Artists and Scientists as Partners
ASaP began with a vision: to bring the art of dance to populations with neurological disorders, specifically Parkinson’s disease (PD) and Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). From their experiences as dancers, co-founders Julie Adams Strandberg and Rachel Balaban knew that dance had the power to address many of the issues confronting these populations, such as isolation, lack of creative outlets, and movement challenges. They envisioned artistic practices in partnership with traditional medical and therapeutic approaches. ASaP worked with both medical and arts practitioners for greater recognition of patients’ creative voices and the knowledge they bring to their own healing and to medical practice. Through courses, projects, and events, ASaP facilitated programs on arts and health that built mutual understanding across disciplines and generations.
Our Founders
Rachel Balaban
Julie Adams Strandberg
Since 2012 Julie Adams Strandberg has co-directed Artists and Scientists as Partners with Rachel Balaban. Distinguished Senior Lecturer emerita at Brown University, Julie is a choreographer, performer, educator, and dance historian. She founded the dance program at the University in 1969 and was its director until her retirement in 2022.
Julie has educated thousands of dancers with the skills to be holistic, multi-faceted artists in our culture. She has advocated for the inclusion of the arts, and particularly dance, in the education of EVERY child and with her sister, Carolyn Adams, wrote American Education and the Arts: a balancing of visions for cultural transformation; compiled Dancing Through the Curriculum: a guide to video tapes for the K-12 curriculum, and authored multiple articles on arts education.
For over 60 years, Julie has designed and implemented materials and programs that provide broad access to dance as an art form to all persons, including pre-professional and professional dancers; students in grades K-university; persons with neurological and physical challenges, and the general public.
She is co-director of Dancing Legacy, dedicated to making dance, dances, and dancing accessible to all, and is a consultant for DAPpers, The Miracle Project - New England, and www.hattieidechaffee.org
Rachel Balaban, Teaching Associate in Medical Science in the Section of Medical Education, Brown University, Warren Alpert Medical School, is co-founder and co-director of Artists and Scientists as Partners (ASaP), with Julie Adams Strandberg. As Adjunct Lecturer in Brown University’s Department of Theatre Arts and Performance Studies from 2013-2022, Rachel taught a two-semester course exploring the impact of the arts on people with neurological disorders, specifically Parkinson’s disease and Autism Spectrum Disorder. In addition to teaching, she focused on the connection between community members and undergraduate students, coordinating academics, research, and arts programming.
Rachel is a certified instructor in Dance for PD (Parkinson’s disease). She is Dance for PD Coordinator for Connecticut and Rhode Island and regularly teaches people with Parkinson’s disease and their caregivers. In 2013, Rachel founded Dance for All People (DAPpers) for people with movement challenges as well as undergraduate students, recognizing the power of intergenerational programming. Since 2017, Rachel has been the Movement Director for the LA-based Miracle Project New England, a fully inclusive theatre, film, and expressive arts program for people with autism.
Rachel is committed to helping people access their vitality and health through the use of their own bodies and to make dance accessible to all populations. She presents and leads movement workshops for schools, faculty, foundations, corporations, conferences, community centers, hospitals and other healthcare facilities.
Our Methodology
ASaP followed the artscience method. Inquiry lies at the heart of art and science, promoting higher order thinking and creative problem solving. Both methods are cyclical and iterative, requiring brainstorming, external feedback, constructive criticism, and peer support. We included the social science model in studying and writing ethnographic journals when interacting with diverse populations. Mixed- methods research guided discussions and projects, as we placed equal value on quantitative and qualitative approaches.