Personal Philosophy of Teaching Dancing Performance
The heart of my philosophy lies in the power of dance and movement and the connection between that and personal wellness. I am drawn to the rewards and challenges of teaching because I live to see students exceed not only expectations, but theirs as well. It is not fulfilling to have just knowledge, power, and experience. My life’s calling is molding fluent expressive students in dance and theatre departments. In teaching dance I can accomplish connecting students to understanding the deepest level of themselves. I would like for students to live in their creativity and value their body as a tool for that expression. I aim to act as a mentor to students and help them grow intellectually as well as physically.
Personally, I have a lot of experience teaching dance, I have a master’s in Music Theatre and minor in dance. The rigid expectations from my experience in musical theatre have shaped my expectations and needs from students. In my classes I expect students to engage creativity and thought, honing their confidence and to strive for greatness. I have experience teaching hip hop, modern, jazz, and contemporary dance. Recently, I have ventured into conditioning dancers and non dancers by method of rigorous hip hop dance sessions and I will be offering this course as a minimester starting in August of 2019. Mostly, I teach 100 and 200 level courses.
My objectives for student learning are simple, but with meaning. First know the history of hip hop dance. Secondly, to understand how rigorous hip hop dance impacts personal wellness in all dimensions. Lastly, I expect students to be motivated and energetic. Dance with purpose and thought, and come to class prepared. My expectation for each course slightly varies only by history and approach. Students should be able to improve creative writing skills and social skills. From taking my classes students should gain confidence, better well being, discipline and concise movement.
In order to meet these expectations I structure my courses evenly between learning, application, and writing. Lecture is limited and there is an emphasis on group lab work. Lectures will be given before specific choreography and as a method to communicate to dancers. Two to three writing assignments are given over the course. One assignment should include a draft to improve writing skills. The writing assignments generally allow students to research the type of dance being covered over the semester. One assignment deals with culture and the other with history.
All other work will be done on the dance floor. Our final is a group dance presentation that ingratiates concepts learned over the course of the semester or mini mester. Instructional technology will be used in the class, most dances choreography will be broken down online or viewable in a video I will post online. I believe and consider it most effective to access individual needs of students, while giving them space to be creative and discover on their own.
Students will be evaluating the work of their peers and the work of myself. I use their feedback to develop new strategies to meet these objectives. On occasion class will be taped and/or surveyed by another dance instructor. My own desire for success drives my quest for further education and success. The more I learn the better I can be for you. My student success rate is very high and it is absurd to see students struggling or failing in my class. I believe I provide students with adequate knowledge and technique. At the end of the course I engage in discussion with students to improve my teaching philosophy. I will go above and beyond for my students and in return I expectation confidence and dedication to the art of movement.
