A computerized teaching aid for fundamental mechanics based on classical ballet movement

Hamamoto, Marisa, BA, Keio University, Tokyo, Japan; and Ohgi, Yuji PhD, Keio University, Tokyo, Japan

Dancers are subject to the same mechanical laws that govern all objects on earth.  Understanding how physical principles work in dance movement may help dancers logically solve technical problems.  At the same time, to the non-dancer, observing dance movement and understanding how mechanical principles apply to dance movement, may lead one to a deeper understanding of physical principles.  With these ideas in mind, we constructed a computerized teaching aid for fundamental mechanics based on classical ballet movement.  The computerized teaching aid was intended to both help dancers understand fundamental mechanics and provide supplementary support for high school and college students studying introductory physics.  The teaching aid?s overall objective was to teach the concept of balance through classical ballet movement.  Within the teaching aid, mechanical concepts prerequisite to understanding balance, such as force, gravity, mass, center of gravity, moment, basal plate, and body segment parameters, are also discussed in detail through examples from classical ballet movement.  Macromedia Flash Professional 8 was used to construct the computerized teaching aid, and the raw data for the 3D animations of ballet movement that appear throughout the teaching aid was collected using Vicon 8 Motion Capture Systems.  The location of center of gravity per frame of movement was calculated using established data by Chandler.  In the future, we hope to closely examine the teaching aid?s effectiveness to both dancers and high school and college students studying introductory physics, using subjective evaluation methods.