Life as a Modern Dancer

Category: Blog Series: Becoming a Teaching Artist

  • Teaching Parent/Child Dance Classes: 5 Questions for April Taylor of “Dance with Me” (SF Bay Area)

    Photo: Good Lux Photography/Rob Kunkle April Taylor teaches Dance with Me classes at Shawl-Anderson Dance Center in Berkeley, CA and Rhythmix Cultural Works in Alameda, CA. What do you love about teaching these kinds of classes? I am passionate about fostering connection between people, families, and children. Teaching Dance With Me provides a fertile place…

  • Teaching Parent/Child Dance Classes: 5 Questions for Terry Goetz of the Creative Dance Center in Seattle

    What do you love about teaching these kinds of classes? So many things! I love the opportunity to build each Parent/Child class I teach into a supportive community of compassionate and embodied explorers, risk-takers, and dancers. Anne Green Gilbert’s 5-part lesson plan provides such a balanced scaffold for learning: exertion followed by recuperation; student-centered activities followed…

  • Speaking as a Teaching Artist: Jan Erkert, Gesel Mason, and Jess Humphrey

    Jan Erkert From Jan Erkert (Champaign, IL): What is the interplay between teaching and choreographing for you? Choreography has become a way of thinking about living and learning, so it is the ground floor of teaching. When teaching, whether choreography or technique, I set up questions or problems that the students must negotiate. Attentive listening…

  • Becoming a Teaching Artist: 8 Ideas and Resources for Parent/Child Dance Classes

    Photo courtesy of April Taylor of Dance with Me (SF Bay Area - https://www.facebook.com/dancewithmeACT/). Photo: Jenni Wright Throughout the coming weeks, we will be sharing several posts related to parent/child dance classes.  1. Favorite Props Hula hoops, tulle fabric, juggling scarves, large pieces of silver mylar, polyspots, bean bags, tunnels, parachutes, pinwheels, drums, egg shakers, and…

  • For a Dance Education Course: A Reading List (UPDATED July 2018)

    This topic is one of my great passions — so much so that I am creating three different reading lists here, based on what course or courses you might offer at your college or university. The lists can be used for: dance for children, teaching dance to middle school and high school students, and a…

  • A New Book for K-12 Teaching Artists

    Math for Dance, and Dance for Math By Malke Rosenfeld In my new book, Math on the Move: Engaging Students in Whole Body Learning, I bring together the dancing body and mathematics, to the benefit of learning in both disciplines. As a percussive dancer my preferences are traditional Canadian step dance from Cape Breton Island…

  • Speaking as a Teaching Artist: Christy Funsch, Jeremy jae Neal, and Linda Carr

    Jeremy jae Neal From Christy Funsch (San Francisco, CA): What is the role of teaching within your dance life? What do you love about teaching? What does the phrase “teaching artist” mean to you? I've been teaching part time for twenty years now, and it's a consistent source of nourishment. It gives me repeated practices…

  • 2016 in Review: The Blog Series “Becoming a Teaching Artist”

    From Blog Director Jill Randall: As I look back at the posts from 2016, there were 1-2 posts every month to share ideas, questions, and inspiration for new teaching artists as well as seasoned educators. The blog is passionate and committed to the concept of teaching and learning and all of the forms it takes…

  • Resources and Reading Material: Teaching at the High School Level

    Angela Demmel Inspired by a meeting this week in Berkeley with teaching artists working in high schools, I have gathered together various posts about this specific age group and artists around the U.S. specializing in high school level dance education. Artist Profiles Linda Carr of Berkeley High School Wendy Jones of Lowell High School Angela…

  • Advocacy/PR/Documentation: Ideas for K-12 Dance Teaching Artists

                                                                                                                        -Quote from teaching artist Juliana Monin I know, I know…..I am suggesting adding one more thing to the "to do" list. But, a simple, monthly action step can build your program, inform families and school administrators, and keep your program on the radar of decisionmakers at your school or district. It is about building programs, keeping…