"Dance for yourself. If someone understands, good. If not, no matter."
-Louis Horst
TEACHING
A Teacher and Educator
With a heart for the community and the next generation, I've taught a variety of dance styles to students throughout the East Coast.
From teaching at FSCJ, the University of Maryland, and with my own outreach program - Beer & Ballet - I have expanded my offerings and honed my teaching style.
GO TO TEACHING STATEMENT
16+ years of teaching experience
featured DANCE CLASSES
BALLET • MODERN • MUSICAL THEATRE
Modern Dance
My modern dance instruction includes,
* Athletic and challenging movements
* Experimental and technical dances
* Collaborative experience for all participants
The fluid movements of modern dance comes from other historical dance forms. Trained in Horton, Dunham, Limon, and Graham techniques; I recognize the creation of these styles stem from the ideals of rejections brought forth by the ballet technique.
Muscial Theatre
Students in my class will be instructed in,
* Movements of investigation and observation
* Choice of character and direction
* Technique and imagination
* Story-making
The Musical Theatre genre stems from historical performances such as Greek Theatre and Vaudeville.
Ballet Class
As an instructor of ballet, my practice involves,
* Deconstructing intimidating movements
* Positive feedback and suggestions
* Experimentation within the movements
The world of Ballet stems from historical structures of political and economic importance. Previously, ballet is a traditional practice that uses strict techniques made for specific bodies, however, this has changed and opened the world of ballet to everyone.
I am a dance educator that believes effort and curiosity drive learning within the classroom. I acknowledge early assumptions of what exactly dance is and tackle these thoughts with discussions of historical content, diversity, and anatomical knowledge of the possibilities within movement. A willingness to try is key, mistakes are welcomed, and play is endorsed.
My teaching’s baseline focuses on historical and current dance references. Whether teaching an academic, research, or movement based course I believe there is an importance in the discussion of dance’s history. I create modules to walk students through the various genres, historical figures, and historical choreographic experiments. Students then “try on” these aspects through movement exercises and are encouraged to examine their observations.
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“How does the movement feel?” “Weird.” “Why? How are you personally defining weird?” By diving into student-led definitions within their own observations, they now have a sense of ownership within the classroom. This deepens their sense of initiative, self questioning, and curiosities about the dance world.
Dance history has long focused on the ideology behind Western forms of movement. As I am predominantly trained within these forms, I recognize not being the “all knowing” person in the space. In fact, there is no such thing. While I have high education and experience in what I teach, I use my sources to bring in guest artists to not only teach or discuss what they know but to create a connection to another aspect of the dance community. Through these experiences my knowledge as an educator grows and constantly expands my curriculum bringing a new level of excitement to my pedagogy process.
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I then align student experienced based objectives with an adaptive nature of planning. The atmosphere of both student and environment are constantly changing, therefore I take charge to alter original plans if needed. For example, in my Introduction to Dance Course, I first evaluate who is taking the course and what they are interested or majoring in. If I have mostly law students, I entice discussions of copyright law and ownership within dance. If I have athletic students, I will include research of sports related topics within dance. Based on my observations of student intake and curiosities, I curate the final weeks of the course to create a bridge of their everyday interests to the dance world.
Similarly in my movement based courses I survey the student’s interests and overall self anatomical knowledge with the goal of curating modules towards a positive outlook of their own movement qualities. Concentrating on ideals of challenging yet attainable objectives create opportunities of discussion, creation, and examination. Through the groundwork of play, I create an investigative practice of testing the body’s physical ability and instinctual knowledge.
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My pedagogical methods lie within holistic approaches, evaluating students’ current physical, emotional, and spiritual states. Then adjusting the curriculum accordingly to still align within the overall module, I am constantly curating an atmosphere of open, honest, and vulnerable questioning through experiential discussion. This leads towards a positive and innovative outlook of the dance world. I cultivate students who are not afraid to ask questions and take ownership of their own learning whether they choose to continue within the dance world or not.
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