Inspired by a TED Talk on using dance instead of power point to explain scientific ideas,  Columbia University PhD candidate Apoorv Agarwal and choreographer Caitlin Trainor have joined forces on the project “Artificial IntelliDance.”  There are three live performances and a film that will be submitted to both TED Talks and Dance Your PhD competition. We are using Ballet and Modern dancers for the choreography and integrating a scientific presentation with music in form of a dialogue between a “User” and a “Machine.” This we believe is the most novel aspect of our presentation. It is one integrated piece of art that presents a fairly complex mathematical idea.

In this dance presentation we are explaining the idea of how machines learn from data. For example, how would a machine learn to answer a Jeopardy! question like “4 letter word for a vantage point or a belief”? We are presenting a relatively new machine learning paradigm, which is deeply rooted in a strong mathematical foundation. It is called Kernel Learning.
The most exciting part of the project is the collaboration between Arts and Science. While trying to choreograph this fairly complex idea, we had to abstract away from a lot of technical details which we realize now are not so important to really understand how machines learn. While choreographing this piece we are also getting an idea of how Arts may serve as a fertile ground for thinking about scientific ideas.

This choreography has something for both the Artists and Scientists. Artists will get to know about how machines learn. Scientists will get to know the basic differences between Ballet and Modern dance.

Following are our three performances:

• Friday, April 27th,  Barnard College,  Barnard Hall,  3009 Broadway,  Studio 305,  3pm – 4pm.
• Friday, April 27th,  Barnard College,  Barnard Hall,  3009 Broadway,  Studio 305,  4pm – 5pm.
• Monday,  April 30th,  (with proper lighting) Schermerhorn Theatre,  160 Schermerhorn St,  Brooklyn,  6pm – 7pm.

Visit our Facebook page and RSVP here!

Apoorv Agarwal: Apoorv is a 4th year computer science PhD student at Columbia University. His areas of specialization are Machine Learning and Natural Language Processing.
Caitlin Trainor: Caitlin is a dancer/choreographer and a member of the dance faculty at Barnard College/Columbia University.  She uses movement as a playground for ideas and enjoys bringing dance to non-traditional audiences. Her work has been performed on both sides of the Atlantic in conjunction with visual art,  music,  poetry,  and film.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UlDWRZ7IYqw[/youtube]