Pointed antlers bob up and down as the beautiful creature cuts blades of grass to eat, the quick flash of white from his tail the only visible sign that he’s there. When he’s full, the organism gracefully leaps through the field with an expression of freedom. Suddenly his big, wide-set eyes spot movement. With a turn of his oversized cupped ears and a quick snap of his neck, he looks toward the rustling of branches from the woods and smells the scent of a foe. He realizes that the furry animal he just saw is stalking him. In an attempt to escape, he uses his strong, lengthy legs to flee. Although he’s running, he continues to use his heightened senses to track the sharp claws and teeth following him. It seems as if the predator is going to catch him. As the pointed face of his opponent pounces at him, the deer gives one last effort, throwing his sharp hooves at the body of the attacking coyote.

This is a captivating story of a coyote hunting a white-tailed deer, right? Wrong. Above is a description of what you would see if you were watching a rendition of the Yaqui Deer Dance. Throughout history across various parts of the world, nature and movement have had significant influences on culture. In many traditional cultures, movement is said to bring life, and through this, the tales and teachings of the journey. There are usually differences in which organisms are represented in dances corresponding to the surrounding environment; however some similarities exist between the teachings they represent. The overall theme is that all of the natural world is connected and therefore should be valued and respected. There are many representations of nature found in dance including, moves and dance stories from traditional Native American, African, Hawaiian, Chinese, and Indian cultures. 

Even though traditional dances and teachings are less common today, it is important to acknowledge them and continue to learn from their teachings. In this STEAM learning experience, we will learn the science behind the relationships organisms have within ecosystems and create representations of them through culturally-relevant dance, honoring the past and carrying the teachings into the future.

Representing Nature Through Dance

In the 1900s, many popular dances imitating animals in the U.S. were seen as inappropriate and banned in the White House due to being “vulgar”. The turkey trot, for example, was said to be one of the worst of these dances since the performers were dancing from the hips up rather than the hips down. The dancer took hopping steps from side to side then flicking steps to imitate turkey behavior. The dancers also flapped their elbows up and down as a turkey would. So scandalous! How would you dance like a turkey?

People are still mimicking animals in dance today. The dance group Pilobolus is a perfect example. This group takes its name from the phototropic (light loving) fungus, pilobolus crystallinus. Every performance incorporates methods of the fungus—adventurous, adaptive, athletic, surprising, and revealing of beauty in unexpected places. Wynton Marsalis, a jazz trumpet player and composer, connected the behavior of various organisms to the music he composed. He then recruited a tap dancer and a “jooker” (street dancer) to embody the animals in the performance of “Spaces.”

In “Science And Art In Motion,” Science Friday’s Ira Flatow spoke with scientists and dancers who are interpreting their fields of study with dance. Kiki Jenkins, a dancer and marine conservationist, tells the story of saving sea turtles from fishing nets in one of her major dance projects. Emily Coates, director of Dance Studies at Yale University, and Sarah Demers, a physics professor at Yale, are working together to teach physics through dance to enhance the understanding of both contents as discussed in this TEDx Talk. Check out this dance they created from physicists talking about the Higgs Boson Model. You will continue in a similar fashion in this activity, representing organisms by applying your knowledge of adaptations & ecological interactions to create a dance of your local ecosystem.

For more research on learning and teaching through movement, refer to the following sources:
– ASCD: Teaching with the Brain in Mind
– KQED: Why Kids Need to Move, Touch and Experience to Learn
– Education Week: The Power of Movement in Teaching and Learning
– PBS Nova: Dancing to Learn…Science

The first step in using dance to convey ecology (or any other scientific concept) is creating a place where everyone feels safe expressing themselves creatively. We’ll call it a “dancing niche.”  A niche is a role an organism plays within its habitat. This role includes how an organism makes its living and how it interacts with the biotic and abiotic factors in its environment. For example, a panda’s niche includes their diet, almost solely composed of bamboo. It also includes spending much time eating, living near a water supply, not moving a lot, and living alone to avoid competition.

Before we get started, we need to be sure to create a dancing niche for you and your classmates. The dancing niche includes your interactions with peers, adults, and space itself so that everyone has the opportunity to learn. In the habitat of our classroom, we need to make sure that each organism is doing the following:

1. Respectful of others’ dance moves, space, and ideas (no idea is a bad idea when it comes to creating!).
2. Participating in every aspect of the experience (especially the dancing).
3. Communicating positively (verbally and nonverbally).
4. Being safe while having fun.

If we follow these guidelines, we will have a great time embodying our inner animal and getting our groove on.

Materials

– Honey Bee Waggle Cutouts (Black/White or Color), 1 set per group of 4-6 students
– Student Guide, 1 per student (print or digital)
– Rubric, 1 per group

An adaptation is an inherited characteristic that helps an organism survive and reproduce in its environment. The top ten animal adaptations according to Animal Planet can be seen here, including living in groups and the ability to fly. The adaptations that we’re going to represent fall into one of two categories:

1. Physical Adaptations: body process or structural feature of an organism (ex. bird beaks)
2. Behavioral Adaptations: action/response made by the organism (ex. birds migrating south in winter)

Be sure to put these definitions on your guide before continuing. All work from this point forward should also be recorded in your guide.

Let’s first test your skills in identifying adaptations represented in dance. 

Watch this video of an example of an Anishnabe fish dance.

1. Identify two adaptations of fish that the dancers are representing.
2. Determine if the adaptations are physical or behavioral.

Watch this video of an example of an Anishnabe swan dance.

1. Identify two adaptations of fish that the dancers are representing.
2. Determine if the adaptations are physical or behavioral.

