Life as a Modern Dancer

Category: Blog Series: Becoming a Teaching Artist

  • For Teaching Artists: Recommended Summer Reading on Creativity Research

    I just completed reading the latest research coming out of the Center for Childhood Creativity, Inspiring a Generation to Create: Critical Components of Creativity in Children. I definitely recommend reading it (or at least the executive summary) if you are a teaching artist working in preschools or K-8 schools. I teach at a middle school, and many…

  • Speaking as a Teaching Artist: Ellie Goudie-Averill, Jennifer Monson, Vicky Shick, and Jeanine Durning

    Photo: Ellie Goudie-Averill Ellie Goudie-Averill Teaching is an art! Teaching technique class (especially to beginning dancers or in community workshops) has always informed the rest of my dance life … especially as a performer. Technique class truly is about techniques for efficiency, ease and qualitative range and teaching a particular technique (and having to explain…

  • Becoming a Teaching Artist: Prep Time

    When I was a brand new teacher – right out of college, teaching at four different sites and about 20-30 classes a week! – nobody ever directly spoke with me about “prep time.” I simply put in hours and hours of work figuring it out, writing up lesson plans, talking with seasoned teachers, finding music, going…

  • Speaking as a Teaching Artist: Onye Ozuzu, Jill Patterson, and Abby Fiat

    Jill Patterson Over the past three years, 100 working artists have shared their stories and career paths on this blog. One of the biggest themes to emerge is about teaching – as an opportunity to explore our movement choices and curiosities, as an income source, as a means to find dancers, and as an opportunity to develop…

  • A Pulse on the Dance Teaching Artist Field: Training Programs, Methodologies, Philosophies, and Complementary Educational Language

    Years ago, the Teaching Artist Journal published a piece on this topic, which was really helpful for me to understand the dance education professional development landscape in the United States. This week, I asked some of my dance education colleagues around the country, who teach students in preschool-12th grade, about their training and influences on their…

  • Teaching Middle School Students This Summer? Some Dance Films to Watch, Made by Teens

    The 1st Annual On/Line Teen Dance Film Festival can be Viewed on Vimeo This 30 minute film festival was created by The Hamlin School in San Francisco. The mini film festival highlights the work of middle school dancers at Hamlin as well as selected films from other middle schools and high schools around the globe.…

  • Teaching Artist Training Lab in Washington State: Three More Days to Apply

    I have been reading up and researching about various teaching artist programs around the United States. If you live in Washington State, you still have a few more days this week to apply for this 8-month long program, which includes in-person meetings, teleconferences, and coaching. Read more here. Pulling from their website, I love these guiding…

  • Professional Learning with the Luna Dance Institute in Berkeley, CA

    You will find here the new professional learning brochure for the Luna Dance Institute in Berkeley, CA. Whether you live in the Bay Area or are considering traveling for professional development, read more here about their stellar offerings for new and seasoned teaching artists alike. Download Luna_PL_2015_final

  • Becoming a Teaching Artist: Picture Books to Use in Your Children’s Classes

    One of my other areas of interest is the intersection of language and movement in dance education. I also have another blog that highlights picture books about dance and books that can be used as springboards for dance classes. These books are ideal for dance classes with preschool-fifth grade students, though I also note some…

  • Becoming a Teaching Artist: Online Certificate Program through the University of the Arts

    While I very much advocate for in-person professional development (college courses, Luna Dance Institute, and DEL, for example), sometimes an online option can provide information, tools, and inspiration. There is still time to apply and enroll for the Fall Term through the University of the Arts. Applications are due in late July. Participants take 5…