Teaching philosophy
I truly enjoy teaching both studio and lecture/seminar-style classes. If given the choice between the two, I would be hard-pressed to make a selection! An ideal career for me involves time in both environments. As a dance technique or creative process instructor, I am especially passionate about the opportunity to engage the student as a whole person—body, mind, and spirit. The studio environment creates a protective framework for diving into rigorous physical research that also leaves room for intellectual engagement. As a lecturer or seminar leader, I love teaching students to think deeply and critically about dance in all of its forms. For me, this especially means teaching students the skills to articulate their own opinions about dance well, while also engaging with and learning from opposing viewpoints and difference.
As a university-level dance studio instructor, I have taught solo improvisation, group improvisation, and contact improvisation (Anderson University). I have also taught Fundamentals of Modern Dance (University of Maryland), and Movement, Mindfulness, and Self-Awareness (University of Maryland). Additionally, I am a certified Cecchetti ballet teacher (Cecchetti Council of America). As a studio teacher, my goal is to develop articulate dancers that are equipped to succeed in the dynamic, ever-changing world of professional concert dance. For me, this means involves a two pronged approach: technique and improvisation. As both a modern and ballet instructor, I stress technical training as both a release of held, tight muscles unneeded in a given movement, and necessary muscular engagement for dance execution and poise. I am convinced that well-rounded dancers in all forms need to learn to moderate both holding and releasing muscles in ways that support the movement that is being asked of them. To this end, I use a somatics-based approach that teaches a deep body awareness from which a true understanding of any given dance form can take place. I also stress improvisation in my studio classes as a way to teach ownership of dance movement and a personal investment of the student’s own creative voice. The ability to engage as a creator or co-creator of movement has become increasingly important in professional concert dance and it is my goal to support the self-actualization of my students as creators for their personal and professional development. As a university classroom (lecture/seminar) instructor, I have taught three sections of “Introduction to Dance” at the University of Maryland. I consider myself in equal parts an artist and a scholar. This is evidenced by my M.A. in Performance Studies (NYU) and my active publishing/presenting record. Although only one academic style class is offered to Graduate Assistants at the University of Maryland, I have been assigned this course repeatedly in recognition of my abilities in this area. I love inviting students into the world of academic thought primarily through teaching critical thinking and respectful engagement with difference. As a dance history teacher, I model engagement with difference by presenting concert/classical dances, social dances, commercial/competitive dances, and ritual/spiritual practice dances with equal scholarly rigor. Students in my introductory classes learn to recognize what is valued within each dance style and form and how their own values may relate. I also teach basic movement analysis through Laban-Bartenieff motiff writing in order to give introductory students additional vocabulary to talk about movement in all of its forms. |
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