For one week in August 2026, high school, undergraduate, graduate students collaborated with scientists, science educators, and professional dancers to explore quantum physics through rigorous physical practice and creative inquiry. Together, they co-created dance pieces inspired by quantum physics and expanded their understanding of how art and human expression can advance scientific research. At the end of the week, participants in this innovative program translated complex science and the human stories behind it into a final performance piece, given at the Corbett Center for the Performing Arts.
Below, you will find reflections from two of PEWS’s Engaging Science Fellows, Noa Dahan and Monishita Deb, who spent the week assisting the Physics + Dance Lab @ UC. Along with the participants, they worked directly with Dr. Sarah Watzman, Principal Investigator and associate professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Cincinnati, and Michelle Pearson, Founder and Artistic Director of Black Box Dance Theatre (BBDT). They also helped evaluate the efficacy of using dance as a teaching tool for physics concepts in collaboration with Dr. Melissa Jacquart, assistant professor of philosophy and curriculum and pedagogy director for PEWS. This program was supported by the National Science Foundation.
Philosophy at Physics + Dance Lab @ UC
Noa Dahan, Philosophy PhD Student and PEWS Engaging Science Fellow
In early August 2026, an eclectic group of students, researchers, and professional dancers at the University of Cincinnati put on Empathy for an Electron, an evening-length dance performance that aimed to humanize science through movement. The performance was the product of a week-long creative collaboration at Physics + Dance Lab @UC, which invited students to join UC engineering professor Sarah Watzman and the North Carolina-based dance company Black Box Dance Theatre in exploring and celebrating quantum physics through dance.
As a philosophy PhD student, I found my niche at the Physics + Dance Lab in facilitating structured philosophical discussions. These discussions gave students time to step back and reflect on our activities—which was important because they were very busy creating! The participants spent most of their time on two types of dance and science activities. First, students worked on representing physics concepts through dance, which involved learning scientific concepts, distilling what is most important, and representing those ideas in movement. Second, students worked on humanizing science concepts. For instance, the students reflected on the role of “energy” in their everyday lives, tying this scientific word to its humanistic meaning, and translating those ideas into movement. The dances developed from these activities were woven together and set to music for our end-of-program performance.
I led a philosophical discussion at the end of each day of the program. The discussions were designed to allow students to slow down and reflect on our activities, our goals, and their personal values regarding the Physics + Dance Lab. Each day’s discussion focused on a new topic. On Monday, August 3, we discussed arts and science collaborations, considering what art and science each bring to each other and how our arts/science collaboration at Physics + Dance Lab fits within this broader landscape. On Tuesday, we discussed humanizing science, working to identify the value of bringing emotions to science and challenges for doing so. Together, these first two discussions allowed the participants to reflect on the value and goals of the program itself and how we felt our activities realized our aims.
Wednesday’s discussion widened our lens to explore the role of friction in learning. Students were asked about their perception of the role of challenge and frustration in STEM education and about how different educational approaches might help students connect to science even when facing challenges. Finally, Thursday’s discussion asked students to reflect on the value of performance ahead of our show the following day. Students first considered how the performance supported our goals and how their experience in the program would have been different without it. Then, students had the chance to set an intention for the show, reflecting on what the performance meant for them personally.
The students were insightful in each session—which was especially impressive after full days of physics and movement. Our discussions felt fresh and relevant because the participants were actively immersed in the program when reflecting on it. Some of the students sent me discussion questions throughout the program, and it was exciting to see that they were thinking about further philosophical questions related to science, arts/science collaborations, and our program that went beyond the topics of our discussions. I worked closely with philosophy professor Melissa Jacquart on this project, who will use recordings of the discussions and students’ written materials to help evaluate the program. The diverse applications of philosophical discussion for the program generally expanded my understanding of the uses of such discussions—they can be used to investigate topics, but also to assess a program or to build connection to activities.
Although the discussions aimed to support curiosity by taking a step back from the program, I learned a lot at the Lab by being thrown into activities. I nervously walked in on the first day uncertain about what my level of participation in the dance elements would be. But when I learned that my fellow Engaging Science Fellow, Monishita Deb, would be participating in all aspects of the program, I decided to dive in! The physics and dance activities required thought, but they simultaneously required me to avoid getting so caught up in thought that our progress slowed down. One morning, we collaborated in groups to get a crash course on a physics concept, write a small poem about it, and make a dance representing the concept, all in about an hour! I am used to working at a slow pace as a philosophy student, fiddling with sentences or rereading paragraphs. But the Physics + Dance Lab exposed me to a different way of learning that is excitingly fast paced and practical, balanced with reflection at the end of the day.
