TEACHING PHILOSOPHY
I believe that the potential for transformative learning is rooted in our physicality. As modern technologies continue to draw us out of our bodies and into virtual realities, we are losing this essential connection to our visceral self. Dance is an exceptional platform for self-realization because it invites us to live fully in ourselves—to address our relationship to our own humanity, our own body, other bodies, and the physical spaces in which we dwell. I foster a positive learning environment that encourages students to discover their unique physicality, and by extension, their unique intellectual and creative potential.
My studio teaching garners classical influences from the Limón, Nikolais, Graham, and McKayle techniques; contemporary influences include the style and pedagogy of Daniel Charon, Loretta Livingston, Hannah Wiley, Augusta Moore, and Sandra Chinn, among many others. I value technique as a vehicle for individual achievement rather than as a container to be filled by an archetypal body. To this end, it is vital that technique be taught in the context of musculoskeletal anatomy. Whenever possible, I have a full size skeletal model on hand in the studio. Together, the students and I celebrate how similar and sometimes different our personal joint structures compare to those of the model. Not only does an embodied understanding of our own anatomical instrument guard against injury, it clarifies the imperative concept that every human body is distinct in its physical range. As dance is an aesthetic art form situated within a product-driven global culture, it is paramount for a dancer to feel motivated within their own bio-mechanical reality.
For dancers, no physical limitation is as crippling as a perceptual or cognitive limitation. As an educator, I seek to identify and disarm the conscious and/or unconscious mental obstacles that obscure each students’ developmental path. Rather than directing a student’s attention toward such an obstacle, I redirect constructive attention toward a more productive idea or concept. In dance, mental impediments might include a lack of kinesthetic awareness, motor-learning challenges, or a lack of self-confidence to participate fully in the group. I utilize multiple-intelligence entry points into the class material and partner tasks to support collective progress in refined motor learning, material retention, and self-reflective learning practices. Most hurdles to self-realization can be surmounted in the visceral laboratory of a dance classroom. And as these obstacles slough away, a student’s burgeoning creative drive, in turn, empowers them to elevate themself above their own perceived limitations.
In the classroom, I strive to be jovial yet gently demanding. Mindful repetition requires equal parts rigor and humor, as does grappling with novel concepts. Discipline cultivates mastery, mastery creates freedom, and freedom begets joy. Joy is at once the vehicle and the destination of a profound learning experience—it galvanizes an individual to know themself more fully so that they may more deeply engage with their community and the world at large. Through the medium of dance, my inmost aim is to encourage this rewarding habit of self-driven inquiry.
My studio teaching garners classical influences from the Limón, Nikolais, Graham, and McKayle techniques; contemporary influences include the style and pedagogy of Daniel Charon, Loretta Livingston, Hannah Wiley, Augusta Moore, and Sandra Chinn, among many others. I value technique as a vehicle for individual achievement rather than as a container to be filled by an archetypal body. To this end, it is vital that technique be taught in the context of musculoskeletal anatomy. Whenever possible, I have a full size skeletal model on hand in the studio. Together, the students and I celebrate how similar and sometimes different our personal joint structures compare to those of the model. Not only does an embodied understanding of our own anatomical instrument guard against injury, it clarifies the imperative concept that every human body is distinct in its physical range. As dance is an aesthetic art form situated within a product-driven global culture, it is paramount for a dancer to feel motivated within their own bio-mechanical reality.
For dancers, no physical limitation is as crippling as a perceptual or cognitive limitation. As an educator, I seek to identify and disarm the conscious and/or unconscious mental obstacles that obscure each students’ developmental path. Rather than directing a student’s attention toward such an obstacle, I redirect constructive attention toward a more productive idea or concept. In dance, mental impediments might include a lack of kinesthetic awareness, motor-learning challenges, or a lack of self-confidence to participate fully in the group. I utilize multiple-intelligence entry points into the class material and partner tasks to support collective progress in refined motor learning, material retention, and self-reflective learning practices. Most hurdles to self-realization can be surmounted in the visceral laboratory of a dance classroom. And as these obstacles slough away, a student’s burgeoning creative drive, in turn, empowers them to elevate themself above their own perceived limitations.
In the classroom, I strive to be jovial yet gently demanding. Mindful repetition requires equal parts rigor and humor, as does grappling with novel concepts. Discipline cultivates mastery, mastery creates freedom, and freedom begets joy. Joy is at once the vehicle and the destination of a profound learning experience—it galvanizes an individual to know themself more fully so that they may more deeply engage with their community and the world at large. Through the medium of dance, my inmost aim is to encourage this rewarding habit of self-driven inquiry.
