Body cognition and Math Education for pre-school children

In every type of dance, from the traditional and the classical ones up to the modern, there are many mathematical concepts. Some of them are unconsciously used, both to find harmony of human bodies in the space, and for the logic. In contemporary dance techniques some choreographer noticed the strong presence of math and decided to taking inspiration from them. With this project we explore the connections between mathematics and dance, understood as a movement of the body itself. The Dance show “Intrecci” is presented in a video (15’ long): it shows the presence of topological and geometrical elements not only for help public to see some abstract object, but also to make the audience aware of how maths is presented in everyday life. Words, scenography and images are essential and helpful for the audience to focus the attention on the dancers' lines and bodies. The music has been chosen with attention: "Knee 5" from "Einstein on the beach" and "Metamorphosis 1" were composed by Philip Glass; their melody and sonority allow to exalt choreographs elements. The "Body Percussion Song" is a clapping music song, that is music composed only whit body, voice and percussion; it was chosen for its energy. The performances that can be seen in this video can be used for every level school project. In fact, we experimented it in a kindergarten (I.S. Serravalle (MC)). The idea is to use the human body and the space that surrounds it in order to introduce important concepts of Geometry and, in general, Mathematics.