Below is a video of a TED talk done by Dr. Karl Shaffer and Erik Stern. They teach math through dance movements at the Dr. Shaffer and Mr. Stern Dance Ensemble in Santa Cruz, California. They founded their Dance Ensemble in 1987. This was uploaded to the official TED talks youtube page on November 18, 2012. They gave the TED talk to expose people to how they teach math using movements to help people understand mathematical concepts such as symmetry through dance. Symmetry can be seen between two dancers as they dance next to each other on stage (Schaffer and Stern, n.d.).
Schaffer, K., & Stern, E. (n.d.). TEDxManhattanBeach. TEDxManhattanBeach. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ws2y-cGoWqQ&feature=emb_logo
Below is an article called Mathematics in the World of Dance written by Katarzyna Wasilewska from the mathematics Department at the University of Southern California. In this academic resource, Wasilewska draws attention to the geometry that can be found in dance movements as well as how patterns can be seen in dance. Geometry can be found in the movements of individual dancers and in the formations made by groups of dancers. Patterns are used both in the choreography of pieces and in formations throughout a piece. Wasilewska presents factual information in an unbiased way throughout the journal.
Wasilewska, K. (n.d.). PDF. Los Angeles. Retrieved from https://hsbc.burlington-nj.net/ourpages/auto/2014/1/15/31986619/Mathematics%20in%20the%20World%20of%20Dance.pdf
Below is the link to an article written by Megan Scudellari called “Science and Culture: Dancing with Pythagoras”. This article is on the professional webpage, National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. The article was published on March 22, 2016. The article does not contain bias. It explains the process for choreographing a routine called “Interpretations of the Pythagorean Problem” which used dancers to visually represent the pythagorean triangle and move in ways that come from equations mathematically derived from the triangle. Here is a link to the performance https://vimeo.com/75623011. Here is an image depicting the paths the dancers travel throughout the piece.
Scudellari, M. (2016, March 22). Science and Culture: Dancing with Pythagoras. Retrieved November 16, 2019, from https://www.pnas.org/content/113/12/3123.
Sarah Goodman from MIT Student Life published a news article in the MIT news on February 24, 2016 about how dance is used to teach young girls math to help them gain confidence in their abilities. The program is called SHINE for girls and they explain equations such “4x+y” (Goodman, 2016) with the dance combination ball change, ball change, turn, ball change, ball change (Goodman, 2016). In the combination a ball change represents the variable x and the turn represents the variable y: this helps girls understand that x and y are different variables and must be thought of as different (Goodman, 2016). Goodman explains the program’s goal, how they got started, and techniques used to teach math to the girls. Below is a picture of Emily Benz leading a SHINE group (Goodman, 2016).
Goodman, S. (2016, February 24). Through dance, program turns “I can’t” into “I can”. Retrieved November 17, 2019, from http://news.mit.edu/2016/shine-program-teaches-math-through-dance-0224.
Another website that explores the connection between dance and math is “Dancing: Revealing the Beauty of Mathematics”. The website is written by the administration of the SEAMEO Regional Centre for QITEP in Mathematics website. The website page was published on May 26, 2017. The webpage discusses a school in Australia where students learn math through dance movements, by being creative and making their own symbols and stories for problems (Admin, 2017). Geometry is one of the easiest ways to see the relation of mathematical concepts to dance since dancers form shapes with their body, as they move their arms and legs, as well as making shapes with their formations, as groups of dancers travel around the stage. Patterns are used in the choreography of dances as well as in the movements in relation to the beats of the music (Admin, 2017). The website is very informative about the connections between math and dance.
Admin. (2017, November 30). Dancing: Revealing the Beauty of Mathematics. Retrieved November 17, 2019, from https://www.qitepinmath.org/en/math-articles/dancing-revealing-the-beauty-of-mathematics/.