Focused ultrasound makes movements on the stage

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research 1:36 Focused ultrasound makes movements on the stage

By:

Lee Friesland

6 Jun 2024 703

The arts and science has been a passion for Shima Shahab since childhood. Since 2018, Shahab has been working with Billie Lepczyk in the School of Performing Arts using dance to help better visualize complex engineering concepts. In this collaboration, dancers represent the movement of particles in an acoustic hologram forming the shape of an eagle.

I think the concepts in engineering and art, both are coming from nature, so there must be a strong connection between these two. We found dance as a fascinating and unique tool to demonstrate complex acoustic fields. Understanding engineering concept for a student sometimes it is hard. And we want to use the art as a tool to make the student understand it. In MInDS lab, we design and test acoustic hoolgrams for creating specific and complex focus ultrasound fields. It has applications in biomedical areas such as particle manipulation, drug delivery, and neuromodulation for treating brain disorders. We found a unique and common language between focus ultrasound engineering and dance choreography. The flow of energy between dancers is very similar to wave propagation in acoustic domains. Right away, I connected with the dynamics of what was happening. Ultrasonic waves came, and suddenly they were rushing and swirling and then coming into this design on the top. I let the dancers just moving separately and in groups. And finally coming in in different angles to make this final eagle shape.

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