The smash hit variety show about math was held at a San Francisco theater during the annual Joint Mathematics Meetings.
Math doesn’t have to be all work and numbers, says Assistant Professor of Mathematics and Statistics Professor Nancy Scherich — it can be fun, theatrical, and funny, too.
Scherich just returned from the annual Joint Math Meetings in San Francisco, the largest national math conference, which hosted more than 5,000 mathematicians this year. For the conference, Scherich produced a Math Variety Show as an outreach entertainment event featuring acts of math-dance, math-magic, math-comedy and much more. The sold-out show was emceed by the famous mathematician and stand-up comedian Matt Parker, known for his popular YouTube channel “Stand-up Maths” and his #No.1 international best-selling book “Humble Pi: When Math Goes Wrong in the Real World.”
Besides Parker’s appearance, the show had another dozen acts, all prominently featuring mathematics and performed by professional mathematicians or math educators. World Poetry Slam Champion Harry Baker opened the show with his award-winning poem “A Love Poem of Lonely Primes.” Math professor by day and conjurer by night, magician Tori Noquez performed her original magic trick “Can You Beat the Odds,” which she recently performed on the television show “Penn & Teller: Fool Us.” The California-based dance company MoveSpeakSpin performed three mesmerizing dances about mathematics, including a dance proof of the Pythagorean theorem.
Other performances included mathematical mime by Tim and Tanya Chartier of Davidson College, acapella by the Klein Four Group, math-inspired traditional Bharatanatyam Indian dance by the world-renowned dancer Sahana Balasubramanya, and a rock band parody of “Flatland California.” The full program of the show offers more details.
The show was hosted at the beautiful Alcazar Theater in downtown San Francisco. The 480-seat theater was sold out and dozens of would-be attendees were turned away at the door. The audience was a mix of mathematicians attending the conference and local math enthusiasts, with several families and children in attendance. This one-of-a-kind show was a great success and left the audience buzzing with excitement and just a little bit smarter too.
Scherich and colleague Dan Margalit of Vanderbilt University spent a year planning and organizing every aspect of the variety show, from the theater rental to the Eventbrite ticket sales, to performer recruiting. Scherich, usually known for being on stage and screen with her own math-dance performances, worked behind the curtain as stage manager, using her years of musical theater and dance performance experience to orchestrate the show.
To learn more about Scherich’s math-dance and other math outreach events, check out her YouTube channel and personal website.