Mixing in a few explosions and a couple loud bangs, a University of Wisconsin alumnus and dancing scientist performs an everyday balancing act as a traveling showman, researcher and owner of a company.

Jeffrey Vinokur, otherwise known by his stage name, The Dancing Scientist, has spent years working on combining his love of science and dance in order to educate and inspire young children’s minds.

A 2012 graduate of UW, Vinokur’s interest in science and dancing predates his undergraduate days at Wisconsin.

Vinokur began dancing in high school and would post videos to Youtube. With millions of views of his dancing videos, Vinokur was invited to audition on America’s Got Talent, but he didn’t make the cut to premiere on the show.

So Vinokur decided to pursue an idea he had been mulling over for a long time, combining his two interests of science and dancing into one act. Promising a higher level of entertainment, Vinokur returned to America’s Got Talent with his new act with much greater success.

Since his debut and success on America’s Got Talent, Vinokur has appeared on The View, Rachel Ray show and the Today Show. Vinokur has also traveled to schools around the world trying to promote interest in science.

“I interact with tens of thousands of kids every year and they all like science at that age [under 12], but that dies when they get older,” Vinokur said. “They lose that wow factor, and the wow factor is what justifies taking the time to learn why that worked and how that worked.”  

It’s been 23 years since an educational science show for kids, like “Bill Nye the Science Guy,” has been on television for kids to enjoy. There has been nothing in that space of time to lead the next generation about science, but Vinokur hopes to change this.

As part of his goal of reaching out to kids with his traveling performances, Vinokur hopes to one day bring it to television where it will reach a much broader and larger audience.

Along with Vinokur’s gig as The Dancing Scientist, he also owns a company and is currently attending the University of California-Los Angeles as a Ph.D. candidate.

At UCLA, Vinokur’s works with enzymes, or proteins that assist chemical reactions.

After taking an interest in biofuels at UW, Vinokur’s finding of new prehistoric bacteria could be used by taking the proteins and understanding their uses to make a new fuel, otherwise known as Isoprenol.

Vinokur touts the value of hard work.

“I think it’s important for students to understand there is no magic here; it’s not like I was just on my way and someone called me,” Vinokur said. “Each of these steps was a year of working day and night and not having the weekends to go out.”

Vinokur said he’s pitched his act to about 30 shows, 20 of which didn’t take him on. But the 10 that said yes were some of the biggest shows on television.  

“For every success there are multiple failures,” Vinokur said.

“An earlier version of this article identified Isoprenol as Isopentyl. The Badger Herald regrets this error.”