You can hypothesize, experiment, analyze and squirt tiny volumes of liquids into small containers. But can you mambo?

At the upcoming Cambridge Science Festival, we’ll find out which scientists can best shake their stuff. As part of the festival later this month, the MIT Museum and the Boston Globe will host an evening on May 1 (7:30pm) where six finalists (chosen from videos submitted by dancing scientists) will perform in front of a panel of judges at the the MIT Museum.

The dances are supposed to somehow communicate a complicated scientific concept.

I have to admit to some skepticism about how well dance can depict science. (The best and only dance I’ve seen showing a scientific concept is the protein synthesis one from the 70s narrated by Paul Berg). But I’ll be in the audience May 1 with my camera to find out!