Too often, aging is linked with negative stereotypes. In this virtual event for volunteers of The American Museum of Natural History, I will talk about plasticity, how it changes over time, and what we can do (including dance!) to sustain and maintain plasticity. 
Please contact me if you would like a link to register for the talk, which will be held online on Tuesday, March 10 at 2pm EST!  

Loosely defined as the perception of the internal state of the body, interoception is gaining considerable attention from the scientific community [1]. This inner sense shapes our perception, actions, behavior, habits, and generally, the way we feel in our bodies [2]. By linking brain and body, interoception has also been suggested to be linked to motivation and response to stress [3]. Some of the features of interoception are paying attention to one's internal state, localizing its manifestation in the body, and monitoring it over time [4]. 

All dance has the capacity to shape our interoception by linking physical movements with internal states. Bharatanatyam is perhaps uniquely suited to inform interoception, and even study it scientifically. We use hand gestures or hastas to tell stories - do the placement of the hands, repetition of gestures, and the emotions that accompany the gestures change how we feel in our body over time? Do the nuanced movements of the gaze have the power to frame our internal state? 

​Overall, can regular practice of ​Bharatanatyam shape and regulate the interplay between mind, brain, and body? 

PC: Libby Lussenhop at Aaron Davis Hall (Sept 2025) 

Citations:

1. "Making sense of interoception" Spring 2024, Harvard Medicine, The Magazine of Harvard Medical School. Link here. 
2. "Mapping the Sense of What’s Going On Inside" November 2025, The New York Times. Link here. 
3. Chen WG, Schloesser D, Arensdorf AM, Simmons JM, Cui C, Valentino R, Gnadt JW, Nielsen L, Hillaire-Clarke CS, Spruance V, Horowitz TS, Vallejo YF, Langevin HM. The Emerging Science of Interoception: Sensing, Integrating, Interpreting, and Regulating Signals within the Self. Trends Neurosci. 2021 Jan;44(1):3-16. doi: 10.1016/j.tins.2020.10.007. PMID: 33378655; PMCID: PMC7780231. Link here. 
4. Khalsa, S. S., Adolphs, R., Cameron, O. G., Critchley, H. D., Davenport, P. W., Feinstein, J. S., Feusner, J. D., Garfinkel, S. N., Lane, R. D., Mehling, W. E., Meuret, A. E., Nemeroff, C. B., Oppenheimer, S., Petzschner, F. H., Pollatos, O., Rhudy, J. L., Schramm, L. P., Simmons, W. K., Stein, M. B., Stephan, K. E., … Interoception Summit 2016 participants (2018). Interoception and Mental Health: A Roadmap. Biological psychiatry. Cognitive neuroscience and neuroimaging, 3(6), 501–513. Link here. 

What sparked my interest in neuroscience so many years ago were questions I'd have while working at the Animal Help Foundation - an animal shelter in Ahmedabad. I would observe the dogs, monkeys, raptors, and kittens, and would wonder how they "know" when they are hungry, thirsty, anxious, or in pain. I realized the same questions applied to people. Why is it that most times, we are not aware of our heart rate or our breathing, but in a few key instances, we feel our heart race and our breathing speed up? It turns out these mechanisms can be explained by a phenomenon called "interoception!" 

We may have heard of a related sense called "proprioception", or the ability to know where we are in space. Naturally, proprioception is key for movement of all kinds, and for dance. But more work is needed to understand interoception. In another post, I will talk more about how Bharatanatyam might help us better understand interoception!

I wrote an article for the Sangath blog on the impacts of folk dance for mental health. Though the article is not up on their site any more, you can find it below: 

Photo credits: Michael Tanksley, Melanie Futorian, Libby Lussenhop

On June 2, 2025, I look forward to speaking with volunteers of the American Museum of Natural History on the convergence of the arts and the sciences. More specifically, I will be sharing how a study of Bharatanatyam can give us clues as to how the brain functions. A few themes I will discuss are the study of symbols and semiology through hand gestures (hastas), the study of narration, movement, patterns, and rhythm (tala). 

Post-event reflections:
About 25 people joined, and there was rich discussion on a variety of topics.
A few things that stood out to me, including testimonials:

• "Indian dance needs to be seen up close to appreciate it. American dance is more appreciated at a distance"
• "(In Indian dance), it seems that the hands are as important as feet and integral to movement , I think."
• "Yes, I've seen Indian dance. I see that every move is part of telling a story and the face is very expressive, especially the eyes."
• A physician participant recounted her experiences of a class called "Compassionate Medicine" where they looked at art. The struggle of the fisherman in this Homer's painting was something she still remembers. 
• Another participant talked about viewing art intensely as a way to learn how to pay attention. She mentioned losing the art of looking at others in the eye while treating them due to computerized systems, but that art can be a way to bring that back. 
• Participants wondered the neuroscience of bird song and dance.
  
• They also discussed the impacts of viewing works of art on enhancing attention and focus.