Can you dance your emotion? Yes, you can!
Dance Your Emotion is an international team of researchers from various disciplines including psychology, neuroscience, dance, filmmaking, computer science and anthropology.
We’re researching dance from an empirical aesthetics point of view. Our research is about why we like the dances of the world, and how and why both watching and doing dance can make us feel good, but also… ugly, bad, beautiful, moved, impressed, happy, sad, angry, fearful, peaceful, strong, weak, protected, comforted, and sometimes… filled with awe.
“Dance moves… in many ways”
Please see our team members and collaborators below. Behind the scenes there is, of course, a whole wonderful network of helpers and colleagues without whom such very international and interdisciplinary work would be entirely impossible. For example, from the admin department, graphics and PR teams, laboratory team, art lab team, and the facilities team to whom we are profoundly grateful for all their help and support.
Current Research & Studies
News & Events
April 2021
Welcome to two new student assistants, Eva-Madelaine Schmidt and Daniela Egersdörfer
February 2021
Review paper published in Frontiers in Psychology about how to research dance with empirical methods
February 2021
Article published in AEON about the arts and the authenticity of the self
January 2021
Article published in Acta Psychologica about psychophysiological responses to emotionally expressive dance movements
January 2021
Article published in dance Magazine TANZEN about dance, touch and corona (in German, p. 30)
April 2020
Studies launched – halted
January 2020
Interdisciplinary lectures on empirical aesthetics of dance
Dance / Research (Max-Planck-Institute for Empirical Aesthetics)
December 2019
Stimuli library creation: The Max Planck Dance Movement Library
Library creation Max Planck Institute
September 2019
Public engagement event: British Science Festival, GB: Talk, workshop, and drop-inactivity
Seven ways dancing can improve your life
August 2019
Visual Science and Arts Conference, Leuven, Belgium
Poster presentation & Press release
June 2019:
Public engagment event: Tate Modern Museum, London – drop-in activity
Tate Exchange Moving Humans
June 2019
Dance Your Emotion
Project presentation
April 2019
Tagung Experimentell Arbeitender Psycholog(inn)en (TEAP 2019)
Core Team
Meet our core team, the experimental psychologist and ex-dancer Julia F Christensen, the dancer and choreographer Shahrzad Khorsandi, and the 3Fish science film team, Fahima Farahi and Sina HN Yazdi who are both full-stack filmmakers.
Dr Julia F Christensen
Experimental psychologist, and former dancer.
Author of ‘Dance is the Best Medicine’.
Shahrzad Khorsandi
Dancer and Choreographer. Head of Shahrzad Dance Company.
Author of ‘The Art of Persian Dance’.
Fahima Farahi
Full-stack documentary filmmaker and co-founder of 3fish.
MA in English Literature and MBA.
Sina Nejad Yazdi
Full-stack documentary filmmaker, musician, and co-founder of 3fish.
Student Assistants
If you participate in our experiments, you will meet in the labs:
Eva-Madelaine Schmidt
Marco Münzberg
Daniela Egersdörfer
“Dance connects… everything.”
Collaborators
Winfried Menninghaus
Director Department of Language and Literature MPIEA
Gemma Roig
Professor of Computer science at Goethe University. Dance enthusiast
Edward Vessel
Neuroscientist at neuroscience department MPIEA
Kirill Fayn
Psychologist at department of language and literature MPIEA
Muralikrishnan, R.
Engineer, computer scientist at methods & labs MPIEA
Rebecca A. Smith
PhD student at University of Glasgow, UK
Andrés Fernández
Research Assistant at University of Surrey, UK
Antoni Gomila
Professor at University of the Balearic Islands, Spain.
Meghedi Vartanian
University of Teheran, Iran. Clinical psychologist. Cognitive rehabilitation therapist
Khatereh Borhani
Professor in psychology at Sahid Beheshti University, Teheran, Iran
Georgios Michalareas
Engineer, neuroscientist at neuroscience department MPIEA
Cristina Acedo
Professor at University of Leon, Spain. Anthropologist, economist
Susana Bravo Serra
Full-stack documentary filmmaker. Bravo Films Mallorca, Spain
Press & Recent Publications
Researcher
