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Wake Forest University receives $3M to study the connection between dance and brain health

Wake Forest University has received a $3 million grant to study how dance might improve cognitive health. 

The five-year study, called IGROOVE, is meant to further research how dance can impact fitness, memory, and brain health.

Christina Soriano, a dance professor, will be co-leading the research with Christina Hugenschmidt, an associate professor who specializes in gerontology studies at the Wake Forest University School of Medicine.

Soriano says dance offers skills in a social environment that may be more appealing than traditional forms of exercise.

"What dance provides is not only an artistic expression but a physical activity that brings people together in meaningful ways," says Soriano. 

Soriano hopes the research can point to how dance might have benefits in preventing cognitive decline.

"Dance is an activity that is very cognitively challenging when you think about what you have to do and coordinating the body physically, and also responding, often quickly, to movement prompts," adds Soriano. 

The research is being funded by the National Institutes of Health. Wake Forest is inviting adults ages 65 and older to participate in the study by calling 336-713-6683 or emailing igroove@wakehealth.edu.

Neal Charnoff joined 88.5 WFDD as Morning Edition host in 2014. Raised in the Catskill region of upstate New York, he graduated from Sarah Lawrence College in 1983. Armed with a liberal arts degree, Neal was fully equipped to be a waiter. So he prolonged his arrested development bouncing around New York and L.A. until discovering that people enjoyed listening to his voice on the radio. After a few years doing overnight shifts at a local rock station, Neal spent most of his career at Vermont Public Radio. He began as host of a nightly jazz program, where he was proud to interview many of his idols, including Dave Brubeck and Sonny Rollins. Neal graduated to the news department, where he was the local host for NPR's All Things Considered for 14 years. In addition to news interviews and features, he originated and produced the Weekly Conversation On The Arts, as well as VPR Backstage, which profiled theater productions around the state. He contributed several stories to NPR, including coverage of a devastating ice storm. Neal now sees the value of that liberal arts degree, and approaches life with the knowledge that all subjects and all art forms are connected to each other. Neal and his wife Judy are enjoying exploring North Carolina and points south. They would both be happy to never experience a Vermont winter again.

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