Teaching Philosophy
Dance is an art form that incorporates the whole self: body, mind and spirit. Your body is your instrument that must be tuned daily in order to become a vehicle of expression. Your mind provides the intelligence to learn and repeat specific sequences of movement and the creativity to invent movement vocabulary. Most important is the soul which infuses the dance steps with verve and passion, creates meaning, and inspires communication.
Our teaching method is designed to nurture students in all of these areas.
We challenge them technically by crafting material which defines the articulation of the muscles, stretches the limbs, increases strength and endurance, and uses momentum to move through space. They will build to technically difficult material by reducing it to its component parts and practicing these individually. Repetition is a key to this, and we make a special effort to give students a chance to experience the physicality of the material before moving on.
We ask students to apply their intelligence in picking up material quickly and accurately, and assigning phrases that are rhythmically complex. Sometimes we ask them to look at the same material from a different perspective by changing the musicality or assigning them to retrograde the phrase. They may be asked to analyze each other for accuracy to the given material, or tested for their ability to retain movement they danced a day or a week earlier.
Most importantly we inspire the students to put their soul into the work. Each dancer has something to offer…a reason that they dance. It is our intention to nurture that aspect of the aspiring professional, welcoming idiosyncrasies that do not detract from the material. The breathtaking performer is one who dances with heart, and is able to move from one psychic landscape to another so that the audience sees and feels the difference. This is not something that happens magically when you get in front of an audience. It is a skill that must be taught, practiced, and polished just as any other.
Each class also has a specific focus, whether it is engaging from the heel to the inner thigh, finding circularity in movement, or allowing movement to emanate from the center core to the extremities. We often come back to the same idea over and over again in one class to see how it applies to different types of material.
We are also constantly building bridges between dance and other art forms through collaboration, so we teach a wide spectrum of other classes as well: Modern Partnering, Physical Theater, Cross-Discipline Collaboration, Improvisation, Masks and Movement, Composition, and Repertory. We challenge students to interact with openness to new ideas coming from music, drama, spoken word, visual and multi-media arts, sculpture, other cultures, and the community at large.
We take the responsibility of teaching very seriously, as our teachers did before us. This is our way of being invested in the performers and performances of the future.
Class Descriptions
Modern Technique
Combining traditional modern dance, release technique, and intense athleticism, the class is designed to build strength in the center of the body as a means to attain a grounded sense of weight matched with a freedom in the flow of the body. Movement emanating from the center, ease and fluidity in the limbs and strength in the core are emphasized throughout the class. This class is designed to have a central focus throughout all of the exercises and the final combination so that the students can concentrate on one idea from many different angles.
Ballet Technique
This class accentuates skeletal alignment at the barre and movement through space in the center. It focuses on the use of timing and phrasing to accomplish more advanced movement. The class is intended to emphasize the physical experience of ballet while remaining attentive to the clarity of line and definition of movement inherent in ballet technique.
Modern Partnering
This fun and challenging class begins with an awareness of oneself in space moving with, in, and among others in the class. It will progress to the study of weight sharing, redirecting movement, lifting, and contact in the air. The class will provide functional techniques of partnering while focusing on the moment of transition from independent movement to contact with a partner. It is not specific to male/female roles, but requires only that partners be matched physically.
Aerial Dance
Using rope ladders fixed to a single point at least 12 feet up, dancers will learn the basics of low-flying trapeze work, including the concepts of partial weight bearing, arc momentum, and points of balance. Safety will be a primary consideration, including the design considerations of the trapeze and spotting techniques. As the class progresses, we will explore extended solo improvisations and partnering techniques.
Physical Theater
This class is about studying movement for its inherent theatricality. After a brief warm-up to get students moving and in their bodies, we will transition into movement studies that will focus on using the body as a vehicle for expression. We will examine bodies in static positions and establish a common vocabulary to describe the content behind the forms we see. We will focus on the subtleties of how you hold the form to give the pose emotional content. From there we will progress to movement studies around a prescribed scenario using the static shapes to develop storylines.
Teaching History
Universities & Colleges
College of Lake County (Chicago, IL) • Commissioned to set Gauge on their repertory company
Colorado State University (Fort Collins, CO) • Master Classes in Modern Technique & Partnering
Frostburg University (Frostburg, MD) • Master Classes in Modern Technique & Partnering
Hofstra University (Hempstead, NY) • Adjunct Professor for Modern Technique
Montclair State University (Montclair, NJ) • Master Classes in Modern Technique & Partnering
Penn State University (Altoona, PA) • Master Classes in Modern Partnering
University of the Arts (Philadelphia, PA) • Master Classes in Modern Partnering
University of Buffalo (Buffalo, NY) • Master Classes in Modern Technique & Partnering
University of Colorado (Boulder, CO) • Master Classes in Modern Technique & Partnering
University of Florida (Gainesville, FL) • Ten day residency teaching Modern Technique, Intermediate & Advanced Ballet, Aerial Dance, Partnering, Composition and Repertory. Created and set works on the repertory company.
Virginia Commonwealth University (Richmond, VA) • Master Classes in Modern Technique & Partnering
Festivals
Dancewave Summer Intensive (Brooklyn, NY) • One week workshop in Modern Partnering for teens
Fringe Festival of Contemporary Dance & Performance Art (Atlanta, GA) • One week Modern Partnering Workshop
Goose Route Dance Festival (Shepherdstown, WV) • Master Classes in Modern Partnering
Peoples Touring Project Sponsored by the New Orleans Ballet Association (New Orleans, LA) • One week residency teaching Modern Technique, Intermediate & Advanced Ballet, Aerial Dance, Partnering and Repertory
Ostertanztage (Salzburg, Austria) • One week workshop teaching Modern Technique
Private Studios
Dance Space Center (New York, NY) • Guest Artist teaching Modern Technique & Partnering
Dance West (Boulder, CO) • One month residency teaching Modern, Technique, Ballet, Partnering and Repertory
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