Nancy Scherich

Alexander's Theorem is a fundamental result in the field of knot theory. This video is an artistic portrayal through acrobatic pole dancing to explain the statement and an algorithmic proof of the theorem. As a dancer and mathematician, I am always looking for ways to express my research in dance. I started pole dancing in the summer of 2022, and during a class I realized I could explain Alexander's theorem using the pole as an axis. And so, Alexander's Theorem: A Math-Dance was born. I trained for 9 months to learn the skills shown in the video. My student Alexa Goldberg helped me choreograph the dances. During filming, I was assisted by three other Elon undergraduate students to make the movie magic come alive.