I love the sciences discovering the
knowledge at the very foundation of our
world it just never gets old for me but
to be honest what I love most about
discovering these amazing theories is
sharing my fascination for them I mean
this is so cool how cool is this don’t
you think this is cool
is in my opinion the best kind of
conversation one can have unfortunately
my burning urge to share is often met by
one particular reaction a reaction that
I think can be summed up by one
particular expression I like to call it
the science now the science is a mixture
of boredom disinterest disenchantment
sometimes even slight disgust and every
time I met by the science I asked myself
as it need is it my fault that I
misjudge how cool this idea is and okay
maybe sometimes I do but very rarely
does that happen
no it happens generally is that I
realize it isn’t me it isn’t my fault
there are signs a stigma all around us
constantly dictating a negative
conception of stem just think of how we
use a term rocket science to describe
the impossible or how the people in the
white lab coats are generally cold and
insensitive on TV this negative
advertising of stem well it has
consequences serious consequences
consequences that make pseudo-sciences
job easier silencing facts around
climate change around vaccines obviously
we have a problem here it’s a very
serious problem the complex one too but
the solution when you think about it
it’s pretty simple
all we need is for the scientific
community to be just a little bit louder
than these negatives superfluous
stigmatized images in the media so how
might we communicate science in a way
that I would make it just a little bit
louder more accessible more approachable
more trustworthy
we need a communication method capable
of making the abstract concrete the
unrelatable relatable unfortunately
scientists these days like to
communicate by 3-hour lectures or 50
page PDF none of which do a very great
job at serving our purpose here what if
we used a communication method literally
everybody knows I don’t use the term
literally often but it’s applicable here
everybody knows the human body what if
we use the human body to express
scientific ideas have you ever heard of
a medium it uses the body to express
complex information I have in fact I’m
lucky enough to practice it every single
day at my school dance has the power to
not only revolutionize our conception of
science but our conception of who can
contribute to it communicating science
through dance is a win-win not only does
it solve Sciences problem but it solves
dances problem by making it more
available and reaffirming its key often
underestimated role in Canadian society
as part of my last year with the dance
program at my school I was offered an
amazing opportunity to test out the
solution communicating science through
dance I was told that I needed to
choreograph a piece on some of the
younger dancers on whatever topic I’d
like I immediately thought what would be
a better guinea pig to test out than one
of my favorite most stigmatized theories
of all time let’s catch a glimpse at
what Einstein’s theory of special
relativity
might look like in movement here I have
mattered matter is composed of ever
vibrating atoms that in turn are
composed of even smaller particles
called quarks quarks move at the
constant speed of light so what happens
when matter moves forward let’s take for
example Charlotte Stowe
if Charlotte Stowe moves forward in
space then naturally the atoms composing
it will move too
this increases the gap between the
corpse and their destination in the atom
but keep in mind that the quarks speed
remains constant therefore if the gap
increases well the quarks will take more
time because the quarks take more time
the atoms functions slow yeah because
the atom slows down matter itself slows
yeah in short because Charlotte moves
forward time slows down for her and the
faster she will move the slower she will
experience time how cool is that
don’t you think that’s cool moving or
but what’s even cooler what’s even
cooler than that is that I don’t spot
the uh science anywhere there you have
it we just proved it dance has the power
to efficiently communicate some of
Sciences most complex theories
considering the next 150 years will
bring us many more scientific and
technological revolutions this kind of
partnership it’s especially relevant
like never before it will be crucial for
Canadians to be informed and in touch
with the scientific community like never
before it will be crucial for the
scientific community to be in touch and
adapt its communication methods it’s a
two-way street solution in fact when you
think about it it’s a solution
applicable pretty much anywhere using
any alternative communication method
this project is about more than
communicating science through dance it’s
about communicating it’s about the power
a visual physical and dynamic dialects
we might not have even considered before
dialects that have the power to
transcend those negative superfluous
stigmatized images causing so many
problems there is an amazing amount of
information out there whose current lack
of availability impairs our society
every single day but there is no excuse
if a 12 graders dance choreography can
relate i’m just trying– serie of
special relativity there’s absolutely no
excuse for this lack of communication so
what idea what information could you
share or more importantly how might you share it thank you