The DMREF team builds on strong relationships with NYC schools to introduce students to crystals and crystal growth through age-appropriate activities, from anthropomorphic crystallization through the eyes of dance to workshops related to concepts of machine learning and ‘big data’ in the science of molecular materials.

Students from the New York Theatre Ballet School 2023 Summer Intensive visited NYU to learn about crystallization and crystal transformations. Ten students, ages 8-13, and three dance teachers discussed what makes a material crystalline or amorphous and then constructed different polymorphs for 2D and 3D model materials. While in the lab, they watched organic crystals form from the melt at the cross-polarized light microscope. In the studio, the students watched videos of crystal transformations due to external stimuli such as temperature, pressure, and UV light, then explored how these transformations could take place through collective dance motions. The students also discussed whether corps de ballet dancers in different dance productions could be described as crystalline and how choreography, costuming, and casting could affect the perceived crystallinity of the performance.