STEM From Dance

The Ask

STEM From Dance is a nonprofit teaching girls STEM concepts through dance—programming and electronics through projects like wearable LED clothing. 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—artists working with wearable LEDs. Key lessons: traditional LED strips are too rigid for movement (use string LEDs instead), audio reactivity is unreliable (pre-choreographed routines work better), hot glue is the most practical attachment method, and power/maintenance are ongoing challenges.

Team: We assembled collaborators—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: We proposed three options and went with LED panels on the sides of black cargo pants. All electronics would be 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. Rather than audio reactivity, we used beat-mapped choreography—code that converts beats and BPM to milliseconds.

Fabrication: 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. Daniel developed helper functions for the choreography:

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

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:

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—supporting their educational mission.