Dance has often been called the universal language. Whether engaging with dance as performers or audience members, we often find ourselves transfixed with the ability of this movement-based communication to move us and connect us. In this inaugural episode of Dancing into Brain Health, we uncover the ways dance might indeed help us speak. Our guest is neuroscientist and dancer Dr. Constantina Theofanopoulou whose research is uncovering the neural mechanisms behind how engaging in dance may actually support or even rehabilitate speech.

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To learn more about Dr. Constantina Theofanopoulou, visither website: https://www.constantinatheofanopoulou.com/or follow her on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/prof-constantina-theofanopoulou-4a3649200/

You can read her paper published in the Journal ofAlzheimer’s Disease: “Dancing towards speech improvement: Repurposing dance for motor speech deficits in neurodegenerative diseases” here: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/epub/10.1177/13872877241313304

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You can learn more about your host, Magda Kaczmarska, and DanceStream Projects on our website: https://dancestreamprojects.org/ or follow us on Instagram: @dancestream_projects

To engage with our events, meet our partners and browse the latest arts+health research & resources, check out our monthly newsletter, “Dancing into Brain Health”: https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/7250209162221993986/

This episode of Dancing into Brain Health was edited and produced by Magda Kaczmarska and Hilary Brown-Istrefi. The music for this show is the title cut from the album, Critical Path by Joe Venegoni and Carl Weingarten.