I will be taking part in the London Victoria run and am pretty excited! Hopefully it will be a nice day and if you would like to either join me running, support  or even better SPONSOR me (!) visit the Sport Relief website or contact me for more details. You can sponsor me online which is the easiest way to donate, simply follow this link -

http://www.mysportrelief.com/becandrob?SID=77882 

Thank you for all your donations which will make a huge difference to many people in the UK and the world.

Hulme Hall

The University of Manchester

There is a growing interest in kinesthesia, empathy and kinesthetic empathy as pivotal concepts across different disciplines and media, reflecting current concern with ‘affect’ as an object of enquiry, interrogation of notions of presence, embodiment and the senses, re-examination of phenomenology, and widespread interest in neuroscientific investigation (notably in the ‘mirror neuron’ system).

This conference will bring together international researchers and practitioners in fields including neuroscience, dance, film, music, and body-based therapies to explore the nature and role of kinesthetic empathy.  It will aim to open up dialogues between different practices and theoretical approaches.

Keynote speakers will include Alain Berthoz (neurophysiology of movement/perception); Rachel Davies (artist/filmmaker); Susan Foster (choreographer/dancer/writer); Christian Keysers (neuroimaging/social brain); Chris Nash (photographer) and Alex Reuben (filmmaker).

To register your interest and to go on the conference mailing list, email watchingdance.conference@gmail.com

For submission guidelines and to download the full call for papers please click here

For a submission form please click here

http://www.watchingdance.org/

This year’s International Association for Dance Medicine and Science (IADMS) is being held in The Hague!

This is a great conference which I presented and attended last year. It is full to the brim of the latest information, scientific information, ground breaking workshops and a great bunch of people from around the world!!

This conference is open to dance students, performers, teachers, practitioners etc etc. Who ever you are you will come away with a weath of practical information to enhance your career or life in dance!

Follow the link to their website and get your place booked! I will be attending this year so if you have any questions or wish to meet me there please feel free to contact me.

I will be going to the Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing Theatre Faculties’ Congress on 10th of May 2009 at Laban. I am looking to forward to it as I will be experiencing some new styles of dance, Kathak and Classical Greek to name just two! This event is for ISTD teachers so if you are not associated to this association do not fret – I will be shortly telling you all about it!

I always look forward to this convention as the quality of teaching and knowledge is second to none. I am really interested in the Pilates, personal training and functional movement seminars and will be bringing back a wealth of information which is totally applicable to dancers and companies alike.

Once again I will be reviewing the convention just for you!

This event is being held in conjunction with Dance UK and the Royal Society of Medicine (RSM) on the 20th of April 2009 at the RSM. I will be attending and reviewing the day for you, so make sure you check it out in a couple of weeks!

I am particularly looking  forward to it as Wayne McGregor from Random Dance and the Royal Ballet Company is one of the key speakers (along with three others). This is great as we will be able to hear his thoughts, experiences and knowledge about these two areas in the professional dance industry. His relationship with Dance Science is fairly unique and has helped to put it on the main stage in more ways the one.

Check out the backstage film the Guardian made about his piece Entity (2008) which explores the connection between the brain and movement.