A. was trolling around NPR like a good public radio junkie and found a link to this amazing story.
If you listen to the story, you will discover that there was recently a contest among scientists called the "Dance your PhD" competition, in which scientists, postdocs, and PhD students created a 5 or so minute interpretive dance of their dissertation, videotaped it, and posted it on YouTube. Here are some of the fine examples:
My personal favorite was not among the winners, but was the runner-up in the Graduate Student category, titled "Hydrodynamic Trail Detection in Marine Organisms" by Christin Murphy. She will be a tough one to follow, what with the flaming hula hoops and shark ribbon-skyflying-Cirque du Soleil thing.
I am feeling very inspired by this little contest, and a bit put out that it was limited to "scientists" only. As you may know, I am a huge fan of the interpretive dance, losing all sense of inhibition and propriety when I spot a lonely dance floor and any type of music.
Therefore, I am hoping to convince YOU, my fellow historians, to join me in creating our own interpretive dances of our dissertations. I am already planning mine - it will include some sort of simulated torture scene (anyone want to be fake waterboarded?) with some Christians coming in to rescue the torture victims and refugees starving to death in French concentration camps.
I feel that with the variety of interesting topics we have come up with (including yours CBAM! I really feel you could make some drama out of your religious conflicts!), we can produce some amazing interpretive dance, and publicize our dissertations at the same time!
Anyone else want to join in?
3 comments:
Can I wait for my advisor to tell me what my interpretive dance should be? That's pretty much my MO these days. Other than that, the only dance I am doing these days is the "I'm too sexy for my shirt" dance I perform for Norea on a fairly regular basis.
I think there's still a "Hotties of History" calendar in the works too. You'd have to ask YSA about that though.
uh, I'll have to think about it. the idea is promising though. :) Great find, A!
I totally heard that story on NPR! And I totally don't ever want to see any of my Economics PhD friends even attempting this!
We are enjoying your blog updates and look forward to talking with you again soon! Happy French Equivalent Turkey Day!
JW^2
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