Imagination First

This was a challenging week for me as a human. One thing I've carried from learning Indigenous ways of knowing and being is that we show up as whole people, and this week I showed up sick. I thought I was going to have the gift of time to do some mathematical dance with my class on Thursday, but instead I had to pivot and look after myself. Luckily, watching people dance and talk about math together was inspiring — even if I couldn't get up and dance myself.

When I first thought about how to integrate math and movement, I felt somewhat bewildered. But the further we get in this course, the more I'm convinced that doing math through the arts means we develop a deeper understanding of it. I don't think we can get there without a real deep dive — and that is exciting to me as both a teacher and a learner. Not knowing how to begin is what drew me down a rabbit hole, exploring and eventually joining the Dance Equations website. Doing so allows you to download Miranda Abbott's books for free and gives a wealth of example lessons on video.

While digging into the website, I decided to contact Miranda on WhatsApp and she responded within minutes, ready to share her passion for math and dance. She left me a voice message explaining that while math can be set to movement in a gestural way, building a dance equations practice long term requires starting with a movement vocabulary — slowly developing a way of moving the full body, so that it becomes genuine dance rather than math simply illustrated with hand gestures.

Her message went on to describe how she begins such lessons, which are also detailed in her book: students start by walking equidistantly in the space, then repeat the same walk at a low level, then a mid level. Simple, scaffolded, and full of spatial and geometric thinking before a single number appears. And her best tip? Get in there yourself. Apparently students find it absolutely hilarious to see their teacher on the floor with them, moving as if their body was filled with water — and that laughter and joy is exactly the kind of entry point that makes students feel safe enough to take risks.

So though my intended activity turned into more of a plan, I am genuinely excited for what's to come. I have a five day challenge arriving in my inbox and will modify it to work with my students. My goal is one movement and dance lesson a week, starting with the basics of dance vocabulary, in the hopes that as we grow more comfortable moving in new ways, the mathematics will find its way into the movement naturally.

You know, I used to think math required a keen number sense and a mind sharp at memorizing formulas. After the past few weeks, I'm becoming more convinced that the key ingredient is actually imagination — and all of us, especially kids, are creative, imaginative beings. Maybe that's where mathematics has always lived, in the imagination, long before it ever reached the page.

                      Miranda responded within minutes — passion is contagious.