Teaching Dancing with Ideokinetic Principles

by Drid Williams

In examining ideokinesis and its application to the teaching of dancing, Drid Williams draws upon her private instructional sessions with Dr. Lulu Sweigard over a two-year span.  Williams discusses her own teaching methods for improving body alignment for ease of movement and shares reactions from the professional dancers she taught.  Central to Williams’s teaching method is general anatomical instruction and the application of Sweigard’s principles to prevent injuries and increase body awareness.  Williams emphasizes the differences between kinesthetic (internal) and mirror (external) imagery.  Her account is supplemented with essays by Sweigard, William James and Jean-Georges Noverre on dancing, posture and neuromuscular habits.

About the Author
Based in Minnesota, Drid Williams is the senior editor of the Journal for the Anthropological Study of Human Movement and the author of Anthropology and the Dance: Ten Lectures; Anthropology and Human Movement: The Study of Dances; and Anthropology and Human Movement: Searching for Origins.

Product Details
ISBN (Hardcover):  978-0-252-03608-8
ISBN (Softcover):  978-0-252-07799-9
ISBN (Ebook):  978-0-252-09306-7
Publisher:  University of Illinois Press
Publication Date:  2011
Product Description:  Hardcover and Softcover, 6 x 9
Language:  English
Number of Pages:  144, Index and Bibliography
Illustrations:  17 B/W photographs, 2 line drawings, 2 tables
Price:  Hardcover – $95; Softcover – $27; Ebook – $19.95
Available for Purchase:  University of Illinois Press