Local primary school children had the opportunity to discover the science behind cells, as told through a dance performance.

The Outreach team at Imperial worked with a dance company Impelo Dance and Imperial researcher Dr Masahiro Ono from the Department of Life Sciences who together developed the performance called ‘CELLS – Worlds beneath your skin.’ Over 200 school children aged between seven and eleven came to Imperial to see the new show in its debut performances. The immersive show exploring microbiology was inspired by life in the lab, the actions of cells and the folding of DNA.

As well as learning about the science of cells through dance, the students then had the opportunity to take part in a laboratory session where they looked at cells through a microscope and worked together to extract DNA from strawberries.

Talking about science through movement

Dr Masahiro Ono said that it was the first time that he had collaborated on anything like this and that he found it a “really exciting experience, to be able to tell science just through movement with no words.” He added that using dance to explore science is a good way to approach teaching science to children and that it could be used to “bring science to anybody.”

Aeyatajrouti, a year six pupil who took part in the workshop said: “Being in the lab allows you to learn what a scientist does and lets you put yourself in their shoes.”

Engaging young audiences

The collaboration aims to engage young audiences in biology and introduce some of the core vocabularies that they will encounter later on in the curriculum. Working with a dance company also offers the opportunity to tour the performance and engage students outside of London.

Impelo Dance first visited Imperial in 2017 with their show ‘Flying Atoms’. The show delivered the basic principles of forces through aerial dance and asking questions such as ‘how do birds stay in the air?’ and ‘where does the moon go during the daytime?’

Impelo is a charitable organisation that seeks to share the transformational power of dance as far and wide as possible, connecting people of all ages and walks of life.