Conferences and symposiums Dancing My Mind

Venue: Karolinska hospital, Sune Bergström Aula, Solnavägen 30

Representatives from Karolinska Insititutet (KI), Balettakademin (BA), Gymnastik- och idrottshögskolan (GIH)

Emily is a cognitive neuroscientist and dancer based at ETH Zurich in Switzerland, where she leads the Professorship for Social Brain Sciences. Using interactive learning tasks, brain imaging, dance, acrobatics and robots, she explores how experience shapes the ways in which we perceive and interact with others. She is particularly interested in the social influences that shape human–robot interaction and in the relationship between AI, artworks and artists.

Emily received her undergraduate and graduate degrees in the USA and New Zealand, completed postdoctoral training in the UK and Germany, and has previously held faculty positions in the Netherlands, Wales, Scotland and Australia.

Her work has been funded by a number of national and international organisations, including the European Commission, Australian Research Council, National Institutes of Health, Ministry of Defence, Alexander von Humboldt Stiftung, Leverhulme Trust, Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research and Fulbright Commission.

Students from BA dancing at the Bergström aula

David Leventhal is Program Director and Founding Teacher of Dance for PD®, the internationally recognised programme of the Mark Morris Dance Group, which invites people living with Parkinson’s in 31 countries to experience the physical, emotional and social benefits of dance, music, creativity and community.

A pioneer in the field of arts and health, he has dedicated his career to improving the lives of people living with neurodegenerative conditions through dance. A Bessie Award-winning former dancer with the Mark Morris Dance Group, Leventhal brings a performing artist’s understanding of movement, expression and embodied learning to his work.

He has contributed to peer-reviewed studies on Dance for PD and written about the intersection of dance, Parkinson’s and well-being for publications including Renée Fleming’s Music and Mind: Harnessing the Arts for Health and Wellness. He also designed and teaches a course in the Narrative Medicine programme at Columbia University’s Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons.

Leventhal is a frequent speaker at medical, academic, cultural and neuroarts gatherings. His honours include the IADMS Pioneer Dance Educator Award and a World Parkinson Congress Award for Distinguished Contribution to the Parkinson’s Community.

Moderator: Gunnar Bjursell

Find your own Lunch at Urban Deli, Forskaren

Venue: The Cell at Hagaplan 4

Gunnar Bjursell is Professor Emeritus, and his research has focused on the importance of genetics in public health, cancer and arteriosclerosis. While at the University of Gothenburg, he coordinated and led the Culture and Health initiative.

Over the past fifteen years, he has been actively involved in the further development of research into the relationship between culture, the brain and health. Since 2021, he has been Director of the Centre for Culture, Cognition and Health at Karolinska Institutet.

Åsa N. Åström is a former dancer with an extensive career in contemporary dance in Sweden, France and Germany.

Åsa has been choreographing and producing dance performances since 2000, often working in the field of community dance and collaborating with artists from a range of disciplines.

After four years as a dance coach working with older people in a residential care facility, Åsa established Dance for Parkinson in Stockholm and founded the Swedish Dance for Parkinson network. She is now Head of Dance for Health at Balettakademien in Stockholm. Åsa is currently involved in a number of projects exploring the relationship between health and dance, a field that is breaking new ground in both healthcare and the dance world.

Dance for Parkinson in Stockholm has been creating performances for many years, presenting dance in a variety of settings, including museums, art exhibitions, flash mobs and congresses. From 2019 to 2026, Åsa served as a committee member of the International Association for Dance Medicine and Science.

Per Svenningson, David L, Emily Cross, Emily Jankins, Anna Duberg

Moderator: Sanna Nordin Bates