At Emerson College, I serve as the Area Head for Dance – developing curriculum for the Dance Minor and Musical Theatre major, supporting the dance faculty and students in the Dance Minor, and teaching courses that serve the Dance Minor and the college’s liberal arts core. I also teach in the Interdisciplinary Studies Major, a program built on the curricular model of Marlboro College.
_______________
I am deeply committed to making space for embodied learning in academia. Learning to listen to our bodies and discovering how our bodies learn are central skills for making art and for navigating the world. Through dance, students can develop tools for creative and analytical thought, from an embodied perspective, that they can carry out into their lives. For these reasons, I believe in making dance accessible to students at all levels of experience and ability.
I strive to teach dance in a multidimensional way, sharing its many forms, its histories, its theories, its methods, its relationships to other aspects of culture and helping my students to develop critical frameworks for understanding dance in a larger social context. We cannot turn a blind eye to the politics of race, gender, class, etc. that have shaped the dances we love and that emerge in the work we create.
By focusing on making art they care about, students gain the hunger to learn the tools and techniques that will help them bring their visions to life. Learning to give thoughtful, specific, artist-centered feedback helps students build community with one another and the language to articulate their ideas about dance. Self-reflection plays a big role in my teaching as well, helping students define their own goals, take ownership of their process of learning, and gain clarity about the effectiveness of their work.
I believe in working together deeply with each student, identifying their strengths, passions and dreams, and helping them to build the skills, experience level, and confidence to be successful.
Courses
Choreography
This course immerses students in the art and craft of making dances. Students will learn how to discover personal movement vocabulary, create dances in solos and groups, give and receive choreographic feedback, and develop choreographic ideas. Dancers are welcome to choreograph in any dance style that lives in their body.
Global Perspectives in Dance
Students learn about specific dance cultures around the world to understand the varied aesthetic forms dance can take, the many functions dance can serve, the ways in which dance embodies culture, and the forces that affect the evolution of dances over time. Students investigate the different ways in which cultures and societies around the world are shaped through their own agency, the colonial project, and transnational and globalized forms of exchange. Students learn self-reflection and non-extractive modes of engagement with cultures both familiar and unfamiliar. Fulfills the Aesthetics Perspective and the Global Diversity and Justice requirement.
Anatomy of Movement
How and why do our bodies move the way they do? This class introduces students to human anatomy with emphasis on the musculoskeletal system and functional principles of movement. Concepts are explored through scientific study supported by experiential anatomy (including dance/movement exercises and palpation) and other modalities. We explore the properties and functions of bone and muscle and make our way through the human body identifying the skeletal features and muscles of the skull, spine, limb girdles and limbs. We consider the evolutionary, environmental and social influences on human form and function. Fulfills the Science Perspective.