The Map is Not the Territory

Nic Gareiss at Dance is Music continues to be my source for all manner of percussive dance inspiration!



Despite all my more recognizable math postings lately, and my never-ending enjoyment of accompanying my 6yo on her math journey, this kind of dance  (not tap dance, actually, but related forms) is really where my interest in math all started. 

Over time, performing and, especially, teaching percussive dance made me wonder if there was math in what I did.  I simply asked the question and now kids get to learn math topics and exhibit their mathematical thinking and choreographic prowess through their bodies and foot-based dance patterns.  Here's the whole story, if you're interested. 

The fabulous Nic Gareiss and the rest of This is How We Fly.  Feet visuals at around one minute in.  Enjoy!

Melody Cameron is one of my favorite dancers, and a former teacher of mine. She is from Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, Canada and has her own particular, fluid, musical style of Cape Breton step dance.

Here she is improvising to a piece of 'mouth music' sung in Scots Gaelic by Joy Dunlop.

Enjoy!