This class includes a series of standing warmups, floor work, and 2 movement sequences to practice. These movements have been gathered through my various experiences in my undergraduate dance program at Sweet Briar College. I have been teaching dance in private studio spaces and public school systems for the past 3 years, and performing at…
Category: Dance
Teaching “PLACE”: A Creative Dance Lesson Plan
Introduction Lesson (1): PLACE Creative Dance: Ages 3 – 5 Start by circling up standing, with each person on one of the stars which have been placed in a circle prior to class. The teacher goes to the center of the circle and says her name and does a dance movement, she then high fives…
Infinity in The Arts
Hello bloggers! I’ve missed you. I have a story to share with you about the time that’s passed since I last posted here. It’s a story about love and loss. Or…perhaps it’s a story about finding the silver lining. Maybe it’s a story of the lack of support for the arts, or a story of…
How to Tell if Your Child’s Instructor is a “Time Waster”
It is shocking how many dance instructors I have worked with like to simply run out the clock with kids rather than engage with them in meaningful dance education. I recently met a dance studio DIRECTOR who was in the process of INTERVIEWING ME who actually stated “I love to waste time.” I cannot fathom…
Stretchy Toddlers Taking Over Dance
I think that the mistaken modern day perspective is that if a child does not have the flexibility, coordination, and stamina of the stretchy toddlers on “Dance Moms” it is not worth giving them an education in dance – they will simply not be good.
A Brief History of the Mother of Modern Dance: Martha Graham
In 1911 Graham spotted a poster of dance legend Ruth St. Dennis in a store, advertising her performance, and begged her father to take her to the performance in Los Angeles, which he did. She came to worship Ruth St. Dennis and five years later went back to Los Angeles for a summer course at Dennis’ company, Dennishawn….
Expanding Student Minds with the Vocabulary of Movement (Action Research with 8th graders, using Dance to teach Reading and Writing)
Introduction As a kinesthetic and linguistic learner, and someone who has studied in both the fields of Creative Writing and Dance I often find myself exploring ways in which movement and language might connect or support one another. In the past I have done this through my own performances, choreographing dances in which I also…
From Colored Sands: A dance of creation (Photos)
This dance is called “From Colored Sand.” It’s a sort of essence-of-life piece which I wanted to evoke a lot of images of life and color. It’s a celebration of both the ease of creation: being thrust into the world, seemingly from nothing, and of the intense concentration and intentionality of living. There is the…
Two Dancers in an Abandoned Warehouse
Filming and Editing by Amber Boyer Dancers: Vanessa Finnegan and Corin Diaz Musicians in Background: Grayson Edwards, Sean Mahoney, and Corin Diaz
Body and Soul
People tend to believe that the eyes are the window to the soul, but what if you could feel your soul in your fingertips? in your knees? I have come to realize that dance is about taking this lump of flesh that so often, perhaps without even knowing, we see as a vessel, a temple…
Not Just Words 