floorwork passes
that tune the flow and warm the core in
whole-body coordinations that emphasize
accumulation, expansion, and spherical
pathways. Each pass across the floor is followed by freehand group drawing and improvisational scores to transition into the next cycle. This work is based on the cuerpo territorio system developed by Mexican dance artist Claudia Lavista, which in turn was inspired in part by the piso móvil (mobile floor) vocabulary developed by Cortocinésis dance company and Colombian dancemaker Vladimir Rodríguez.
COLLABORATORY: ENSEMBLE IMPROVISATION AND ATTENTION
This workshop balances in-depth individual
exploration with rigorous practice in
spontaneous ensemble dance-making.
Fresh perceptions and new choices are set
in motion daily through provoking,
open-ended questions. Each kinesthetic-
conceptual proposition acts as an entrance
point for the mover and composer, a window
into authenticity, connection, depth, and
range. Of particular interest here is THE
EMERGING: compositional languages and modes of perceiving and engaging that are in-progress, unfolding, as-yet-unseen. Throughout the workshop, the artistic integrity of one’s voice is sharpened in conversation with the whole and a dialogue emerges as individual aesthetics meet, interact, and expand. As time allows, group discussions contribute to conscious integration of the experiential and the conceptual. Even here, moving into words is an invitation to discover, to uncover diverse perspectives, spark the imagination, and to notice the aesthetic and poetic effect of our compositional choices.
*For both workshops, participants are advised to wear clothing that is comfortable for floorwork, such as shirts that cover the shoulders and pants that cover the knees*
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ADDITIONAL DETAILS FOR YOUR STAY & COMFORT:
Where to stay?
Virginia Tech Campus: If you would like to stay on the Virginia Tech campus, we have reserved space at New Hall West, which is located centrally to where we will be hosting all festival events. Room rates include 1 meal card for meals throughout your stay. Meals begin with breakfast after your first night (June 16th) and end with breakfast on the last day of your stay (June 22nd). Rooms are in a Private Bathroom style residence hall.The cost for all housing and meals is $669.74. You can book your stay at the link here:
The Inn at Virginia Tech: Experience a rich blend of history and comfort at this hotel in the heart of the Virginia Tech campus. The Inn at Virginia Tech redefines service and provides a wide array of amenities that will make your stay in Blacksburg a memorable one.
Holiday Inn Express & Suites Blacksburg - University Area: The Holiday Inn Express & Suites Blacksburg University Area Hotel is centrally located less than a mile from the Virginia Tech Visitors Center and is the best place to stay during your trip to Blacksburg! They continue to be a popular choice for business travelers, sports teams, wedding groups and visitors, because our guests experience a great night's sleep in a spacious suite for the best value in Blacksburg.
Hyatt Place Blacksburg/University: Explore all that Blacksburg and the New River Valley has to offer from the comforts of the pet-friendly Hyatt Place Blacksburg / University hotel. Maintain your fitness routine in our fitness center and indoor pool. Their friendly staff is eager to welcome you to our modern hotel located across the street from Virginia Tech’s campus, and minutes away from Virginia Tech’s research center.
Airbnb options are also available in Blacksburg, VA or Christiansburg, VA.
WHERE TO REST AND DIGEST:
Blacksburg, VA offers an eclectic dining scene where you'll find everything from gigantic slices of pizza served up at all hours of the day to funky tacos, delightful tapas, handcrafted drinks, and fresh farm to table. Find out more HERE. Below are some of our favorites:
For coffee and pastries: Halwa Bakery & Cafe; Mill Mountain Coffee and Tea
For casual dining: Bottom of the Stairs; Green's Grill & Sushi Bar
For fine dining: Blacksburg Wine Lab; 622 North Restaurant and Wine Bar
For yoga and meditation: In Balance Yoga
For some spa time: Allure Spa and Skin Health Boutique; Relax Blacksburg
Catch a film or show: The Lyric Theater; B&B Theatres with Bowling
BIOS OF OUR FANTASTIC ARTISTS AND SCIENTISTS:
The Architects is a five-member artist collective born out of collaborations between Katherine Ferrier, Lisa Gonzales, Jennifer Kayle, Pamela Vail, and Kathy Couch dating back to the 1980s. Foundationally, The Architects practice ensemble improvisation, a form of spontaneous dance-making and performance. Each co-created work builds improvised movement and language, embodied sounds and songs (sometimes in collaboration with musicians), and often engages with spontaneous lighting and spatial/object configurations in the creation of a unique event. The collective is also committed to teaching this form through in-person and online workshops and intensives. Our research brings ideas from a wide-range of fields–philosophy, social practice, neuroscience, visual arts, contemplative practices, poetry, restorative justice–into the body as a means of unfolding and understanding ways of being and being together.
