DANCE / YOGA | julia-basso-phd

Since childhood, dance has been an integral part of my life. I received my B.A. from Middlebury College in Dance in 2005 and was a part of the Dance Company of Middlebury from 2002 to 2005. As a choreographer, I am interested in utilizing scientific frameworks to create movement. For my senior thesis work, entitled Transient Networks, I created a series of pieces based on aspects of neuroscience ranging from apoptosis to addiction. As a dancer, I have performed in Cuba, New York, New Jersey, Vermont, Maine, and at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. I am deeply interested in improvisational forms of dance including Compositional Improvisation and Contact Improvisation, and I am happy to be a part of a very beloved group that gathers every summer for the Movement Intensive in Compositional Improvisation (http://www.architectsdance.org/). In addition to my background in dance, I have practiced yoga for over 10 years and in 2012 received my 200-hour yoga teacher certification.

Recent Dance Happenings

Rhythms of Body, Rhythms of Brain

Lecture at Middlebury College

April 4, 2018

Compositional Improvisation is a spontaneous ensemble dance making form that relies on self-organization. Self-organization refers to the ability of natural systems to organize in non-random and meaningful ways; the brain is one such self-organizing system. This presentation examined the relationship between the self-organizing nature of the brain and the self-organizing processes that drive the group behavior in Compositional Improvisation. We discussed how the self-organizing processes on the dance floor leads to connection, communication, and meaning making, which is a metaphor for the morphological and physiological processes that occur during heightened states of self-organization in the brain.

Dance and the Brain: a conference to explore the relationship between Neuroscience and Dance

New York University

December 8, 2017

Dance is an art form that involves whole body movement, precision of timing, balance, rhythmicity, learning and remembering movement, and emotional expression. Along with being a performance art, dance is used as a therapeutic form in patient populations such as those with Parkinson’s disease, autism spectrum disorder, chronic pain and fatigue, and mental health disorders such as depression and anxiety. This conference explored how researchers and clinicians are using dance to help heal such populations. Along with lectures from dance therapists and scientists studying the effects of dance on the brain, we heard from dance scholars examining the use of dance as a way to heal communities, and saw dance for video performances from choreographers based in and around the New York City area.