Why do we need research data? How can communities benefit from more data on dance and well-being and how can research projects be built to give back to these communities?
This panel features three Canadian researchers, Rachel Bar (Research and Health at Canada’s National Ballet School, Toronto), Sylvie Fortin (UQAM, Montreal) and Melissa Park (McGill University, Montreal) who, through different research approaches and experiences, have contributed not only to developing a better understanding of why artistic practices and art-based therapies are essential for many people to achieve physical, emotional and cognitive well-being; they have also integrated these interventions into the social fabric of the communities they work with, thus supporting a longer-term vision to well-being.
Together, they will discuss how to create sustainable research projects, how dance facilitators can use an increasing body of evidence to inform their practice and how to encourage the engagement of all the stakeholders involved.
This event is presented by the National Centre for Dance Therapy and supported by the RBC Foundation. It is dedicated to dance professionals and facilitators who want to base their practice on current data and to researchers who focus on the relationship between dance, well-being and community building.
Duration: 1h panel discussion followed by a 30-minute Q&A period.
Platform: Zoom
Language: the webinar will be presented in English and French. Simultaneous translation in the two languages will be available.
Recording: the webinar will be recorded and will be later available on our blog (without simultaneous translation).
Price: the webinar is free of charge, but registration is required.
Dr. Rachel Bar is the Director of Research and Health at Canada’s National Ballet School (NBS) and a Post-Doctoral Fellow with the Trent Centre for Aging and Society. As a dance artist, she has been part of the multidisciplinary team that developed Baycrest and NBS’ approach to dance programming for older adults. As a researcher, she has been involved in several projects investigating how and why older adults can benefit from accessible dance innovations as well the role of art-based knowledge translation of health initiatives.
Sylvie Fortin recently retired from the Dance Department at the University of Québec in Montreal, where she developed a graduate program in somatic education in 2000. She is a Feldenkrais practitioner since 1994. Throughout her career, she has received funding from Canadian and Québec Research Councils for a series of interdisciplinary research projects involving dancers and non-dancers with varying bodily issues. Using both dance and the Feldenkrais Method, she has worked consistently with professional dancers, children and adults with diverse issues such as fibromyalgia, depression, eating disorders, neuromuscular and degenerative diseases, as well as stroke patients and people with addiction problems. Sylvie is a member of the Dance for Health committee of the International Association for Dance Medicine and Science and of the International Somatic Movement Education and Therapy Association.
Melissa Park is an Associate Professor in the School of Physical and Occupational Therapy, Faculty of Medicine at McGill University, a core member of Participatory Research at McGill and a full member of Centre de recherche interdisciplinaire en réadaptation du Montréal métropolitain. As an occupational therapist with a background in History of Art, Occupational Science, and Medical Anthropology, she has extensive clinical, research and pedagogical experience using the terms of humanities and rehabilitation to understand healing, transformative and relational processes at dyadic, systemic and sociocultural levels from first-person or experience-near perspectives using narrative-phenomenological and aesthetic conceptual frameworks. Her funded ethnographic and participatory research has focused on understanding and working with multiple stakeholders in mental health related issues, including persons with invisible disabilities, family members, health and social care professionals, policy makers and citizens, on topics ranging from “healing” encounters and policy implementation to issues of neurodiversity, equity and justice.
Stay up to date with the latest news and promotions from the National Centre for Dance Therapy
