Dancer health workshop to feature expert speakers

When senior Brittany Crosby first came to IU three years ago, being a dance major wasn't an option. So she created an individualized major in holistic health and awareness to look at how dancers perform. \nThe contemporary dance program evolved and a dance major was offered for the first time last year. It was too late for Crosby to change her major, however, so she chose to pursue her unique curriculum with the hope that she could dance and use her knowledge to help others down the road.\n"My ultimate goal was to have this major as something that would improve me as a dancer but also allow me to work with dancers when I'm done performing," Crosby said.\nHer final project for the major is a workshop that will begin at 10:30 a.m. Sunday in room 161 of the Health, Physical Education and Recreation building. "Dancing for Life" will feature six speakers who all find their expertise in a different aspect of dancing -- everything from conditioning of dancers to injury prevention.\nCrosby will be looking not only at dance and performance, but also the dancer's well-being, IU contemporary dance coordinator Liz Shea said.\n"(You'll) really be able to see how all these little pieces fit together to affect the health of the dancer," Shea said.\nAlthough limited to 20 participants -- mostly contemporary dance majors who will be interacting with the speakers of the event -- anyone is welcome to come watch and listen to the speakers, Crosby said.\nBy having experts present the information interactively, she thinks her audience will be able to learn more about what she has been studying.\n"I have tastes of all of them," she said of the different topics from the workshop. "I wanted people to experience what I had experienced, not necessarily have me tell them what is right and wrong."\nWhat motivates Crosby the most is knowing what muscles are working while she is dancing, she said.\n"It gave me a very clear visual of what my body is doing," she said. "If I can see what my body is doing or I can picture it, then I have more control over it."\nClasses other students dread, Crosby said she finds interesting.\n"I'm kind of a nerd, so when I took Anatomy and Physiology, I was just really excited about it," she said. "I'm mildly obsessed with how the body works."\nThough hoping to dance professionally, Crosby said she eventually wants to pursue a master's degree and work with dancers.\nOf all six speakers, Crosby and Shea both said they were most excited about Jill Bolte Taylor, a neuroanatomist who had to learn to function all over again after having a stroke, Shea said.\n"She has an amazing personal story, so I feel like she has a really awesome grip on the external and the internal," Crosby said of Taylor's knowledge of the connection between mind and body.\nCrosby said other presenters at the workshop will include: Alice Lindeman, nutrition professor; Rachel Britton, a doctoral student studying human performance with a specialization in motor learning and control; Rose Hartzell, massage therapist; Heather Walter, athletic trainer in the ballet department; and Ann Georgescu, Recreational Sports yoga and pilates instructor.\nAfter exploring this major, Crosby hopes other students will be interested in dancer wellness.\n"Who knows? Maybe the department could do this again," she said.