Dance
flexes muscle for new option
By Sonya Smith
On-line Forty-Niner
When
a dancer performs a pirouette there is more
to it than one would understand such as
what muscles to use and how to use them.
The dance department plans to offer its
students exactly that in a new option for
dance science hopefully being offered in
fall 2003.
Sixth year student, Nicole Martinez has
done this through an interdisciplinary studies
major emphasizing on dance and kinesiology
classes.
Martinez said that a dance science option
would have given her the opportunity to
finish her program earlier. The major has
given her “the ability to know what muscles
I am using and the proper muscles to use”
as well as “the opportunity to work in dance
as a sport,” Martinez said.
“I think that the degree will help [the
students] to get a background of knowledge
to be sympathetic to others who are injured,”
Martinez said. “Dancers are elite athletes
and they are hard on their bodies.”
Professor and chair of the kinesiology and
physical education department Michael G.
Lacourse added, “The proposal program from
dance is to provide students with a science
basis for the movements behind dance.”
By dance science becoming an option the
students will be able to enroll in impacted
kinesiology courses that they would not
be able to get in as non-majors, Lacourse
said.
“Dance is a physical activity just like
football,” Lacourse said.
The curriculum that was developed for a
year and a half by the dance department
along with the kinesiology and physical
education department will mainly consist
of dance and kinesiology classes said four-year
dance science professor Karen Clippinger.
The kinesiology section will include classes
in exercise science, fitness, exercise physiology,
motor learning and biomechanics said Lacourse.
Other courses from biological sciences and
nutrition will also be included Clippinger
said.
A proposal for the dance science option
has been submitted and is currently in the
approval stage, Clippinger said.
The option is geared towards students looking
to become dance teachers, as it will “give
them a more scientific base of understanding”
things like how to prevent injury and improve
technique, Clippinger said.
Clippinger also said this option would benefit
those students wishing to go on to graduate
work such as careers in teaching dance for
the university level, personal training,
physical therapy, pilates, kinesiology and
occupational therapy.
“I’m really excited about this because it
will give students important opportunities,”
Clippinger said.
She said that by implementing this option
it will be easier for students to obtain
jobs in teaching dance at the university
level as that is a very competitive field.
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