Let’s start dancing by representing an easy adaptation. Have you ever heard of the honey bee waggle? When worker bees have found a good source of nectar, they will “waggle” in the direction of the flower compared to the sun to let the other bees know where it is.

1. After watching this video explaining the phenomenon, gather materials from your teacher and set them up on the floor to match the diagram below. Teacher Tip: You could have the cutouts on the floor before the lesson to save some time.
2. Practice the honey bee waggle by following the shapes. After you think you’ve mastered the dance, try it without the guide!
3. Determine if your dance move represents a physical or behavioral adaptation. Justify your answer. Is your dance move representing a physical feature or an act of the organism?
4. Explain how this adaptation helps the organism survive in its environment.

Not as hard as you thought, right? Let’s try something harder. Elephants’ trunks are adapted to smell, grab food, collect up to eight liters of water for showering, and make trumpeting noises. 

1. 

   Decide how to represent the trunk of an elephant in a dance move.

2. Determine if your dance move represents a physical or behavioral adaptation. Justify your answer. *Hint: Is your dance representing a physical feature or an act of the organism?
3. Explain how this adaptation helps the organism survive in its environment.
4. Be prepared to share your dance move and the type of adaptation with the class.

Let’s try representing another organism.

1. Decide how to represent an adaptation of a grizzly bear. *Your dance can be more than one step.
2. Determine the part of your dance move that represents a physical adaptation and the part that represents a behavioral adaptation. Justify your answer.
3. Explain how these adaptations help the organism survive in its environment.
4. Be prepared to share your dance move and explain how it represents the adaptations you chose with the class.

Teacher Tip: Make sure that you are circulating between groups while students are creating and practicing their dance moves. This allows you to assist students in the process and assess student understanding, especially if there isn’t time to share dance moves each time. You may also choose to have your students record their dances to showcase or review later.

Adaptations can help an organism become better suited for its environment and survive interaction with other organisms. The types of interactions organisms have with other organisms include predation, competition, and symbiosis.

Predation

Predation is an interaction in which one organism kills another for food or nutrients. In this type of interaction, the predator is the organism that does the eating, and the prey is the organism that is eaten. Credit: Megan Sorensen

In competition, two organisms attempt to use the same limited resources in the same place at the same time.

In mutualism, both species benefit from the relationship.

In commensalism, one of the species involved is helped and the other species is neither helped nor harmed.

In parasitism one organism benefits by living with, on, or inside the other organism that is harmed. The organism that benefits from the relationship is the parasite and the organism that it lives on, in, or with is the host.

1. List two organisms that interact to show each type of interaction in your local environment. *Your organisms should all be in the same ecosystem (forest for example).
2. Describe an adaptation of each of the organisms that contributes to the relationship.
3. Explain how each organism’s adaptation helps them survive.
4. Develop a dance move for each of the adaptations you describe. *One person can represent an adaptation, or your group can work together to represent an adaption. For example, one person could represent a heron slowly stalking a fish through the water, then grabbing a fish with their beak (arm and hand) in a swooping motion OR you could choose to break this up into parts. In the heron example, one person could stalk the fish, another represents the swooping motion, and a final person could represent the snapping of the beak.
5. Determine how your developed dance moves work together to represent the interaction between these organisms.

Teacher Tip: Make sure that you are circulating between groups while students are creating and practicing their dance moves. This allows you to assist students in the process and assess student understanding, especially if there isn’t time to share dance moves each time. You may also choose to have your students record their dances to showcase or review later.

Your final challenge is to develop a performance that incorporates the interactions that you represented in the previous section. 

1. Determine how the organisms you chose to represent each type of interaction (predation, competition, mutualism, commensalism, parasitism) are related within your chosen ecosystem. *It might be helpful to draw a diagram or web to show these relationships.
   

   

2. Determine how to combine your dances into one cohesive dance. Practice your dance to prepare for a performance.
3. Along with performing your dance (live or recorded), your group must submit a description of how your dance represents your local ecosystem. Your writing should include the type of interactions in which each organism is involved, and the adaptations represented that help them survive.

• – Describe the interactions that connect all the organisms in your represented ecosystem.
• – Describe the adaptations (physical/behavioral) that help each organism survive.
• – Describe what would happen if one of the organisms was removed from the ecosystem.

Use your completed guide and the rubric to guide your thinking.

Next Generation Science Standards

MS-LS2-2 Ecosystems: Interactions, Energy, and Dynamics
Construct an explanation that predicts patterns of interactions among organisms across multiple ecosystems.

MS-LS1-4 From Molecules to Organisms: Structures and Processes
Use argument based on empirical evidence and scientific reasoning to support an explanation for how characteristic animal behaviors and specialized plant structures affect the probability of successful reproduction of animals and plants respectively.

National Core Arts Standards (Dance):

Anchor Standard #1: Generate and Conceptualize Artistic Ideas and Work
Generate and conceptualize artistic ideas and work.

Anchor Standard #6: Convey Meaning Through the Presentation of Artistic Work
Convey meaning through the presentation of artistic work.

Common Core State Standards:

WHST.6-8.1
Write arguments focused on discipline content. 

WHST.6-8.2
Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas, concepts, and information through the selection, organization, and analysis of relevant content.

SL.8.1
Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grade 8 topics, texts, and issues, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly.

Resource written by Megan Sorenson
Editing by Brian Soash and Shirley Campbell
Digital Production by Brian Soash, Ariel Zych, and Lauren Young

A selection of Science Friday’s podcasts, teaching guides, and other resources are available in the LabXchange library, a free global science classroom open to every curious mind.