MY DANCE TEACHING PHILOSOPHY
The thought of becoming a great dancer is incredibly cool, yet, it can be pretty intimidating when you actually try to learn it from scratch. Dance pushes you to get out of your comfort zone. It is scary but fantastic! My goal is to guide and encourage students to discover their physical potential and find joy along the process.
Dance classes should always be playful and stress-free. Getting to know my students is the first and foremost thing I do because I believe it creates a safe environment for my students to discover their potential when connections and trust are built between us.
My approach to teaching emphasizes:
Enhancing physical awareness
When a body is in motion, many movements are going on simultaneously. What are your hips doing when you move your legs? What about your abdomen? Is it toned? Many dance learners often ignore those details, and they find themselves frustrated with learning dance phrases. It is vital to build an awareness that you can pay attention to each part of your body. When you are aware, you will be better at what to do with it.
Create sensation
Dance is an art of movement. When you are moving, what do you feel? When you draw your arm from left to right, what is the sensation your arm is having? Is it sliding, dragging, pulling, pushing? How do you feel differently when you use those verbs? I push students to identify and establish those sensations because dancing is constantly feeling those intense things! If you can’t feel those magical happenings in your body, you are missing the key to becoming a good dancer!
Establish a foundational movement system
When you start your dance journey, your body needs to re-learn how to be a body, one that can move freely. How many different ways can you walk from point A to point B? Besides the ordinary one you do? I’ve assembled a foundational movement system to help any beginner break your ordinary movement pattern and be range-free with your body! This effective training system is the foundation for coordination, body isolation, and muscle control. Just like the primary colors, if you have red, yellow, and blue, you will be able to create all kinds of colors!
Be intellectually physical
I demonstrate each movement comprehensively to help students digest better and keep my eyes on their performance. During the process, it’s essential to identify their challenges and design specific exercises to help them overcome them. It is always my priority to help students intellectually understand the intention of each movement through imagination, physical science. Because I truly believe that a gracefully moving body is an actively thinking body.