In retrospect, it was enormously valuable for me to participate in the whole program. All the participants needed to try something new for the program, be that physics, dance, performance, philosophical discussions, or all of the above. I felt better able to connect with my students when I was taking the same risks that they were and showing up to our end of day discussions equally worn out, also wearing athletic clothing. The discussions were designed to facilitate reflections on an immersive experience, and I was better able to understand and connect with my students by being immersed in it also (even when that meant leading a discussion on stage in socks).
On Friday, we shared our hard work with an audience, who watched the performance and participated in a talk-back afterwards. The show was one of my all-time favorite moments from my public engagement experiences. It was so special to have started on Monday by dipping our toes into movement and physics, to then be able to share an evening-length product of our creative efforts and confidently discuss them with a live audience just a few days later. I am proud of our collective achievement and am so grateful to Dr. Melissa Jacquart, Dr. Sarah Watzman, Michelle Pearson and the dancers of Black Box Dance Theatre, Monishita Deb, and our students for an experience that will stay with me as I continue in my studies and engagement efforts.
Humanizing Physics through Dance at the Physics + Dance Lab @UC
Monishita Deb, PhD Student in Materials Science & Engineering and PEWS Engaging Science Fellow
So far, learning physics concepts has meant to me reading textbooks, reviewing PowerPoint lecture notes, or watching tutorials and animations on the internet. But teaching and learning science through dance? We know that dance allows us to express emotions, tell stories, and bring ideas to life through movement. But could it also help us visualize something as abstract as physics? What if we could use dance to demonstrate how atoms inside a material vibrate when heat is applied? Or portray how electrons behave according to the principles of quantum mechanics? That was something I had never imagined. This kind of humanizing condensed matter physics concepts was visioned by the Physics + Dance Lab @ UC through a weeklong summer school for middle and high schoolers and undergraduate students. This out-of-the-box approach to communicating science intrigued me so much that, while applying for the PEWS Engaging Science Fellowship, I specifically expressed my interest in working in this project.
During the summer of 2026, as part of the fellowship, my task was to develop PowerPoint contents on 5 physics concepts with a language appropriate for diverse audience. I taught myself these topics reflecting the knowledge and hands-on experience gained in the Sharing Science Experience Workshop and the PEWS Graduate Seminar. This fellowship was heavily focused on application than the previous hands-on projects I did with PEWS, with a showcase public program at the end. Preparing the content was particularly challenging this time because the workshop brought together professional dancers and students from different levels and fields. I needed to find a pedagogical balance minding their level of knowledge. My aim was to incorporate more visuals and videos, because a picture can convey more ideas than a thousand words.
The physics concepts were: Atomic and Crystallographic Structure, Charge Carriers, Quantum Mechanics, Magnetic Ordering, and Phonon and Magnon. At first, I was skeptical about how some of these concepts, particularly the more theoretical ones—could possibly be translated into dance. How could a dancer portray charge carriers or magnetic ordering? I was soon amazed by their artistic capabilities transforming something very abstract on paper into dance expression. Throughout the project, I also worked alongside Noa Dahan, a fellow PhD student in the Department of Philosophy, who facilitated philosophical discussions that encouraged participants to reflect on the goals and value of our project. Noa also helped me to refine my presentation drafts from the perspective of a non-specialist with valuable feedback. This collaboration helped me recognize an important lesson: communicating science effectively is not only about understanding the subject well, it is also about understanding how someone unfamiliar with the subject might perceive it.
I also observed how simply and creatively the dancers approached learning the physics. As they worked through our PowerPoint presentations, they picked out a few key words, overcoming my typical grad student urge of getting lost in the details. Then, they transformed the keywords into poems, which were easy to remember. It reminded me of how often we learned as children—through songs, rhymes, and repetition. For example, one of the rhymes made for “Atomic and Crystallographic Structure” topic was:
Atoms are the building blocks
To our unit cell
Gather, connect and align them
Repeat might as well
Apart from making poems, they ensured the keywords were reflected in dance movements. For example, in a crystal structure, a specific building block is repeated throughout the solid materials. To highlight this characteristic of crystal, they repeated a set of movements in choreography. This is how science blended with dance in the process of kinesthetic learning, which is learning through physical movements. We targeted disseminating physics to a broader audience through dancing, alongside traditional classroom-based teaching and learning. More importantly, we intended to alter the stereotype that science is difficult, intimidating, or simply “not cool.” My biggest takeaway? You can be a dancing diva and a scientist at the same time!
The fellowship was rewarding in many ways. I had the opportunity to share physics with people from both science and non-science backgrounds, while participating in the workshop as “Dancing Researcher,” even though I am not a dancer by training. At the same time, I learned how dancers approach and make sense of ideas out of their expertise through kinesthetic learning. When I enrolled in the Sharing Science Experience workshop back in Fall 2024, I did not have any idea that I would accomplish so far completing the Engaging Science Sequence. I believe that each experience and training I have gained through PEWS has broadened my perspective on communicating science beyond the traditional classroom and academic setting.
