For the past year, we have shared dancers' schedules and all that they entail – teaching, training, rehearsing, performing, commuting, and finding down time. In Fall 2015, I asked members of NDEO (the National Dance Education Organization) for dancers with full-time positions within a K-12 school to share their weekly schedules. This series will feature eight dancers from around the country working in a variety of settings.

Today you will read about Ohio-based dancer Falon Baltzell, who teaches at an independent high school. The "My Dance Week" column offers a great window into the work done over a week – the scheduling of classes (note the length of classes), prep time, communication, and all of those tasks like finding costumes, driving to events, etc.

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I am a dance artist who has served the past three years as the Director of Upper School Dance at Hathaway Brown School, an all-girls private K-12 school located in Shaker Heights, OH. While at Hathaway, I have invited national and international guest artists to teach my high school students; I coordinate and direct our annual multicultural dance concert TAAL; co-direct The Moving Company in Concert – a concert consisting of student choreography and performances; integrate my undergraduate and graduate education into the high school dance curriculum; and plan all events within our upper school dance program. The dance students have performed on campus, at multiple Ohio Dance Festivals, site-specific pieces at Barnes and Noble and Ingenuity Cleveland, Youth Summit and Leadership Conference, and many more.

In addition to teaching and directing my program, I choreograph solo works, group works for my students, and I have also collaborated with national and international professional artists to create ensemble works. I have premiered works extensively in Western New York and Northeast Ohio, throughout NYC, Mississippi, Pennsylvania, and most recently in Hawaii. My choreography has been commissioned by the Society of New Music, OH Dance Festival, Cincy Fringe, Cleveland Public Theatre, and World Dance Alliance-Americas. It was an honor to choreograph and perform at the this year’s 2015 WDA Conference in Hawaii, and the summer before that I was a recipient of the 2014 Teacher Fellowship at Bates Dance Festival.

During my graduate career I was honored with a 2013 Graduate Assistant Fellowship, along with six consecutive summer-study scholarships for the Bill Evans Teachers’ Intensive. I am certified in the Evans Technique, hold a K-12 Teacher Licensure, received my BFA in Dance Education from the University of Southern Mississippi and MFA in Performance and Choreography from SUNY Brockport. I have taught choreography and modern dance technique during American College Dance Festivals at Penn State and Hofstra University, and presented scholarly research in Mississippi and Western NY. 

Download Falon Baltzell high school teaching schedule PDF

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