Let's first establish that dance and science are not so alien disciplines as one may think. As a ballerina and scientist, I've experienced many commonalities. Dr. Root-Bernstein (who co-authored this article) also gathered a wealth of data on the topic.
Scientists attending a dance performance will undoubtedly relate to the physicality and geometry of dance. The movement through time, the geometry of interactions, the symmetry of the lines, the balance of the bodies. All these have parallels in the physical interactions that occur in every science, from astronomy and physics, to chemistry and biology.
As professionals, dancers and scientists also exhibit many common qualities. Both share a desire for challenges, an ethic of hard work, a drive to transcend limits, and the perseverance to see projects through despite setbacks - and sometimes literally pain. Both put in the ten thousand hours required to master their skills, and make progress through perspiration and iterations; rewarded by occasional bursts of inspiration. Dancers practice the same steps over and over; the same way passionate scientists relentlessly repeat and tweak experiments until they yield the results they thrive to achieve.
1. Learning From Other Disciplines
Everyone who studied the creative process across disciplines agrees that it is virtually identical, despite real differences in materials and goals. Studies also show that scientists with creative avocations are often more successful than those without. We believe it's because they are able to apprehend problems with greater breadth, simultaneously linking intuitive and subjective ways of feeling, with objective and communicable ways of knowing.
Many breakthrough discoveries also resulted from scientists seeing links between their profession and other fields. Leonardo da Vinci and other Renaissance polymaths are prime illustrations. C. H. Waddington, a celebrated embryologist, was a dancer. He linked his work to the unfolding of a set of dance instructions, causing him to rethink embryology as a process rather than a mechanism, and resulting in a novel approach.
2. Learning Empathy
Empathy is a key skill for innovators. Scientists need to empathize with their materials, and immerse themselves into the problems they seek to illuminate. Einstein visualized travelling astride a speeding light beam, and pondered what the world would look like if he traveled at the velocity of light. Nobel Laureate Barbara McClintock imagined being the genes of the corn plants she studied, even claiming to become their "friend".
Dancers are masters of empathy. Ever since antiquity dancers have been great translators and purveyors of emotions and meaning. They inhabit music, characters, objects, and give life to them in front of our mesmerized eyes. We can learn from them. MacArthur Fellow John Cairns generated valuable insights about bacterial processes by dancing his experiments.
3. Learning Teamwork
Dancing is inherently collaborative. As children we learn to dance with others. We practice exercises in teams and in rhythm. Some of us get the pleasure to participate in performances and/or learn to dance pas de deux. Through these experiences, we assimilate the importance of being attuned to others, and surrendering to the harmony of the whole.
Scientists also advance their research through collaborations. Jim Watson and Francis Crick worked together to discover the DNA double helix. The resulting human genome project mobilized hundreds of people working in concert to crack the nature of human genes.
Learning teamwork in dance can help us work more effectively with others.
4. Learning to Transcend Limits
Dancers have a special attitude towards success. If you ask the world's best dancers if they are as good as they could be, they will undoubtedly say no.
As a young girl, my dance teacher used to say that every day we go to class to do better than yesterday - no matter our level (or how bad we feel that day). If we don't progress, we regress. We learn that our foremost competitor is ourselves. It is not good enough to be better than others. Peter Sims, best-selling author of Little Bets, calls it healthy perfectionism, a key ingredient for successful innovators.
Steve Jobs once said: "Most entrepreneurs get the product 90% right and feel satisfied. Great entrepreneurs, like great artists, push for the final 10% that makes all the difference." Every scientist would agree.
Conclusion
There's much more that dance and science share, and we plan to explore the topic in greater depth, but for the moment we just want to conclude by suggesting that next time a dancer meets a scientist or a scientist watches a dancer, instead of focusing on the differences, search for similarities (or better learn to dance). Dancers and scientists do share a common creative process, the mastery of complex skills, a drive to transcend limits, and a desire to excel. We can learn from each other!
This article is a collaboration with Dr. Robert Root-Bernstein, Professor of Physiology at Michigan State University.