Scotty Hardwig, MFA is a movement artist, performer, and teacher originally from southwest Virginia. His research practice is at the confluence of the dancing body and sensory media (environmental and technological), creating movement-based artwork through live performance, installation/site-specific, cinematic and digital frames. He is also an award-winning dance filmmaker, a professor in the Virginia Tech School of Performing Arts, and a research fellow at the Institute for Creativity, Arts and Technology at Virginia Tech.
Dr. Julia C. Basso is a neuroscientist and dance artist; she is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Human Nutrition, Foods and Exercise at Virginia Tech as well as the Director of The Embodied Brain Laboratory. Her work is at the intersection of arts and science and her primary scientific passion centers around elucidating the body-brain connection and harnessing the power of the body to optimize brain function and physiology. Dr. Basso is a Renée Fleming Neuroarts Investigator and her work has been featured in Dance Magazine, Psychology Today, and Virginia Living as well as on National Public Radio and various other podcasts. Artistically, she constructs dance works and other artistic installations that focus on visualization and sonification of the human brain.
Caleb R. Flood, MFA is an artist and musician based in Richmond, VA. His work navigates the remediation of identity and embodiment through sound, sculpture, painting, and performance. Caleb holds a BFA in Sculpture from Virginia Commonwealth University, and an MFA in Creative Technologies from Virginia Tech. Since 2005, Caleb has regularly performed live music and recorded albums with a smattering of musicians along the east coast, and has maintained a steady output of material as a solo artist. They currently teach video, sound, animation, and performance at VCU.
Dr. Samantha Harden is a behavioral psychologist and 500 Hour Registered Yoga Teacher. She serves Virginia Cooperative Extension as the Exercise Specialist and is a dissemination and implementation science researcher. She is the Director of the Physical Activity Research and Community Implementation (PARCI) Laboratory within the Department of Human Nutrition, Foods, and Exercise at Virginia Tech. The vision of the PARCI Lab is to use their talents, expertise, and passion to serve others. Dr. Harden’s lab has served individuals across the lifespan including pregnancy to aging adults. While the lab values individual level impacts, her scientific approach is based on the crucial need to understand context – which includes the systems’ mission, values, and resources. To accomplish this, Dr. Harden’s is an expert in the leading dissemination and implementation framework called RE-AIM. RE-AIM values the reach, effectiveness, adoption, implementation, maintenance of an intervention approach, and this philosophy is the foundation for her research-practice partnerships that promote healthy lifestyle interventions across various populations for chronic disease prevention and management at the individual- and systems-levels. She has contributed to projects resulting in $29 million in research funding and produced over 110 peer reviewed journal articles.
Dr. Audrey Reeves is an assistant professor in political science. A core faculty for the transdisciplinary doctoral program ASPECT, her research connects world politics, feminist thought, and the performing arts. She is finishing a book on the politics of embodied movement at museums and memorials curating wars of the twentieth and twenty-first century. She researches and teaches on global conflict and war, the politics of arts and culture, and research design and ethics. A classically trained dancer, she loves to collaborate on performing arts projects exploring the politics of memory, gender, migration and other social themes.
Dr. Constantina Theofanopoulou is the Herbert and Neil Singer Research Assistant Professor at Rockefeller University, the Director of the Neurobiology of Social Communication group, and a Visiting Scholar at the Center for Ballet and the Arts at NYU. Her aim is to understand the neural circuits of complex sensory motor behaviors that serve social communication, specifically speech and dance, and to identify possible therapies for speech and motor disorders. She has received over 20 scientific awards for her research, including her selection as a Next Generation Leader by the Allen Institute, and her inclusion in the Forbes 30 Under 30 list in 2021. Constantina has served in various leadership positions in initiatives promoting diversity and equity in the sciences, such as in the New York Academy of Sciences and in the Council of the Rockefeller Inclusive Science Initiative. She is a professional flamenco dancer and in 2012, she was awarded the first prize of the Spanish Dance Society.
