Robyn and Bonny welcome Dr. Julia Basso and Rachel Rugh onto the pod to discuss your brain on art....and art on the brain! More on our guests:

Dr. Julia C. Basso is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Human Nutrition, Foods, and Exercise at Virginia Tech, Director of The Embodied Brain Lab, and Co-Director of The Science and Art of Movement Lab. She also holds affiliate faculty positions in the Virginia Tech School of Neuroscience and is a Fellow at both the Institute for Creativity, Arts, and Technology and the Center for Health Behaviors Research at the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at Virginia Tech Carilion. With a PhD in Behavioral and Neural Science, a BA in Dance, and certification as a yoga teacher, Dr. Basso's work bridges the fields of art and science, focusing on the body-brain connection and using movement to enhance brain function and physiology. A Renée Fleming Neuroarts Investigator, her research has been featured in prominent outlets such as The New York Times, Dance Magazine, Psychology Today, Virginia Living, and on National Public Radio. In addition to her scientific work, Dr. Basso creates dance performances and artistic installations that explore the visualization and sonification of brain activity. www.embodiedbrainlab.com

Rachel Rugh is a dancer, teacher, mover and shaker based in Blacksburg, Virginia. A joyful and enthusiastic movement educator, she has over a decade of experience teaching creative dance to all ages and stages of movers, and currently teaches at Virginia Tech. She has presented her work at a variety of national performing arts conferences including the National Dance Education Organization (NDEO), the Society for Electro-Acoustic Music in America (SEAMUS), the Mid-Atlantic Teaching Artists’ Retreat, the Virginia Tech Gender, Bodies and Technology Conference (GBT), and the American College Dance Association (ACDA).
Prior to her position at VT, Rugh taught at Radford University and directed the summer residential dance program at the Virginia Governor's School for Humanities and Visual and Performing Arts from 2017- 2023. She is a faculty fellow at the VT Center for Communicating Science. Her recent research has focused on connections between the brain and body through her work with the Virginia Tech Embodied Brain Laboratory, where she co-directed the first annual Science and Art of Movement Festival in summer 2024. In her *spare* time, she is the director of Blacksburg Dance Theater, which provides the local community with joyful and accessible creative dance training for all ages. She holds a BA in dance from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, and an MFA in Dance from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

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