Movement for all dancers of all levels!

I believe that dance is a necessary fundamental act of humanity. To that end, I consider every person a dancer. I don’t want to approach dance education from a place of “dancer/non-dancer”, but that we are all, by nature of being human, dancers of different levels. You ever see a toddler instinctively move to music? I want to pass down the "meat and potatoes" style of physicality and fluid grace, primarily in a modern dance style, like my teachers before me, joining a lineage of artists connected from teacher to student in the way humans have been best interacting since time immemorial.

Movement class for “Non” dancers would typically start with a brief intro to the style and forms I come from, and analogous language and how dance might relate to the community that I’m teaching(dance-coding, dance-engineering, etc). At that point we all must warm up, which usually takes about half—two thirds of the allotted time. The warm up is more than just that; often times it is a dispersion of technical terms and tools that are a lesson in their own right; the overlap between science/coding/math syntax and dance pedagogy. The next part of class will be a large combo, this is tailored to be interdisciplinary, so in teaching the section of art I frame it as it relates to the people taking and how the body and brain are one. I almost always say something along the lines of “failing big is better than succeeding small” and “however you feel about it is correct, because that is art”, I like asking open ended questions as well. The last few moments of class are typically a question/answer and wrap up summary.

My Modern class has a structure similar to the classical pedagogies (Limon, Taylor), reaching through classical line and forms, while simultaneously getting grounded with use of over/under curves and big traveling. I am really interested in pushing one’s athletic self; how far can we go? By the end of class, I endeavor to get dancers on and off of their leg, blood pumping, ready to tackle the next task. I want to bring that old fire into this new day.

My approach to Ballet is inspired by my time dancing for, and learning from, Mark Morris. I emphasize musicality above all else. My class is focused on being both technical and beautiful, while not necessarily being a particular style. I am looking for clean lines but also encourage reserved flourish. Dancers will be asked to hone their attention. I challenge students to find a very detailed mental focus on themselves as well as the world around them,while being physically ready for anything at the conclusion.