Happy Summer! Looking for a little inspiration this week? Artists Heidi Henderson and Becca Levy eloquently share about the intersection of teaching and artistry in their careers. Click on either name to read their full artist profile from the blog this year.

Heidi Henderson (Wakefield, RI)

Teaching for me is an exchange of ideas, two or more ways. I am continually trying/learning to be more open, more ready to be surprised, more thoughtful, less assumptive. I don't always live up to my expectations. I know that I have a specific way of moving, of being in the body, to teach. There is always a way of being in the world that I can learn to be better at. I love teaching choreography. I love challenging the idea that there is a way to make a dance. I love exposing students to Contact Improvisation, helping them find themselves through the form.

On most days, I am a teacher first and an artist after that, slipping the artist into the cracks in time between the duties of teaching. I think that I trust my teaching more than my making dances. So sometimes teaching may be avoidance of making. I also procrastinate by sewing.

Photo of Becca Levy; credit – Shana Skelton

Becca Levy (Jacksonville, FL)

Teaching is where I get to dive into investigating what is fascinating about the human mind and body. The most satisfying moments are when my students take charge of the material and start to make independent connections.

There has not been a time in my professional career when I wasn’t teaching, so it feels like a tightly woven part of my life as an artist. 

Even though the material I work on with the professional company is really separate from what I’m doing at the College, the way in which I work on my skills as a communicator is shared. I work hard to articulate concepts clearly -  through my physical practice, through every word I say aloud in and out of the classroom, and energetically to students receiving feedback. Teaching is my daily practice (sometimes successfully, sometimes not) in mindfulness.

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Speaking as a Teaching Artist: 50 Perspectives

Blog Series: Becoming a Teaching Artist

"Becoming a Teaching Artist" – A Graphic Organizer

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