Dance is for everybody. Dance is for everyBODY. Dance is for EVERYbody. Dance is for EVERYBODY.
Above all, as an educator, I am passionate about access.
I strive to not only make my classroom spaces welcoming to students with a wide range of physical and learning ability, dance experience, body shape and size, gender, sexual orientation, race, ethnicity, and immigration status, but I also have spent most of my career bringing dance out of the institution into spaces and to populations that have little to no access to dance. As a teacher, I have invited my students to dance with all kinds of people, including senior citizens, children with disabilities, survivors of domestic violence, immigrants, and people experiencing homelessness.
When my students first walk into my class, I present myself as a guide, a partner in their development, supporting them to discover the infinite possibilities their body provides them, and the world, with. Reminding students that their body and experience is unique and valuable, supports them to develop a robust movement vocabulary and expression that flourishes from within themselves. I strive to give them tools to discover and fall in love with their bodies, how they move, and how they can express their uniqueness because of who they are. As a young dancer, I experienced continuous body shaming in dance environments and my body was often seen as lacking the overall qualities to be a dancing body. Part of my life-long journey of healing from this trauma, is an unequivocal conviction to strive for every single one of my students to feel loved, valued, supported, and encouraged in my classes.
Beyond physical training, I strive to foster the whole human in all interactions with students. To be a dance artist requires a level of maturity of not only the physical body, but also the psyche and spirit. I encourage my students to see their dancing body beyond the realm of concert entertainment and support them in developing critical thinking skills to see themselves in relationship to others and the world around them. I achieve this by teaching dance and dancemaking through a conceptual lens, and urging my students to continuously make connections between their practices and broader social and environmental issues that affect them.
In my theory courses, I strive to correct long established hierarchies between Western and non-Western dance forms, and between concert and vernacular dance forms. I teach my classes through a culturally-aware and critical thinking lens, highlighting the complexity of dance cultures, and how dance – as the cultural expression that it is - is always interwoven with political, social, economic and class issues. I continuously problematize the common ways in which we are used to talking about dance history and urge my students to become continuous learners and advocates of decolonizing practices in the field and beyond.
Finally, I believe that bringing students outside of academic spaces gives necessary practical and critical experience for the development of the whole dance artist. Whenever possible, I create learning opportunities outside of the classroom for students to apply and develop their knowledge in relation to their community and the issues that are pertinent in our region. I also encourage my students to bring dance to public spaces, especially where dance is usually absent, and often teach and perform with them in public places like parks, international bridge crossings, street intersections, town squares, and natural landscapes.
Above all, as an educator, I am passionate about access.
I strive to not only make my classroom spaces welcoming to students with a wide range of physical and learning ability, dance experience, body shape and size, gender, sexual orientation, race, ethnicity, and immigration status, but I also have spent most of my career bringing dance out of the institution into spaces and to populations that have little to no access to dance. As a teacher, I have invited my students to dance with all kinds of people, including senior citizens, children with disabilities, survivors of domestic violence, immigrants, and people experiencing homelessness.
When my students first walk into my class, I present myself as a guide, a partner in their development, supporting them to discover the infinite possibilities their body provides them, and the world, with. Reminding students that their body and experience is unique and valuable, supports them to develop a robust movement vocabulary and expression that flourishes from within themselves. I strive to give them tools to discover and fall in love with their bodies, how they move, and how they can express their uniqueness because of who they are. As a young dancer, I experienced continuous body shaming in dance environments and my body was often seen as lacking the overall qualities to be a dancing body. Part of my life-long journey of healing from this trauma, is an unequivocal conviction to strive for every single one of my students to feel loved, valued, supported, and encouraged in my classes.
Beyond physical training, I strive to foster the whole human in all interactions with students. To be a dance artist requires a level of maturity of not only the physical body, but also the psyche and spirit. I encourage my students to see their dancing body beyond the realm of concert entertainment and support them in developing critical thinking skills to see themselves in relationship to others and the world around them. I achieve this by teaching dance and dancemaking through a conceptual lens, and urging my students to continuously make connections between their practices and broader social and environmental issues that affect them.
In my theory courses, I strive to correct long established hierarchies between Western and non-Western dance forms, and between concert and vernacular dance forms. I teach my classes through a culturally-aware and critical thinking lens, highlighting the complexity of dance cultures, and how dance – as the cultural expression that it is - is always interwoven with political, social, economic and class issues. I continuously problematize the common ways in which we are used to talking about dance history and urge my students to become continuous learners and advocates of decolonizing practices in the field and beyond.
Finally, I believe that bringing students outside of academic spaces gives necessary practical and critical experience for the development of the whole dance artist. Whenever possible, I create learning opportunities outside of the classroom for students to apply and develop their knowledge in relation to their community and the issues that are pertinent in our region. I also encourage my students to bring dance to public spaces, especially where dance is usually absent, and often teach and perform with them in public places like parks, international bridge crossings, street intersections, town squares, and natural landscapes.