Second Guest Writer: Physicist Shane Bergin

Continuing our roll call of guest writers on the DDF blog, physicist Shane Bergin will be our second honorary scribe this year. Shane is an assistant professor in science education at UCD’s School of Education. His research focuses on teaching and learning in physics – both in formal settings like lecture-halls or labs and in more informal settings (like a metro train). Shane is also the founder of City of Physics – a campaign to spark physics conversations around Dublin based on posters, art and projections dotted around the city. This follows DARTofPhysics – a similar campaign on Dublin’s DART train – in 2013. Shane received awards for public engagement in science from the European Commission and the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) for this work. In 2015, Shane began a collaboration with the National Concert Hall – blending STEM subjects with music for primary school audiences.

For his show to respond to, Shane has chosen (b)reaching stillness by Swiss choreographer Lea Moro:

On reading the blurb for (b)reaching stillness, I'm struck by the idea that nothing is still: it's an abstraction. In a scientific sense, there are drives to create still systems but the concept, like infinity, remains out of reach by definition. I'm excited to to see how ideas like this may be expressed through dance.

Stay tuned to the blog to find out what Shane thought of the show – you can follow @racklette or @dublindancefest on Twitter for udpates.

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