Dance inspired by black holes set for Glasgow conference

Glasgow Times

11-07-2025

Hundreds of scientists are expected to participate in the dance, which creatively interprets the gravitational waves in spacetime first theorised by Albert Einstein.
The performance marks the 10th anniversary of the first detection of gravitational waves, a groundbreaking achievement which ushered in a new era of astronomy.
(Image: Chris James) The dance will debut at the GR–Amaldi meeting, an international science conference which will be held at the Scottish Exhibition Centre in Glasgow from July 14 to 18.
The conference organisers anticipate that many of the more than 800 delegates will join the first large-scale performance at a ceilidh on July 17.
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The dance has been devised to represent the gravitational-wave signals measured by the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) and the black holes that create them.
Dr Christopher Berry from the University of Glasgow's School of Physics and Astronomy said: 'We are delighted to host the GR–Amaldi conference here in Glasgow during the tenth anniversary year of the revolutionary first observation of gravitational waves.
(Image: Chris James) "It felt right to welcome our visitors to the city with a traditional Scottish dance, and to give it a cosmic twist inspired by the research that unites us."
The dance illustrates the life-cycle of black holes and how they form orbiting pairs before colliding to create the signal detected on Earth.
At the peak of the dance, participants are encouraged to let out a celebratory 'whoop', representing the final stage of a binary black hole merger.
Lewis Hou, director of Science Ceilidh, who guided the development of the dance, said: "Working with University of Glasgow researchers on developing this dance has been a fantastic experience.
"What we've ended up with is a dance which is great fun to perform but has a real basis in science.
"It represents the process of black hole coalescence through dance, inspired by how black holes interact, pair up, get closer to each other and finally merge."
After its inauguration at the GR–Amaldi, the dance is set to be introduced to youth groups to aid their understanding of gravitational waves through dance.
The University of Glasgow's gravitational wave research is supported by funding from the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC), part of UK Research and Innovation.