Flux Dance Theatre: Weaving science into dance

I was very pleased to be able to facilitate the participation of Flux Youth Theatre to last May’s Imperial Festival, the youth company of the innovative Flux Dance Theatre. Ran by two energetic and dynamic dancers, Charlotte Hale and Emma Dodds, Flux Dance Theatre focuses on science and how to weave it into dance and movement — an obvious match for my Hands-On Universe activities. In conversation with Emma, we soon found that we shared very much the same ethos insofar as engagement is concerned — whether in science or in the arts.

Flux Dance Theatre presented a variety of ‘Moving Science’ workshops and showcased Flux Dance’s Youth Theatre’s talents by sharing their latest project, “0.134 seconds”.

The piece explores communication technologies, which this generation are so heavily dependent upon. Through the process the company has been researching the electromagnetic spectrum, the characteristics of waves, wireless signals and digital communication, while studying for their CREST Awards – awarded by the British Science Association.

Here is what some of the young  dancers thought of the event:

“I had a great day at the festival. Everything from the journey to London, to arriving to performing and being treated to lunch was just brilliant. I felt very proud about performing at Imperial College. The audience all seemed captivated by what we were dancing. They asked questions and wanted to know about our research and about the link between our dancing and science. I loved answering there questions and also liked that I was performing to children as well as the adults in the audience, as it felt like they were looking up to us. I am really grateful for being given this opportunity by FLUX and would love to do it again.” – Nikita Farnsworth, FYT Performer.

“I was actually really nervous about performing at Imperial Festival. I think this was because it was in London and there would be lots of people! Turns out, I shouldn’t have been so worried. Everyone at the Festival was so lovely to us. The people organising the festival made us feel welcome and we had lots of time to practice before we performed. I loved performing! Being surrounded by lots of different activities was great and a new experience for me. We got some great feedback from our teachers and the audience, and I had a great time with my friends performing science! – Ellie Edwards, FYT Performer.

“Until Flux, I never knew you could incorporate science into dance, so this was new to me. I really enjoyed the theme and find that it also helped within my science subject lessons during school hours. I am a visual learner so this way of movement really helped me, talking through why we were using this choreography to express a wave or signal. More so, I also believe it improved my memory. A week before our performance I undertook an exam in science, with having struggled revising signals and transmitters through a town. Despite the struggle, I remembered, the things we spoke about on in our class and the choreography we learnt. I in fact got full marks on the question, only from the work we were doing at Flux. Useful in many ways!” – Megan Dudley, FYT Performer.

A great example of science and arts working together!

(Thanks to Charlotte Hale and Emma Dodds for contributing some text and the pictures for this post)