Teaching Philosophy
Our muscles form a topographical map of our lived experiences sculpted through the human body. These muscles directly reflect how we form as dancers, athletes and individuals. As a dance instructor, I guide each student on a journey towards deep physical self awareness. In my classroom dancers learn to read their inner maps and find personal strengths and weaknesses while training their bodies to soar on the stage. Through written, verbal and video assessments, I charter student progress at scheduled times throughout the semester. Students self reflect using these assessments as a spring board to help develop their own paths. Using multiple forms of assessment and reflection helps build the dancer’s awareness in order to strengthen technical abilities.
The versatile dancer cross-trains her body by studying a variety of techniques. In my modern and jazz technique classes I focus on the foundations of the healthy and strong dancer including core strength, proper alignment, tracking of the joints and articulation of the feet and spine. As a certified yoga and STOTT pilates instructor, I include exercises that create balance through the muscular system layering over the skeletal system while also bringing attention to the mind, body, spirit connection. Each class begins with the breath, articulation of the spine, and body isolations before executing a combination of exercises at the barre to strengthen flat backs, contractions, pliés and articulation through the feet. Students build on what they have developed at the barre in across the floor and jumping exercises as we explore musicality within a variety of tempos and time signatures. Class culminates with a final phrase where students take the technical skills they have developed and express themselves more freely before cooling down together.
My pedagogy, developed from a feminist perspective, and deeply influenced by my experience with Theatre of the Oppressed, embraces the physical and mental knowledge that each student carries with them. In my classroom I create a climate where students feel free to reflect on and share their own experiences as they relate to dance. We discuss the history of each genre while exploring specific techniques, often taking the time to learn a specific dance that has been part of the evolution of that genre. In my jazz classes we discuss vernacular styles, Broadway Musicals, and concert dance through the lens of Brenda Dixon Gottschild’s description of the Africanist Aesthetic. As Sue Monk Kidd writes in her novel The Secret Life of Bees, “stories have to be told or they die, and when they die, we can't remember who we are or why we're here.” Understanding our dancing history and who we are as individuals and as a community is necessary for student success.
My greatest passion lies in the opportunities that exist for engaging a broader community with a narrower spectrum of movement experiences in a more global vision of dance. Using social media and technology as an entry point I teach 21st century skills while exploring cultural identity and social issues through dance. As technology becomes an ever present distraction amongst student populations, these technologies can contrarily become instrumental tools for engagement and advocacy. For example, students in both my lecture and technique classes use personal devices to create photos and videos of dances that explore concepts using the Language of Dance’s Motif Notation. In this way the student explores creativity and dance literacy while utilizing personal devices to engage in classroom content.
Growing up in a bicultural family exposed me to other cultural perspectives and ways of embodying identity through movement at a young age. I am drawn to working within diverse communities and value bringing those perspectives into a larger conversation. The beauty of teaching in academia is that students from various cultures are able to connect and share ideas and experiences on a daily basis. My classroom reflects the diversity these students will find when entering the workplace. I teach my students to collaborate with one another, gaining insight and new perspectives to embark on paths towards being the next generation of global innovators and leaders.
Our muscles form a topographical map of our lived experiences sculpted through the human body. These muscles directly reflect how we form as dancers, athletes and individuals. As a dance instructor, I guide each student on a journey towards deep physical self awareness. In my classroom dancers learn to read their inner maps and find personal strengths and weaknesses while training their bodies to soar on the stage. Through written, verbal and video assessments, I charter student progress at scheduled times throughout the semester. Students self reflect using these assessments as a spring board to help develop their own paths. Using multiple forms of assessment and reflection helps build the dancer’s awareness in order to strengthen technical abilities.
The versatile dancer cross-trains her body by studying a variety of techniques. In my modern and jazz technique classes I focus on the foundations of the healthy and strong dancer including core strength, proper alignment, tracking of the joints and articulation of the feet and spine. As a certified yoga and STOTT pilates instructor, I include exercises that create balance through the muscular system layering over the skeletal system while also bringing attention to the mind, body, spirit connection. Each class begins with the breath, articulation of the spine, and body isolations before executing a combination of exercises at the barre to strengthen flat backs, contractions, pliés and articulation through the feet. Students build on what they have developed at the barre in across the floor and jumping exercises as we explore musicality within a variety of tempos and time signatures. Class culminates with a final phrase where students take the technical skills they have developed and express themselves more freely before cooling down together.
My pedagogy, developed from a feminist perspective, and deeply influenced by my experience with Theatre of the Oppressed, embraces the physical and mental knowledge that each student carries with them. In my classroom I create a climate where students feel free to reflect on and share their own experiences as they relate to dance. We discuss the history of each genre while exploring specific techniques, often taking the time to learn a specific dance that has been part of the evolution of that genre. In my jazz classes we discuss vernacular styles, Broadway Musicals, and concert dance through the lens of Brenda Dixon Gottschild’s description of the Africanist Aesthetic. As Sue Monk Kidd writes in her novel The Secret Life of Bees, “stories have to be told or they die, and when they die, we can't remember who we are or why we're here.” Understanding our dancing history and who we are as individuals and as a community is necessary for student success.
My greatest passion lies in the opportunities that exist for engaging a broader community with a narrower spectrum of movement experiences in a more global vision of dance. Using social media and technology as an entry point I teach 21st century skills while exploring cultural identity and social issues through dance. As technology becomes an ever present distraction amongst student populations, these technologies can contrarily become instrumental tools for engagement and advocacy. For example, students in both my lecture and technique classes use personal devices to create photos and videos of dances that explore concepts using the Language of Dance’s Motif Notation. In this way the student explores creativity and dance literacy while utilizing personal devices to engage in classroom content.
Growing up in a bicultural family exposed me to other cultural perspectives and ways of embodying identity through movement at a young age. I am drawn to working within diverse communities and value bringing those perspectives into a larger conversation. The beauty of teaching in academia is that students from various cultures are able to connect and share ideas and experiences on a daily basis. My classroom reflects the diversity these students will find when entering the workplace. I teach my students to collaborate with one another, gaining insight and new perspectives to embark on paths towards being the next generation of global innovators and leaders.