Claire T. Honda
Claire Honda is a scientist and artist who is passionate about dance, music, and languages. She is currently completing a PhD in neuroscience at McGill. By measuring brainwaves and using neurostimulation, she aims to understand how neural activity relates to language abilities and how we can help adults to learn languages more easily. Besides her curiosity about languages and the brain, music has always been a central part of her life; her parents are musicians, and she has been playing the violin since the age of four. She is also an avid tap dancer, having performed with the TapCo Youth Ensemble and traveled to tap dance events in the US, France, Spain, Germany, and Sweden. Since 2020, she has had the privilege of being part of the Piece of Mind Collective, with whom she has co-created two shows and performed in Canada and the US. Overall, Claire is passionate about bringing together scientific and artistic endeavours, and about promoting connection between people with diverse backgrounds and perspectives.
Nora Gibson
Gibson is a new media artist and choreographer who facilitates research-creation around the body-mind, selfhood, and conscious experience. She makes immersive/interactive installations, bio-reactive sound, video and light installation, dance, and full dome projection. Gibson earned a BFA in Dance from Tisch, at NYU and an MFA in Intermedia from Concordia University in Montreal. Gibson’s choreography has been presented by New Dance Alliance at Joyce SOHO, Dance Place in Washington DC, Philadelphia Dance Projects, Performance Garage, Kaatsbaan, The Williams Center for the Arts, and the Franklin Institute. Her work has received consistent critical acclaim, heralded by the Philadelphia Inquirer as “the most authoritative work in Philadelphia. . .” Through the integration of new media, Gibson facilitates research-creation around the body-mind, selfhood, and conscious experience through immersive/interactive work, sound installation, bio-reactive video and light installation, and full dome projection. Her work in new media has been presented by MUTEK (MTL), Ars Electronica (AUT), the Satosphere (MTL) the Fels Planetarium (PHL), Contemporary & Digital Art Fair(“CADAF”) (NYC), Lightbox (NYC), Urban Screens Production (AUS), and The Hexagram Network (CA), . Her work has been further supported through an internship with the BIAPT neuroscience lab at McGill University. She teaches dance and new media practices.