Geometry in dance

Geometry can be found in dancing in many ways. In fact, many children improve their visual spatial intelligence (which comes from Howard Gardner’s theory of Multiple Intelligences) thanks to this sport. In the end, this is something very beneficial for mathematical working especially for geometry.

You may be asking yourselves, how is dance related to geometry? Let’s get into it!

Each part of our body is able to draw geometric figures, from little to wide ones. In doing so, we are not just working our movement and physical exercise, we are also working with geometry! This is done unconsciously so children do not even know that they are working this part of mathematics. Still, they are. 

If we, as teachers, encourage the use of certain and specific vocabulary related to this branch of mathematics, I believe we could do wonders with something that is not necessarily that academic as dance is.

This could be an example of how you can see geometric figures in dance:

How your posture is, is a pretty big part of dancing. How dancers put their hands, feet, back, and even toes, matters in dancing. In the previous image, we can see the angles made by the girls' legs. The girl at the very left is doing an almost 90º angle with her legs, while the girl in the middle is recreating the shape of a diamond/rhombus with hers. 

Relating dancing and geometry can be something really helpful for kids that struggle in this part of mathematics as you are giving them a more near approach to this science. 

Look at it this way, if we explain how angles work and there is a boy or girl that does not fully comprehend it, but he/she dances, we can use this to help them understand. I would say something like "Do you know when you are doing cambrés, your back has to be bent in a certain angle? That angle is around 90º, depending on your elasticity".

I explain this because I have danced all my life and I have done this with every content that I did not understand. I would take it to my territory and apply it to something that is important for me. This is a very useful way to learn and make children interested on the topic.

In this video, we can see several geometrical lines in a dancer's body: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ql_oDZdeX_g 

More geometry in dancing can be seen in the following photo:

When you dance, you are recreating a very rehearsed choreography. Even if the public does not know, everything is very measured and when dancing, many geometrical shapes are recreated in the way you and your partners are situated in the stage. It can be in the shape of a W, a V (the one in the image), a triangle, or even a circle. It cannot be appreciated if you are watching the show from the front rows, but only if you are situated a little bit more on high rows of the theater.

Anyways, when I used to dance we would always represent different shapes depending on what we wanted to show the public. For intance, circles for when you want to focus their attention, the shape of a W when your are stomping, or a simple line when there is about to be a canon (one starts first, then the other, and then the other, but they are all doing the same), so it can be clearly seen.

Dancers always follow, as if they had drawn a sketch, a straight line that turns into an angle, then into a square, and also diagonals, circles, semicircles, triangles, and so on. Dancing is geometry!

Another example:

This certain image helps us understand that in the scenery, geometrical figures can also be proyected to express feelings and emotions. It is all part of the art behind the show!

And last but not least:

In this image we can see how even the costumes worn in stage have geometry in them. Circles surrounding flamenca's dresses, or any other prints with triangles, or squares, are very typical when you dance any type of dance. You want to tell a story through your movements, but you also want to do it through what you are wearing. That's the beauty in it!

I have now finished commenting all I wanted to say. 

I hope you have enjoyed my entry. See you next week with more content! :)

Xo,

Paula