The
primary organizers for the Physics and Performance Demo Show in Edmonton were
Stanley Micklavzina from The University of Oregon and Wendy Sadler from Science
Made Simple, Cardiff Wales The idea of the show comes from efforts by Sadler
and Micklavzina to incorporate performance into the more standard science shows
with the hope to reach a wider audience and to also display the beauty of
science in a way that stimulates interest and creative interaction. Performance
can be a way to bring science into peopleÕs heart and soul by grabbing a part
of their attention that a lecture based show may miss.
Wendy Sadler,
and her company, Science Made Simple, have developed a touring theatre show
called 'visualise' where physics demonstrations are performed without
words. The idea was born from a combination of research into the impact
of science demonstrations, inspiration from a German science group (called
'physikanten' ) and the frustration of working through translators across
Europe. The idea was to use music and film to set the demonstrations in context
and provide the real-life links to the phenomena on display. The aim is to
attract non-traditional audiences to science using the tools of physical
theatre and innovative performance techniques. The show was short-listed for a
Total Theatre award at the Edinburgh International Fringe festival in 2007 and
has toured to 10 countries so far ranging from Austria to Azerbaijan.
Influenced
by watching music and vaudevillian performers, Stanley Micklavzina has always
made efforts to present a physics demonstration show in a way that is
captivating and entertaining. In 2005 he worked with circus performer Rhys
Thomas and developed aa show called from Newton to Einstein which combined
physics demonstrations and modeling with juggling and other circus
styles. Stanley met Wendy Sadler in 2003 in a Physics and Performance
workshop at a conference in Europe called Physics on Stage. Since then he
has been dedicated to coordinate a similar workshop at an AAPT meeting and also
incorporate performance into the traditional evening demo show. It came to pass
in Edmonton.
Some of
the acts in the Edmonton show were the result of the one-day workshop held at
the meeting sponsored by The Committee on Science Education for the
Public. Participants in this workshop split up into groups and were
guided to find ways of incorporating physics demonstrations into some type of
performance such as music, dance, or story telling.
Acts in the
show featured the collaborative efforts of Micklavzina and Sadler, Prof Roger
Moore from The University of Alberta, Prof. Per Olaf Zetterberg from Lund
Sweden, The Physics Factory from, Tucson Arizona.
The incredible
stage crew was made up of folks from PIRA, Physics Instructional Resource
Association. These professional folks so skilled with the set-up of
physics demonstrations always know how to quickly and properly set-up a stage
and can also react quickly when there are technical difficulties. We only
had a few hours to organize and set-up this show and it would not have been
possible without their generous contribution of time and effort.
The hosts
for the Summer Meeting 2009 in Ann Arbor have expressed interest in trying to
obtain funds to bring the visualise
show during the Summer 2009 meeting.
Stanley
Micklavzina hopes to again offer the Physics and Performance workshop at the
Summer meeting 2010 tentatively scheduled for Portland Oregon.
You can
watch the show performance at the following website:
http://uoregon.edu/~physdemo/edmontonshow
We hope
it inspires your creative process and helps bring innovative ways to bring the
beauty of science and the study of physics to the public.
Stanley
Micklavzina and Wendy Sadler
Organizers
Information:
Dept of
Physics, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR. USA
Email: stanm@uoregon.edu
Science Made
Simple: http://www.sciencemadesimple.co.uk/
Cardiff, Wales
U.K.
email: wendy@sciencemadesimple.co.uk
Special
Thanks to:
Per Olaf
Zetterberg
Johan
Zetterberg
Martin Simon
Joseph Lowry
Keith Warren
Sam Sampere
Dave Maullio
Chris DiScenza
Stephanie
Tammen
Christine
Pease
Bruce Bayley
Roger Moore
Taylor and
Loren (Physics Techs U of Alberta)
Terry
Singleton
Gerald Zani
Adam Beeler
Tom Senior
Dale Stille
Other PIRA
helpers and
The Horowitz
Theater Tech Team