Statement of Teaching Philosophy

Teaching is an ongoing dialogue.  It is about listening as well as guiding.  As a teacher, I try to stimulate the students’ sense of wonder in the unknown, challenge them to take risks, pose questions and be themselves.  Students come to dance classes with a wide range of abilities and interests.  On all skill levels, I try to help them discover the tools to communicate with fluency, acquire heightened awareness, and develop an instrument free of hampering limitations.  Teaching is about the cultivation of the students’ voice: one of confidence, eloquence, articulation and passion.

I am passionate about deep investigation and drawing connections between areas.  I seek to embody the risk-taking that I want to inspire in my students but in so doing, understanding the tools that will take us all there safely and effectively.  I seek to foster honesty, generosity, individuality and joy.      

Movement can trigger associations via the senses.  Fully realized dance metaphors are both expressive and reflective.  In this way, dance can be an added lens through which we formulate our perceptions. 

                                                            Pamela Geber

…the dance, freeing the body from needless inhibitions, and breaking down the unessential reserves, frees the real man for a wider and more satisfying life.

                                                            -Margaret H’Doubler

Dance…by altering the environment, evokes in us unique ratios of sense perceptions.  The extension of any one sense alters the way we think and act – the way we perceive the world.  When these ratios change, men change.

                                                            -Marshall McLuhan

TEACHING - As a teacher, what I most want students to understand is themselves, especially as artists.  I strive to model being in the moment with all material I present in class, continually investigating, questioning and reaching new understandings.  As an artist/educator, the creative act of teaching is, in itself a present-tense research endeavor.  Every year I teach, I learn more about the subject matter, myself and the individuals in the room.  I feel that one of my strengths as a teacher is my ability to help students make meaning from what we’re investigating.  I teach with an array of approaches, communicating to different types of learners.  I draw connections between areas: artistry and science for example.  Since I seek to embody what I teach, be it for a studio-based course (technique or improvisation/composition) or more of a discussion/lecture class (dance kinesiology), I present information from a lived experience.  To that end, I have attended workshops, conferences and classes in order to expand my information-base as an educator and stay current in the field.  I have been passionate about coordinating events that bring together teachers of note and have organized several conferences and workshops (participating in the classes myself).

Accomplishments:

a) The courses I’ve taught at UU include: Modern Dance Technique and Theory (Contemporary Technique), Workshop: Improvisation/Composition, Dance Kinesiology, Secondary Teaching Methods, Children’s Teaching Methods, Advanced Principles of Teaching, Ballet Technique (taught awhile ago) and Dance Performance (PDC direction).

b) Beyond UU, I’ve taught professional development workshops in the Teachers’ Workshop for Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company (summer, 2011 – a weeklong intensive shared with Gigi Arrington).  I taught Modern/Contemporary Technique and Dance Kinesiology/Injury Prevention, both with added discussions specifically designed for dance teachers.  I also facilitated several discussion sessions dealing with an array of issues around teaching.  In the last few years, I’ve been asked to teach more of the teaching methods/pedagogy classes in our department at UU.  By teaching future teachers and current teachers, I feel as though I’m evolving as an educator myself.     

c) Beyond UU, I’ve taught classes in the Salt Lake City community including: Integrated Arts Workshops for children (summers 2010, 2011, 2012 & upcoming in 2013, co-developed and taught with visual artist, Kindra Fehr), professional-level Modern/Contemporary Dance Technique classes (2008 and 2009 at Sugar Space, 2006 and 2008 at Rowland Hall as a part of the Ration Class series) and Creative Movement and Music for Children (2007 and 2009, Montessori Community School).  I’ve also taught as a part of the Northwest Regional Conferences for the American College Dance Festival Association including: Modern/Contemporary Technique and Experiential Anatomy (2008 and 2012 at UU, 2008 at Utah Valley University). 

d) Since 2007, I’ve taught out-of-region at the following places: Oberlin College, OH (2008) and Bordeaux, France (2007). 

e) I’ve participated in many workshops and professional development activities, something I will continue to do.  I’ve coordinated several workshops and mini-conferences as well, bringing together educators of note and then taking the opportunity to study with these individuals.  A few of the influential, nationally and internationally renowned artists/educators with whom I’ve studied are: Irene Dowd, Peggy Hackney, Kitty Daniels, Shelley Senter, Becci Parsons, Martin Keogh, Sara Rudner, David Dorfman and Eiko and Koma. 

Goals:

a) Every year I revamp the courses I teach, incorporating new ideas, experiences and practices with previously utilized pedagogical strategies.  This is central to my teaching preparation and I will continue doing this. To that end, I will continue attending workshops when possible.  I participated in SaltDanceFest this in summer 2012, studying with the renowned, international guest artists on the roster.  (I took several SaltDanceFest classes in summer 2011 with a different group of educators/artists.) Within the Dance Kinesiology Teachers’ Group, an organization I co-founded with Tom Welsh, Margaret Wilson and Jane Baas, we continue to share teaching resources and ideas across the larger, international membership and additionally, coordinate mini-conferences and other gatherings.  I will continue to be involved with this group.  Upcoming for summer 2013, I am co-coordinating a mini-conference for the Dance Kinesiology Teachers' Group, to be held at the University of Utah.

b) New teaching ventures of my own include the following:  I am currently developing a community-based project involving individuals with Down syndrome and a family member.  This will involve collaboration with renowned local writer and poet, Melissa Bond as well as utilize modern dance students, film students, and screendance certificate students, and involve several organizations including the Utah Down Syndrome Foundation, DDI Vantage (Early Intervention Program), Tanner Dance and the Imagination Place.  I would like to do more guest teaching out-of-region.  Recently, I’ve been invited to teach in Portland, OR and Seattle, WA.  I’m also interested in guest teaching on the East Coast.