The Dr. Schaffer and Mr. Stern Dance Ensemble, co-directed by Karl Schaffer and Erik Stern, announces its touring season for 2003. Performances and residencies include an upcoming two-day residency at the Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts in Davis, California on Feb. 6 and 7, and a one-week residency at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC, Mar. 3-8. All spring performances are the duet show ãDr. Schaffer and Mr. Stern, Two Guys Dancing About Math,ä which has been performed approximately 400 times since 1990 in the U.S. and Canada. The show traces the humorous escapades of two characters as they ponder how dance and mathematics are found in everything we do. It includes a ãtrio for two men and a basketballä set to music, an a capella  tap dance, and a dance entitled ãPrivate Flyä set to a jazz score in which the dancers wield larger and larger fly-swatters in a kind of cold-war arms spiral.
 
 

Dr. Schaffer and Mr. Stern Dance Ensemble schedule for 2003

Feb. 6,7  Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts, Davis, CA
Mar. 3-8  John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Wash. D.C.
Apr. 7  Spartanburg Day School, Spartanburg, SC
Apr. 8   Annenberg Center for the Perf. Arts, Phil., PA
Apr. 10  Paramount Center for the Arts, Peekskill, NY
Apr 15,16 Victoria Theatre Association, Dayton, Ohio
Apr 21-23 Cincinnati Arts Assoc., Cincinnati, Ohio
Apr 25,28 Weidner Center for the Perf. Arts, Green Bay, WI
Apr. 29  Mahaffey Theater for the Perf. Arts, St. Petersburg, FL
Apr. 30  Proctor's Theater, Schenectady, NY
May 1, 2 & 5 Emma Willard School residency, Troy, NY
May 20-24 Calgary International Children's Fest., Calgary, Alberta
May 27-31 Northern Alberta Int'l Children's Fest, Edmonton, Alberta
Oct.  14-17  Sun Valley Center for the Arts, Sun Valley, Idaho

For more detailed information contact us at schafferkarl@fhda.edu or estern@weber.edu.

The company recently received three successive years of Education grants from the National Endowment for the Arts for their work integrating dance and mathematics, and have just published a book MathDance with Dr. Schaffer and Mr. Stern, in collaboration with author and company member Scott Kim on how to do simultaneous mathematics and dance explorations in the K-12 classroom. The 132 page spiral bound paperback book is available in its Preliminary Edition, for $15 plus $2 shipping, from us - we hope to find a mainstream publisher to take over publication soon.

In addition to the NEA funding, they receive grants from the California Arts Council, the Cultural Council of Santa Cruz County, and other agencies.

Background of performer / directors.
Karl Schaffer teaches mathematics full-time at De Anza College, in Cupertino, California and dances and choreographs professionally. He has a Ph.D. in Mathematics from Univ. of  California at Santa Cruz, and he will be on leave from the De Anza College for the spring touring. Erik Stern teaches dance at Weber State University in Ogden, Utah, and is presently on sabbatical. He received the Weber State Endowed Scholar/Artist award for the years 1999-2002, and he has an MFA in dance from the California Institute for the Arts. The two have co-directed the dance ensemble since 1986, and have toured extensively with their 2-, 3-, and 4-person ensembles.
 
 

(Photo by Clark Taylor)