Just published article: Karl and Erik's pioneering and ongoing math dance work is featured in an article in Dance Teacher Magazine in the March, 2010 issue. This is the home page for the math dance work of the Dr. Schaffer and Mr. Stern Dance Ensemble and for our umbrella organization, MoveSpeakSpin.
For more info on our math dance activies and Math Dance book, see the bottom of this page.
The dance company, founded in 1987, is co-directed by Karl Schaffer and Erik Stern, and tours internationally. Our long-time collaborators have included Gregg Lizenbery, Scott Kim, and Chris Jones.
Dr. Schaffer and Mr. Stern has received funding from the National Endowment for the Arts, the California Arts Council, the Cultural Council of Santa Cruz County, and the Community Foundation of Santa Cruz County.
Dear Friends,
We are very sorry, but due to an injury to one of the dancers, the June 12 concert (see below) has had to be canceled. Any ticket sales will be refunded. We very much hope to reschedule the concert later this year, we look forward to again performing in Santa Cruz, and hope you can join us. If you would like to be notified about rescheduling of the show, please email us at karl_schaffer@yahoo.com, or join our Facebook group "Dr. Schaffer and Mr. Stern Dance Ensemble," and we will put you on a notification list. Thank you for your support!
Upcoming concert Sat. June 12 at West End Studio Theatre, with Erik Stern, Karl Schaffer, and Saki, in Santa Cruz. One night only performance, to raise funds for our summer performing in Europe. Purchase tickets at BrownPaperTickets.com!
Just published article: Karl and Erik's pioneering and ongoing math dance work is featured in an article in Dance Teacher Magazine in the March, 2010 issue.
Video excerpts of Dr. Schaffer and Mr. Stern Dance Ensemble works are now at YouTube.
Upcoming events. Karl and Erik will be performing and presenting at two European interdisciplinary conferences in summer 2010:
July 24-28, Bridges 2010, in Pecs, Hungary. We will give a public performance in the National Theatre of Pécs.
Aug. 16-20, Constructionism 2010, in Paris, France.
Funds needed! We are raising funds to bring a third performer, Saki, for the Pecs event. Please send donations to MoveSpeakSpin, PO Box 8055, Santa Cruz, CA 95061, earmarked for summer tour; donations are tax deductible.
Photos of Ronn Reinberg, long-time tech director, advisor, and friend to Dr. Schaffer and Mr. Stern.
Kennedy Center Partners in Education program. Karl and Erik continue as Teaching Artists presenting math dance workshops for educators and students through this national arts integration program. In December, 2009, Erik gave workshops through the University Musical Society in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and Karl is due to teach in Queens, New York through the Great Neck Arts Center this March.
Puerto Rico. Both Erik and Karl taught many workshops for teachers, students and artists in Puerto Rico in April and August, 2009, as part of a National Endowment for the Arts grant. They found the children, teachers, and artists they worked with extremely excited by the math dance work in this follow-up trip to their 2005 residency. The residency was sponsored by the Instituto de Cultura Puertoriquenna.
Choreography for Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company. Erik choreographed a new work that premiered in RW's September 2009 concert "Equilibrium." "Unlikely Ritual" is a short fractured look at the strange self-designations men and women are asked to give themselves when filling out dating and compatibility forms.
Recent Bay Area work. Deanna Ross and Karl Schaffer performed the duet "The Atom Bomb Game," at Counterpulse in San Francisco on Sunday, Dec. 13, in Monterey Peninsula College's Fall Concert, Dec. 4th and 5th, and
at SJDancCo's ChoreoProject Awards, Feb. 19 and 20.
Karl is featured in "Cool Careers in Math," a new booklet designed to interest teenagers in mathematics, just published by Sally Ride Science. He and Saki, Fabricio Olsson, and Deanna Ross are performing for the San Jose Children's Discovery Museum's Legacy for Children Award 2010, honoring Physicist/Astronaut Sally Ride on Friday, May 14.
