Dancing Our Microbiome at the Science Museum: A Dance/STEAM Collaboration

ABSTRACT

This article describes dance/STEAM-based educational workshops for 3rd and 4th graders at a local science museum led by the artistic director and members of a professional dance company and supported by a large university research community. The overarching pedagogical goal was to use dance to learn about science and science to learn about dance. The workshops were part of a large multimedia dance project inspired by human microbiome research. Mirroring the dance company’s process, students explored various methods of embodied investigation. Using their whole bodies, they manipulated props to physicalize scientific concepts such as homeostasis and symbiosis. Microbes, viewed on video, led to students creating microbe-inspired movement phrases. Community skill building, discussion, and concepts from science and Laban Movement Analysis were woven throughout. Culminating “microbe performances” for teachers and facilitators allowed students to assimilate and celebrate their new holistic knowledge and to make meaning by integrating dance and science.

KEYWORDS:

• STEAM
• dance science collaboration
• Laban Movement Analysis
• dance education
• science education

Acknowledgments

This article discusses one component of a three-year collaborative project. The authors would like to recognize and thank the groups that came together to make the work possible: Anne Burnidge Dance company members, Courtney Barrow, Elyssa Bourke, Stephani Foraker, Nancy Hughes, Monica Karwan, Rachel Keane, Brooke Laura, Michaela Neild, and Cynthia Pegado; artistic collaborators, Eric Burlingame, Carlie Todoro-Rickus and Colin Ranney; UB GEM Community of Excellence directors and personnel; and the Buffalo Museum of Science.

Notes

1. Poetic scripts such as the introductory excerpt of this article and the segment below, were guided by various elements from microbiome literature. They are sprinkled throughout the article to provide insight into both the microbiome and the creative project. All text was written by performer/collaborator Monica Karwan.

2. Laban Movement Analysis is a system for observing, describing, and making meaning from human movement.

3. Body is capitalized in this paper to refer to Buono’s (2019) concept of Body as the non-dualistic, nonobjective, interconnected relational aspects that make up one’s embodied self. These relational aspects include the lived embodiment of one’s physical body, embodied mind, and one’s socio-cultural-historical. The term body will refer to the physical aspect of this Body concept.

4. Though we did not collect specific demographic data, demographics of the children mirrored the demographics provided by the Buffalo, New York’s public schools: 51% Male, 49% Female; 45% Black/African American, 21% Hispanic/Latinx, 20% White, 10% Asian/Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander, 4% Multiracial, 1% Indigenous Nations; 18% ELLs; 23% Students with disabilities; 83% Economically Disadvantaged (New York State Education Department 2020).

Additional information

Funding

This project was funded by the University at Buffalo’s Genome, Environment and Microbiome Community of Excellence.