Launch Counterpoint KU Leuven

Last year, on the opening night of Body of Work 2025, KU Leuven proudly announced Counterpoint, a new interdisciplinary research centre dedicated to advancing the study of dance and choreography in all its dimensions and forms. Now, on December 1st, we warmly invite you to join us for this festive launch in which the driving forces behind Counterpoint will share what they have accomplished so far, offer a look at the current projects, and outline the key ambitions ahead.

Moreover, we will experience the Counterpoint spirit come to life in an exciting roundtable conversation on how dance shapes how we perceive, think, and inhabit our world. A conversation at the intersection of practice-based dance knowledge and neuroscience with contributions by Jonathan Burrows, Bojana Cvejić, Guido Orgs and Johan Wagemans.    

Programme 

17:00 Welcome by Prof. Liesbet Heyvaert, Dean of the Faculty of Arts

 17:15 What is Counterpoint? 

An introduction to the project, goals, and ambitions of the newly established research centre by dr. Jonas Rutgeerts (Counterpoint, KU Leuven)

17:30 Dance on My Mind - How does dance shape how we perceive, think, and inhabit our world

In 2022, choreographer Jonathan Burrows (Coventry University) and theorist and dramaturg Bojana Cvejić (Oslo National Academy of the Arts) began collaborating on a research project investigating choreography as a model for how the brain works. They will share some of their findings, followed by a panel discussion with professor Guido Orgs (Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London) and professor Johan Wagemans (Experimental Psychology, KU Leuven, Palettes research project).

18:30 Reception 

BIOS PANELISTS 

Jonathan Burrows is a dancer and choreographer based in the United Kingdom. He is an Associate Professor at Coventry University’s Centre for Dance Research. His research interests include dance and performance practices and choreographic thinking. Together with Bojana Cvejić, he leads the research project “Almost Feeling It: Choreography as a model for how the brain works”. Jonathan Burrows is the author of a.o. A Choreographer’s Handbook (2010). 

Bojana Cvejić is a dramaturg, theorist, and researcher affiliated with the Oslo National Academy of the Arts and with P.A.R.T.S. She is the author of Choreographing Problems (2015), and the co-author, with Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker, of the book series A Choreographer’s Score, and, with Ana Vujanović, of the publications Public Sphere by Performance (2012) and Toward a Transindividual Self (2022).

Guido Orgs is a Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience and Group Leader of the Movement & Performance Group at the Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience at University College London. His research focuses on the cognitive neuroscience of performing and perceiving movement in a real-world context, including in the live performing arts - dance, music and theatre - and in sports and exercise.

Johan Wagemans is a Professor in Experimental Psychology at K.U.Leuven. His research focuses on the role of perceptual organization in visual aesthetics and visual arts. He is affiliated with the Palettes group (Perception, Aesthetics, Literacy and Experience Through Transdisciplinary Empirical Studies).