Karl Schaffer produced a concert of mathematically playful new dance works, “Imaginary Numbers,” at the 418 Project in Santa Cruz, May 2009. The concert featured “Harmonious Equations,” a new work directed and narrated by National Public Radio’s “Math Guy” Keith Devlin, and based on music composed and performed by Santa Cruz choral group Zambra.
| We are currently booking workshops, performances,
and residencies for 2010-2011. Please contact us at the email addresses
for Karl Schaffer or Erik Stern at the bottom of this page, or at (831)
335-1861 (Karl) or (801) 626-6615 (Erik). Karl Schaffer and Erik Stern are also part of the Touring Artists Roster of the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Center's Partners in the Arts Program, which brings artists to major arts centers to do arts education workshops for educators. We often do workshops around the country on integrating math and dance in the classroom through this program. Recent (2008/2009/2010) workshops have been given in New York, Florida, Iowa, Massachusetts, Utah, California, Puerto Rico. Email us for more information (email list at bottom of this page). For information on the Dr. Schaffer and Mr. Stern Dance Ensemble, and other performances by Karl Schaffer and Erik Stern, see Dr. Schaffer and Mr. Stern home page.
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Photo by Steve Savage |
MATH DANCE WITH DR. SCHAFFER AND MR. STERN 132 page book now available - see below Classroom activities for teaching For grades 4-12 |
| A C T I V I T I E S | ||
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Clap Your Name.
Patterns are everywhere, even in our names. Working in groups of two or
three, convert the vowels and consonants in your names into clapping patterns,
then turn them into movements.
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| Counting Handshakes. Combinations are the basis of many types of mathematics and dance. Working in groups of two or three, find how many ways there are to shake hands, then learn to perform them in sequence. |
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| Rotational Symmetry. Seeing symmetry is one thing, but doing it with your whole body is a whole new challenge. This elegant introduction to rotational symmetry is good for beginners. Work in groups of three to form symmetrical shapes. | 
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| The Four Basic Symmetries. The best way to learn about and remember the four basic symmetries is to do them. Here's how. A great follow-up to the previous "Rotational Symmetry" exercise. | 
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String
Polyhedra. The best way to study three-dimensional objects is to
make them. These straightforward exercises which use loops of string foster
cooperation, dexterity and an understanding of polyhedra.
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| Assessment. Guidelines for grading mathematics and dance activities. | (To be added to this site, now available in the book, see below.) | |
| Bibliography. Articles about combining mathematics and dance in education. | Mathematics and Dance Bibliography |
| A B O U T O U R
W O R K
Math Dance with Dr. Schaffer and Mr. Stern, published
in October, 2001, was written by Karl Schaffer, Erik Stern, and Scott Kim,
of the The Dr. Schaffer &
Mr. Stern Dance Ensemble. Several sections from the book will be made available here. They
are protected by copyright and may not be distributed, altered, copied
or used for commercial purposes: Math Dance with Dr. Schaffer and Mr. Stern, 132 pages,
coil-bound, is currently available only from us for $20, please add $3 shipping/handling,
for total of $23 if ordered through the mail. Note that this recent price
increase (as of Jan. 2009) is due to an equal increase by our "print-on-demand"
publisher, Lulu.com. Please make checks or money orders out to MoveSpeakSpin,
our non-profit fiscal receiver, and mail to: Karl Schaffer teaches mathematics at DeAnza College in Cupertino,
California. Erik Stern teaches dance at Weber State University in Ogden
Utah. Scott Kim designs educational games from his home in El Granada, California. Our math dance work grew from two seeds. As choreographers, much of our work springs from play with ideas from the world of mathematics. As teachers, we have found that mathematical ideas become more exciting, tangible and memorable when you act them out with your whole body. So for the past fourteen years we have developed a series of performances and workshops on math dance, which we have given hundreds of times in schools and conferences. This site presents some of our favorite math dance activities for you to use in your classroom, in a form suitable for the web. (The book expands greatly on the activities.) The activities are intended for both mathematics teachers and movement teachers. You will find that these activities treat math and dance as a single creative activity, not as two separate disciplines. We welcome your comments and suggestions. We are especially interested in hearing about how you have used these activities in your classroom, and what we can do to make them more useful to you. You can email your comments to us at the addresses below. If you are interested in inviting us to perform at a theater, event or conference, or to present a workshop or talk, please email us, visit our dance company site at http://www.schafferstern.org, or else write us at Dr. Schaffer and Mr. Stern Dance Ensemble See http://www.schafferstern.org
also for more information on our performances. Our email addresses:
This site was last updated April 10, 2009 |
