Dancing Nature: Science Storytelling Through Ballet

Over the centuries, many art forms have been used to tell scientific stories—from Leonardo Da Vinci’s explorations of human anatomy to the influence of Maxwell's electromagnet wave theory on the Impressionists.

As a professionally trained ballet dancer and fungal researcher at Imperial College London, Eleonora Moratto is continuing that tradition and combining her two passions.

After a prize-winning performance dancing her own PhD on Plant-pathogen interactions, she will take to the stage at this year’s Great Exhibition Road Festival alongside collaborators from Chelsea Ballet. Together they will respond to short talks from natural world scientists, creating a series of performances that will explore the human impact on our changing planet.

Plants, Pathogens, and Pirouettes?

Many people enjoy eating mushrooms, the fruits of filamentous fungi, as they are packed with nutrients. But if we look underground, it gets more interesting. Filamentous fungi can act as ‘highways’. Much like a road, the hyphae (long structures in mushrooms) can act as physical highways for transporting other microorganisms. Fungi also interact with plant roots, but it’s not always an easy relationship. Join us as Dr Eleonora tells us all about her research into this area, and shows us surprising other ways science can be communicated.

Dancing Climate Science

After a prize-winning performance dancing her own PhD on plant-pathogen interactions, biology ballerina Dr Eleonora Moratto joins forces with the Chelsea Ballet Group and researchers from Imperial College London to turn climate science research into beautiful choreographies.

Dancing Climate Science | a SciBallet Project

After a prize-winning performance dancing her own PhD on plant-pathogen interactions, Elenora joins forces with the Chelsea Ballet Group to take to the stage at the Great Exhibition Road Festival. Together, in a unique fusion of movement and science, they’ll turn short talks from natural world scientists into breathtaking ballet performance expressing the urgent story of humanity’s impact on our planet. 

Rhythms of immunity | choreographing the dance of vaccination

Explore the interplay between our immune system, vaccines and viruses, and see it brought to life through discussion and dance. Free event. Eleonora will be part of the panel discussion on collaborating across the art-science divide.

SciBallet at the Imperial Lates

The Biology Ballerina, Dr Eleonora Moratto, presents her research through ballet. Enjoy an on pointe STEAM performance while learning about one way we can grow our food pathogen-free.

Etude a la Ballet Russe Moderne

This year’s ballet, Etude à la Ballet Russe Moderne, is the story of a frustrated ballet teacher and a hopeless student. It is a comic and heartfelt dance between love and loss, rivalry, disguise and transformation. 

SciBallet

The Biology Ballerina, Dr Eleonora Moratto, presents her research through ballet. Enjoy an on pointe STEAM performance while learning about one way we can grow our food pathogen-free.

Natural Sciences Showcase 2023

Join a full day of presentations and stimulating discussions with the academics and prize-winning PhD students in the Faculty of Natural Sciences and find out about our innovative work. Eleonora will be presenting her PhD research

Ballet gala: Four Seasons 

Travel through Winter, Spring, Summer and Autumn, with music by Franz Schubert, Paso & Garcia Alvarez and Antonio Vivaldi at the Swiss Church in London’s 2023 Ballet Gala.