Life as a Modern Dancer

Category: Blog Series: Becoming a Teaching Artist

  • For Middle School Dance Educators: A Graphic Organizer to Support the Choreographic Process for Your Students

    —————————————————————————————————————————————————— In Spring 2016, I developed and tinkered with this graphic organizer tool. I was exploring new ways of entering into a creative project with my 7th and 8th grade students.  For middle school students, using a tool like this can offer a simple and concrete way for students to capture ideas and remember their…

  • Ten Resources for Teaching Artists As We Prepare for the New School Year (#10)

    Playful and Creative Uses for Popsicle Sticks This post originally appeared on December 21, 2014. If you teach dance to students in preschool and K-3, here are some helpful and creative ways to use colored popsicle sticks. Find these sticks on amazon.com or at the local craft store. They are easy, cheap, and fun for…

  • Twelve Resources for College Professors

    As dance professors gear up for Jan Term and Winter/Spring courses, I wanted to share again this list from August 2016……. For Inspiration: An Interview with Abby Fiat (retired professor from the University of Utah) For Student Advising: A Job Survey for College Dance Majors For a Technique Course: A Journal For Guidance: Three Perspectives…

  • Speaking as a Teaching Artist: Fifty Perspectives

    Over the past four years, 136 working artists have shared their stories and career paths on this blog. One of the biggest themes to emerge is about teaching and its integral role within our work in current times. It is no longer an "either/or" conversation but rather "yes/and." To be a teaching artist is to share,…

  • Speaking as a Teaching Artist: Tami Stronach, Rosana Barragan, and Amy Foley

    Amy Foley   From Tami Stronach (Brooklyn, NY): I have been a teacher for 20 years. I love teaching because it forces me to keep asking myself questions about why art matters to me and to others — to keep refining the values of my artistic practice.   Teaching composition for me is about creating…

  • Ten Resources for Teaching Artists As We Prepare for the New School Year (#5)

      Looking for a book or two to help you launch into the new school year? Here are four in my reading queue right now. Please leave a comment below about any of these four books, or a book you are reading right now! Dance Education Around the World – Edited by Charlotte Svendler Nielsen…

  • Ten Resources for Teaching Artists as We Prepare for the New School Year (#4)

    Today I wanted to mention a great publication to subscribe to as well as browse online – Dance Studio Life Magazine. I began reading DSL about two years ago myself. Whether you teach at a studio, K-12 school, or college, there are interesting articles and resources in every issue. The writers cover dance all around…

  • Ten Resources for Teaching Artists As We Prepare for the New School Year (#3)

    Today I want to share about a wonderful project called Book to Boogie. The information is housed on a website about libraries — about the many ways that libraries can be used for activities, arts integration, and community building. Dancer Kerry Aradhya curates the project.  Book to Boogie is about using picture books as springboards…

  • Ten Resources for Teaching Artists As We Prepare for the New School Year (#2)

    Becoming a Teaching Artist Infographic Today I am thrilled to share two graphics that I have wanted to develop for years. Thank you to dancer and graphic designer Jai Arun Ravine for helping me finalize the ideas this week! A thank you also goes out to San Francisco Bay Area teaching artists Maurice Charriere, Patricia West, Juliana…

  • Ten Resources for Teaching Artists As We Prepare for the New School Year (#1)

    This month, I want to share 10 new(er) resources that might be fun/interesting/inspiring as we prepare for the upcoming school year. Today I share an article from Edutopia. While the article is written from a classroom teacher's perspective, many of his ideas are applicable and valuable within a dance teaching context. Most of all, I…