I move the stars for no one: Escher and the "Labyrinth" set design.

Hello actors and mathematicians! Today I want to discuss MC Escher.

Dutch graphic artist Maurits Cornelis Escher is renowned for his intricate and perplexing works that are strongly influenced by mathematical ideas. Tessellations, impossibly complex structures, and intricate symmetries are frequent elements in Escher's works. Despite not having a direct connection to the theater, many stage productions have used his work to build visually stunning set designs and backdrops. The close relationship between mathematics, art, and theatrical aesthetics is amply illustrated by the way in which Escher played with geometric shapes and patterns to confound expectations and produce optical illusions.

If you're in class with me you already know some of this, because we've talked about him, but what you might not know is a clear example of a set that was entirely built with his work in mind; the one for the 1986 fantasy movie musical Labyrinth. Instead of showing you still pictures. I include a video of a scene where you can see Escher's famous impossible stairs in motion.

What do you think? confusing, right? Until next time, break a leg!

I am not throwing away my shot: musical motifs and tesselation.

 Hello actors and mathematicians!

According to what we have learned in class, tessellation is a special type of tiling (a pattern of geometric shapes that fill a two-dimensional space with no gaps and no overlaps) that repeats in all directions in an infinite plane. Tesselae are known for their beauty and the satisfactory way they create beautiful pictures. In Spain in particular, they are very culturally relevant, as they are an integral part of our traditional tiling, as seen in this image:

In trying to connect this idea specifically to musical theatre, however, I noticed there was a way to make this concept acccessible to different inteligences. As teachers, we know it's important to adjust our teaching strategies in order to make learning accessible to every one of our students. Subjects like geometry are often skewed to be easier to visual learners. Some techniques engage kinesthetic learners (we'll talk about them in a different post) but this idea is specific to auditory learners.

There is a phenomena in musical theatre we call the motif, that is, when a composer utilizes a certain musical sequence, "x" or "y" notes, to convey a certain emotion or callback to a character, their motivations, their way of being... This phenomena is very well exemplified in musicals like Les Miserables and Hamilton. If you want to understand it better, youtuber Jaime Altozano does a great job of explaining it in this video (it has english subs if you need them):

Now, the relationship between this topic and mosaics is obvious to me: like they do with tesselae, motifs employ musical sections or notes that are carefully and creatively designed to fit into a narrative just right in order to tell a story.

If our class has auditory learners who resonate with this, why wouldn't we ask them to create a musical motif to accompany their mosaics and tesselation projects? I will certainly give this a thought.

Until next time, break a leg!