News
02.02.2026
Science meets dance: Pilot workshop of “Science on the Dance Floor” launched
How can scientific insights into movement and metacognition be further developed together with practitioners? This question marked the start of the first workshop in the new science engagement series “Science on the Dance Floor” on January 17. Metacognition refers to the ability to consciously observe and evaluate one’s own perception and actions.
For the three-hour pilot workshop, the project team invited a group of dance pedagogues and dance practitioners from Tübingen and the surrounding region to a dance studio. The workshop series is part of a science communication project funded by the VolkswagenStiftung and builds on previous research conducted within the framework of a Freigeist Fellowship.
The aim of the project is a co-creative exchange between science and practice. During the workshop, participants therefore worked on developing a shared foundation for talking about their own movement experiences. Each session began with short dance sequences in which practitioners consciously observed their bodily experiences. Only afterward were scientific concepts introduced to describe these experiences. In this way, a shared language gradually emerged – one that connects scientific analysis with dance practice.
Participants included choreographer Irina Demina (Berlin), dancer and doctoral researcher Deliah Seefluth (UCL London), HIB doctoral researcher Gayatri Nerpagar, and junior research group leader Elisa Filevich (HIB, Tübingen). The participants were open to a format that places greater emphasis on the quality of one’s own movement experience and combines dance practice with scientific reflection.
The pilot workshop marks the beginning of a series of around twelve further events, which will involve approximately 100 to 150 movement practitioners, including dancers, athletes, yoga teachers, and actors. Feedback gathered from these workshops will feed into a scientific position paper proposing new perspectives for research on motor awareness and metacognition.
Media Contact
Philipp Sigle
presse@lead.uni-tuebingen.de
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