Teaching is an ongoing learning process, an active investigation that is unfolding and evolving. As an educator trying to understand and honor my own sense of self, I feel a responsibility to support students in developing their sense of self in addition to their artistry. Humanism is central to my teaching philosophy

I respect my students as whole beings with complex histories and knowledge. My mission is to supply learning experiences in dance to help students become grounded, dynamic, engaged artists and world citizens. Dance is not an isolated art form; not only is it in conversation with other mediums of art, but it has always been in dialogue with social and political movements throughout history. It is important to situate current dance practices in the context of its own history and understand that we can steer the evolution of our field.

I am transparent about my passion for dance and the limits of my own expertise. In physical practices, I encourage an ongoing self-sensing approach to movement by giving students time to learn about the subtleties of their unique structure and the movement possibilities it offers. I aim to awaken curiosity in my students and encourage questioning as a pathway to understanding. I am interested in exploring weight, momentum, specificity, and the play between effort and ease. Learning to let go is an essential part of physicalizing certain qualities of weighted movement, and learning trust in movement and performance can be a pivotal personal experience.

Improvisation is a powerful practice that offers endless exploration and discovery. It challenges us to acknowledge and question our habits and develop new movement languages. Improvisation can help us create collective awareness in ensembles, interrogate compositional choices in the moment, and empowers students to feel confident in making choices in performance. Improvisation encourages us to get curious and comfortable with the unknown, a perspective that serves us in our lives outside of the dance studio.

I am committed to developing and maintaining learning spaces that are embedded with communal trust. By modeling a way of respecting each student and the personal histories and knowledge they bring to conversation, I encourage the class to share the responsibility of holding space for each other. The intention is that this collective agreement to respect the learning space allows students to challenge their ideas and understanding of class content.

My goal is to make space for the learning process to be playful and messy, exploratory and challenging, encourage wrestling with the unknown, and respect all achievements, small and large. My teaching approach is an extension of all that I have learned through my human experience of dancing, improvising, performing, and choreographing. As a result of these practices, I enter teaching with the full presence of my body and mind to listen and respond to each class. Teaching is a balance of actively engaging, directing, and making space for the learning process to evolve independently. I show up in my teaching with full acknowledgment and respect for my humanity and make space for the human experience of my students in their artistic evolution.