site.btaSeminar Presenting Dance as Medicine to Take Place at Institute of Ethnology and Folklore Studies at BAS

A seminar on the topic "Dance as Medicine: From Individual Intervention to Collective Practice" will take place on Monday, February 16, at 5:00 p.m. in the "Winter Garden" hall of the Institute of Ethnology and Folklore Studies with Ethnographic Museum at Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (IEFSEM – BAS). The event, with lecturer Dr. Yoanna Cholakova, is part of the project "3D data for cultural heritage through three-dimensional, automated, scientifically based digitization" and will be held in English, the hosts announced.  
 
"Dance has been increasingly studied as a therapeutic intervention in medical and rehabilitation research in recent decades. A significant body of evidence demonstrates the beneficial effects of dance practices, ranging from improvements in mental health – such as mood elevation, reduction of depressive symptoms and improved quality of life – to improvements in physical function, including balance and postural control. Studies on dance interventions, such as in Parkinson's disease, illustrate the therapeutic significance of dance, with improvements in gait, mobility and balance reported," said the organizers. 
 
According to them, the workshop addresses this conceptual and methodological gap by examining the transition from dance as an evidence-based individual therapy to collective movement as a potential domain of health-relevant processes. It focuses on traditional group dance practices as structured, rhythmic, and socially embedded forms of movement that provide a valuable model for exploring how collective organization is linked to coordination at the motor and physiological levels. Rather than assuming causal relationships, the goal is to contribute to a more holistic and empirically grounded understanding of group dance practices in medical and rehabilitation contexts, the team states.