TEACHING CREDENTIALS

 

Registered Teaching Status- Royal Academy of Dance, 2015-Present

Professional Dancers' Postgraduate Teaching Certificate, Royal Academy of Dance, Berlin, Germany

Bachelor of Arts, University of Calgary, Calgary, A.B.

Bachelor of Arts Graduate Diploma, School of Alberta Ballet, Calgary, A.B.

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PHILOSOPHY OF

TEACHING

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My role as a dance educator is to engage students in a physical practice that generates original thought and equips students with the appropriate skills to develop a strong understanding of movement technique, to refine their individual artistic voices, and to promote a pursuit of life long learning. By keeping the whole dancer – body, mind, and spirit – as the priority, students of all ages, physical and cognitive abilities, and levels of training are capable of finding enjoyment and success within their own dance journey.  My primary focus is to ensure that each class offers students an equitable environment that facilitates their individual pathways to learning and aids them in becoming a highly knowledgeable, healthy, and technically proficient dancer.  

 

As a classically trained dancer and contemporary dance artist myself, I have spent years studying, teaching, and performing in a range of dance styles. My dance teaching methods pull from my breadth of work and experience, including classical ballet disciplines, such as; the Royal Academy of Dance, Cecchetti, and Vaganova, modern dance disciplines, including; Limon, Graham, and Laban analysis, as well as Gyrokenesis and Gyrotonic, yoga, Feldenkrais method and somatic bodywork.  I have also studied contemporary dance extensively with Davida Monk, Melissa Monteros, Wojciech Mochniej, and Maya Lewendowsky.  These experiences have influenced my teaching vocabulary to incorporate classical modes of technique with improvisation, conditioning, athletic cross training, mental visualization, and use of imagery. 

 

 Initially, in my early years of training, I had a difficult time understanding the connection between classical ballet and contemporary dance technique. I was under the impression that each style of dance directly contradicted the other in training and in performance. Years later, when I began to look at movement as a series of universal principles that underline all physicality and modes of movement, I became acutely aware that movement, regardless of genre, is derived from the same basic principles of bio-mechanical understanding and personal expression. I discovered how to apply weight, spiral, gravity, swing, and poise into both my ballet and contemporary training, and learned how to incorporate the aforementioned principles of movement into my teaching practice by utilizing the innate movement functions of a student’s body to instinctively inform them on how to best employ their natural abilities to achieve sustained artistic expression through movement.  Functional posture, alignment, core strength, line, weight placement, along with classical aesthetic values of simplicity, balance, and harmony, are at the forefront of my teaching practice and are used regularly to help inform dancers on how and why they are moving. It is also used to strengthen their ability to perceive, feel, sense, and perform with an elevated level of integrated embodiment. 

 

Every aspect of movement is integrally human and, therefore, is inherently expressive by default. Personal choices, such as, employment of speed, dynamic quality, weight, musical responsiveness, and directionality, facilitate a dancers’ ability to utilize their technical and physical capabilities and helps them to convey their internal dialogues and emotional landscapes. No dancing body is the same, which is why the art of teaching relies on a collaborative exchange between the teacher and student.  This collaboration promotes an optimal learning environment that keeps the students’ motivation, physical and cognitive abilities, and level of investment at the forefront of their education.  I teach to inspire personal discovery and to encourage curiosity, experimentation, and accurate anatomical function.  I support the harmonious exchange of learning between teacher and student by encouraging continual feedback and self-improvement, and by designing a class that can meet the individual needs of each student.   

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