STEM From Dance

The Client

STEM From Dance is a nonprofit teaching girls STEM concepts through the magic of dance: programming and electronics taught through projects like wearable LED clothing and computer-vision stage visuals.

The project came to Karina through her animatronics professor at NYU, who was looking for a grad student familiar with wearable tech. With STEM From Dance's blessing, we took it on under KACHOW! LLC rather than as an individual, and assembled a team of fellow classmates to tackle it.

The Ask

They needed eight pairs of programmable LED pants for their student dance troupe, choreographed to a five-minute routine, delivered in about five weeks.

Previous wearable attempts had issues: wires shorting, LEDs going dark mid-performance, and tilt sensors that worked inconsistently across dancers. They needed something more reliable.

The Process

Research: We attended NYC Fashion Week's LED Runway Show, where we met SunMoonCouture and PlexusPlay, a fashion designer and vibraphonist who had teamed up on a full LED bodysuit, and approached them after the show to ask how they did it. Their hard-won lessons shaped our whole approach: traditional LED strips are too rigid for body movement (use string LEDs instead), audio reactivity is unreliable on the garment itself (pre-choreographed routines work better), hot glue beats sewing for attaching LEDs to fabric, and power is the eternal enemy; their suit could only run 40-50 minutes per performance and needed resoldering every 5-6 shows.

Team: We assembled collaborators, with each person taking the lead on a different aspect but everyone pitching in on all of it: Vera Zhong on soldering and circuit design, Daniel Wai on programming, Kay Wasil on sewing, and Mary Mark working with the dancers on choreography integration.

Design: Our proposal sketched three costume options, from easy to hard:

We went with LED panels on the sides of black cargo pants, with all electronics removable for washing. For diffusion, we used quilt batting as a spacer with sheer chiffon fabric on top, creating a soft glow rather than harsh point lights. Following the runway advice, we skipped audio reactivity in favor of beat-mapped choreography, code that converts beats and BPM to milliseconds:

float beat2millis(float beats, float bpm) {
  return (beats * (60/bpm)) * 1000;
}

Diffusion tests: quilt batting, chiffon, and patience

Fabrication: The proposal was fine and dandy, but implementing the vision is a whole 'nother matter. Vera led electronics assembly: ESP8266 microcontrollers handling 600-700 LEDs per pair of pants, powered by lithium-ion batteries in 3D-printed enclosures. Kay created the pants and wrote detailed sewing instructions so STEM From Dance could make more themselves.

600-700 LEDs per pair of pants, soldered by hand

Testing: We visited the dance studio weekly for months, observing rehearsals and iterating on prototypes based on real-world issues: loose connections, uncomfortable seams, timing adjustments.

The Outcome

Eight dancers performed in synchronized LED pants for their showcase, and the pants later traveled to Kansas City for another performance. STEM From Dance received both the costumes and the documentation to maintain and extend them, including Kay's sewing instructions for making more.

The team on performance day