Follow Sylvie Leotin on Twitter: www.twitter.com/@sleotin
Take a look at this work:
http://synchronousobjects.osu.edu/
Science is a beautiful search for truth, as are the arts. Both can be very creative and imaginative. If they can be brought together more often in the individual, everyone can benefit. There is a beautiful story about Einstein--when he had a difficult science problem to solve and was stuck, he went and played his violin. When he was fully engrossed in his music, the solution to the physics problem would often come.
It seems to me, anyway that this ability to think scientifically AND artistically can enhance our thinking as scientists, and that is the search for similarities that Sylvie is talking about. We can all learn much from other disciplines, and great discoveries and inventions can come from an individual applying principles from a completely different discipline.
I chose ballet and science here as a start, because it was intriguing, to take a concrete example. Two disciplines that are not usually making headlines in the same title. It made people curious to click on the link. (As a bonus it helped build bridges with the dance world who is not typically reading the science section).
Btu yes it should be put into a bigger context, which is what I am planning to explore in future articles, and through the new initiative I am starting called CAST www.castlabs.net. Dance is a beginning. Thank you so much.
Whether you're a scientist or an artist, we've all felt a sense of profound resonance when we find something unexpected as a result of our work. Unexpected yet completely obvious in hindsight and so so simple. As both a scientist and an artist I have felt this, and I'm sure others have as well:
Here's a short video I made to talk about this: http://vimeo.com/36629796
Would love your thoughts.
slim
Most of the ones I know think it's the most important thing in the world, to the point of passing up great paying jobs in industry so they can get by on the never-ending game of grants that allows them to do the work they feel is important. Science isn't just a job, it's a world view. It's been scientists who have given us all of the modern comforts of the 20th and 21st centuries.
Science, and the search for truth and meaning in the universe is one of the very few things that transcends time, space, religion, politics, culture, language, and every other barrier that usually keeps people apart. It's a brotherhood that has going strong for centuries and shows no signs of slowing down. To imply that going to the ballet once in a while is going to suddenly impart teamwork and empathy is an insult.
My interpretation of this article is that it's hinting at the attitude that we as human beings need to have when searching for a sense of truth, as you say. Believe it or not many artists are searching for truth and meaning in the universe. :) They do this while waiting tables at restaurants.
Whether you're a scientist or an artist, we've all felt a sense of profound resonance when we find something unexpected as a result of our work. Unexpected yet completely obvious in hindsight and so so simple. As both a scientist and an artist I have felt this, and I'm sure others have as well:
Here's a short video I made to talk about this: http://vimeo.com/36629796
Would love your thoughts.
slim
I have spent the last 3.5 years researching into this exact topic personally going across disciplines as wide-ranging as computer science, interaction design, architecture, industrial design, graphic design, modern dance, theatre, and music.
Please check our project out at http://kck.st/whvn03
I would love to connect!
If you can't understand this then maybe you've never experienced the moment where scientific discovery feels like pure art in motion, where ideas flow from somewhere you can't quite locate and history is made. Maybe you're not Einstein or Dirac or any of the many other notable scientist who would beg to differ with you; seeing themselves the strong similarities to their enlightening moments with that of a dancer or painter or musician.
This article really brings a lot of the similarities of both fields and clarifies where the crossover exist and how the dialogue between seemingly dissimilar parties can be started. Overall I really enjoyed it.
Thanks. (Shakes head in disbelief and walks away slowly...)
My problem with your post is the smell of condescension. I would never post something like "What ballet dancers can learn from physics". To me ballet is a completely unique and special world, which I do not have ANY relevant insights into and which I can not make ANY comments about. And I don't. I only make comments about things which I had some professional exposure to in my life or which can be commented on based on trivial logic and publicly available facts (and I reserve the right to be proven wrong about those).
Now, of course, if you happen to be both a good scientist (in which case you would have to be a specialist in half a dozen fields, according to your own list) and a good ballet dancer, maybe you could write an article that is not a hodgepodge of banalities. Maybe. As it is, you didn't (and I don't even want to make assumptions about your status in either world, as the quality of the article is not particularly promising).
In short: let's stick to what we do best and let's not try to give advice to others, unless we have something to back it up with.