STEM
Dance-ology
STEM
Dance-ology
STEM Dance-ology
Create together. Learn together.
Through creative movement we translate science concepts and promote discovery for students of all ages.
"At the heart of both disciplines of art and science are inquiry, presentation, and exchange of ideas" - Amanda Whitehead & Shaila Kotadia, Full STEAM Ahead by Adam Ruben, Science Careers
About Us
Established in 2014.
Shaila and Amanda joined forces - Shaila as the professional scientist and vocational dancer and Amanda as the professional dancer and vocational scientist. They are inspired by each other's strengths to collaboratively develop creative movement activities to engage the public, teach students about complex STEM concepts, and to help researchers bond in a new way that leads to discovery.
Amanda is currently back at school to pursue a Master's in Dance Education at NYU. Shaila continues STEM Dance-ology activities with local Bay Area dancers, scientists, and dancing scientists!
Partners
A selection of the large institutions across the country we have worked with to make science and dance more accessible.
Projects
A selection of activities we've worked on.
Shawl Anderson Dance Center
Our biggest project to date, we were the first participants in Shawl Anderson Dance Center's Teaching Artist in Residence program. We explored how to teach the butterfly life cycle in schools using creative movement and arts integration, and shared our practice with the Shawl Anderson Dance Center community. Free materials of our final script/lesson plan are available on Shawl Anderson Dance Center's website.
Tumor Killing Bacteria
At the Cal Academy Micro NightLife, STEM Dance-ology grabbed attendees to participate in co-created choreography about bacteria that can target and kill tumors.
Bay Area Discovery Museum
"Amanda and Shaila provided our visitors with an educational and interactive dance about bee pollination. The workshop was fun for parents and their children, and got strangers interacting with one another. The content of the dance was interesting and engaging and they were great at adapting big concepts and the format of the dance to our very young audience. We would love to work with them again!" - Sarah Hauser, STEM Superhero Festival, Bay Area Discovery Museum
Bee Pollination
As a part of the Bay Area Discovery Museum's STEM Superheroes festival series, STEM Dance-ology presented a creative movement activity on bees pollinating flowers.
Rebuilding a Microscope
We worked with the iGEM Cambridge-JIC team to turn their development of a 3D printable microscope with remote control capabilities into an interactive dance piece.
Kinetech Arts Open Lab
"Shaila and Amanda's work transforms deep science concepts into physical activities that are exceptional fun and educational. At first I thought their work would be best suited for kids and young adults. However, I was surprised by how engaging adults in the lab, including myself, were with the work. I really wish more people get a chance to participate in their work. It's an amazing gift." - Weidong Yang, Kinetech Arts
