UW Professor’s Dance DVD in the Spotlight

Posted on January 17, 2011     General News

Jennifer Salk, associate professor in the UW Dance Department, has released a new DVD called “Experiential Anatomy in Dance Technique” that offers a basic understanding of how to integrate human anatomy into technique classes. For instructors and students who may have studied anatomy or kinesiology, this tool reinforces concepts already learned. For those with no prior study, the DVD presents the basic anatomy of primary joints and areas of the skeleton. The tool can help instructors enliven their classes, and help students make intelligent decisions about how to train and move.

Gail Dykstra from C4C assisted Salk all along the way—from thinking through commercialization options, creating release forms so that the eventual product would have clear sailing when the DVD was ready to be published, and negotiating the license. Professor Salk will put the revenue from licensing back into the project through the C4C self-sustaining resource allocation via a Project Distribution.

Salk’s DVD was inspired by students in her techniques classes. From an excerpt of an article published in UW’s University Week, Salk says, “Anatomy is like a language — if you don’t use it you lose it. In dance, sadly, the body parts you’re expert on are the things you’ve injured. I started to look at my students and think, how can I keep anatomy happening in the classroom without taking away from the dance experience?”

The DVD includes eight mini-lessons one each on the spine, the rib cage, the scapula, the shoulder joint, the hip joint, the knee joint, the tibia and fibula and the ankle, tarsus and toes.

“What we’ve learned,” she concluded “is that you can dance a lot longer and more beautifully if you understand and can work within your own body.”

Salk’s DVD is available from Human Kinetics Publishing.