Teaching physics with Michael Jackson’s Moonwalk: a kinematic exploration for the classroom

Abstract

We present and discuss, from a kinematic point of view, the dance movement known as the Moonwalk, popularized by Michael Jackson over 40 years ago. This paper explores the application of kinematic analysis to enhance physics education by examining the Moonwalk movement. We use the free software Tracker to register the position and time of three material points: the head (H) and the tips of the right and left feet (RF, LF) for two dancers. We found that head movement is well described by a constant speed model and the foot-to-head speed ratio close to the expected value of 2. We also observed an asymmetry in leg movement that impacts the speed of the feet in relation to the dancer’s head. We conclude by discussing possibilities for using dance and other body movements as motivation for physics classes at the high school and university level.

Keywords

• Mechanics
• kinematics
• video analysis
• dance
• moonwalk