Teching Statement

I teach because I love learning, and this love of learning is something that I deeply want to pass on to others. My love of learning can be felt by the students that I teach. I know that I can best learn how to teach my students by investing in them, and they know that I am invested. They witness and feel this investment in how I pay attention to, observe, experiment with, and learn from them. By being driven to learn from my students, I am allowing their voices to come through in their educational experiences. I have seen this empowerment practice bring out the student’s love of learning time and time again.

When teaching technique classes, I focus my guidance not just on exploring the how of the form, but the why. Why is this dance form codified this way, what results are the students, as individuals, interested in, and what are some effective methods for reaching these outcomes? Through my vast experience with dance, especially ballet and contemporary forms, I am able to provide guidance through the student’s explorations. Technique is much more than fitting into the mold of the form, but is instead an exploration of a beautiful tool that can strengthen the body and the mind.

Teaching is also a deeply creative, research driven endeavor for me that is fueled by my curiosity. I approach building each of my classes with an overarching idea in mind, and then I build the world of the class experience around it. I use this same approach whether it be planning a technique, creative research, or lecture course. Influenced by the students and their needs, I distill the content of the course from the juiciest, most substantial ideas. From there I explore not only what I have learned from the many educators that have influenced my dancing and teaching over the years, but I also use my critical thinking skills to explore and create content that may be less conventional. This creative research development that I do for my classes fuels my passion and love of teaching.

Movement education is an opportunity for students to explore movement with curiosity and vigor. It is a way for them to get to know their bodies as they discover their incredible potentials. Movement education is also an opportunity to develop relationships with dance, relationships that will stick with the students for their entire lives. The cultivation of these relationships is incredibly important not only for the students, but also for the field of dance. Developing advocates and dance lovers is the wonderful outcome of a positive dance experience. I believe that it is one of my roles, as a dance educator, to aid in the cultivation of a positive dance relationship.

I also believe that joy and rigor go beautifully hand in hand. Grit, determination, and perseverance are all traits that can be developed and practiced with the inclusion of pleasure. Silliness and laughter are powerful learning tools that, when paired with hard work, lead to incredibly fruitful results. In the courses I have taught I have observed students desire to dive deeper into a subject and work harder at it when they are experiencing joy from the work that they are doing. I have also seen the deep satisfaction that hard work can bring to a student. And I have witnessed the fearlessness that comes out of students when they know that they are allowed to feel wonderful while dancing.