EDUCATOR
2023 - 2025
TEACHING PHILOSOPHY
As a sessional contemporary technique instructor I aim to build dancers’ physical literacy, awareness of and sophistication of movement, and to offer an experiential perspective on the possibilities of contemporary dance and movement for well-being.
Movement classes are shaped around fundamental developmental movement patterns; progressions of yield and push, reach and pull, and homo and heterolateral movement from floor-work to standing, as well as principles of movement applied within contemporary dance techniques; breath, swing, weight, release, rebound, momentum, succession, opposition, isolation and counterbalance.
Classwork learning is layered with specific tools to facilitate focus, presence and embodied learning, and the experience is deepened through class discussion and engaging with peers. Physical vocabulary progresses from simple to more complex structures which travel, move in and out of the floor and upside down, exploring elements of grounding in space, time and body, as well as elements of risk, in terms of commitment, group dynamics and boldly taking up space. Students will be encouraged to celebrate one another and their learnings in the environment of the classroom and beyond with a spirit of exploration, play, creativity, eager participation and generous collaboration.
The introduction to dance courses in the university setting are one of my favourite places to share knowledge. In these classes students of all majors gather for a movement class where they think they will learn interesting “steps;” but what I aim to instil in them is a confidence and joy in living inside their bodies. In a brain-driven society, taking a semester to remember what it’s like to take up space, to be seen and see others, to move from impulse and to pay attention to sensation is a transformational experience.
In terms of technical shaping, my teaching overall draws heavily on David Zambrano's Flying Low technique with other European styles of floorwork, and Davida Monk’s principles of release and functional technique. In both standing and floorwork I focus on a reciprocal relationship with the floor and a functional understanding of gravity’s force on the body, and harnessing power by releasing the joints and directing energy through the body efficiently and dynamically. The pelvis often acts as a source of power and propulsion, the spine as an expressive limb and articulate plumbline, while the limbs, head and eyes direct energy out, around and through the body and external space.