Teaching Statement:
I have designed courses in Dance and Technology, Perspectives on Dance as Culture, Modern Dance History, Dance Writing, Modern and Ballet Techniques, Choreography, Improvisation, Repertory, Applied Anatomy and Kinesiology, Video Editing and Dance Documentation. I approach students with deep respect and high expectations that they will develop as artist-scholars in my courses. I create an inclusive learning environment where individuals rigorously develop conceptual and physical frameworks for their concerns. In composition and technique courses, embodied intellectual experience allows students to marry thought and action. The experiential understanding that the body is not merely a concept through which to examine cultural production, but a medium through which culture is created is one of the most vital contributions that dancing can make to the academic experience. As a lens through which to examine definitions of health, assignations of power and narratives about race, gender, and class, the study of dance helps my students choose how to harness these powerful cultural forces.
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Dance Training.
My teachers have shaped the way I teach.
Modern: David Dorfman, Bebe Miller, Kathleen Hermesdorf, Lisa Race, Angie Hauser, Cori Olinghouse, Dianne Madden, Abby Yeager, Vickie Shick, Karen Eliot, Jim Self, Jumay Chu, Nicole Stanton, Susan Hadley, Victoria Uris.
Improvisation and Contact Improvisation: KJ Holmes, Nancy Stark Smith, Chris Aiken, Angie Hauser, Jeanine Durning, Leslie Seiters, Ron Estes, Stacey Matthew Spence, Pam Vail, Marlon Barrios Solano.
Composition: Bebe Miller, Susan Rethorst, Jeanine Durning, Tere O’Connor, Vera Blaine, John Giffin, Victoria Uris.
Ballet: Shonach Mirk-Robles, John Giffin, Barbara Tebeau, Barbara Opitz, Byron Suber, Zvi Gotheiner, Christine Write, Valarie Mockabee, Karen Eliot.
Jazz and Tap: Barbara Tebeau, Broadway Dance Center staff.
Digital Performance: Johannes Birringer, Marlon Barrios Solano, Marc Coniglio, Jaime Jewett, Dawn Stoppiello.
Somatic forms: Body Mind Centering: Andrea Olsen, Bonnie Bainbridge Coen, Vanessa Justic. Bartenieff Fundamentals: Anne Burnidge, Kristen Hapke. Yoga: Sara Bell, Sandra Kopell, Yogaworks staff, OM Staff.