The Dance Scientist
Dr. Kelli Sharp is not your typical dance professor. She spends her days collecting and analyzing motion-capture data to investigate movement patterns, responses to stimuli, and the acceleration of movement. By working with real-time motor functions of the human body, she can understand the relationship between the control system and what reinforcement training can do to improve those functions.
Dr. Sharp is currently working with her team of interdisciplinary researchers on a study to understand motor learning patterns in dancers to aid their performance, and then apply this knowledge to understanding various neurological disorders. Hours of working with tape measures, bodysuits and marker sensors may just redefine what you think when someone says dance.