Students scanning the reading list for Assistant Professor of Dance Julie Brodie's Advanced Modern Dance class one semester might have been surprised to see an unlikely title included: W. Timothy Gallwey's The Inner Game of Tennis. What was a book about getting a better backswing doing in a class dedicated to Twyla Tharp-type swing?

Simple: the book, which teaches athletes the psychology of competition, was a great way to explore "performance enhancement and the mind-body connection," says Brodie. To this former engineering scholar, the study of dance is a holistic work, integrating mind, body, and spirit. "I try to emphasize this in my teaching," she says, "by drawing from my many different interest areas and making conscious connections between them in the classroom."

This connectivity is something that Brodie prizes at Kenyon. "I love teaching at Kenyon, because the students here are usually excited to bring their knowledge of and interest in other fields into the studio," she explains. "Being broadly educated makes for better, richer, more mature dancers, and it prepares students for a life with dance, not just a career as a dancer."

Kenyon alumni have gone on to successful careers in dance, and Brodie encourages the rigor involved in this pursuit. But she also encourages students "to look for alternative ways to make dance a part of their life, whether through teaching, writing about dance, physical therapy for dancers, or researching dance history."

Who knows? Taking a dance class might even improve your tennis game.