According to Pinterest (I know, I know) Alan Watts said, “Trying to define yourself is like trying to bite your own teeth.” I have written about defining and labeling at several points over the years on this blog as well as for Dance Advantage. I am in the midst of change with my relationship to…
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Living Life as an Experiment
Have you ever had that experience in which what you have been wishing for materializes and you can hardly catch your breath? You can hardly believe it is real. It is as if your mind has been read and you find yourself in a place where all the right things align? A place that you…
Read Morepresent and connected
This weekend I had the distinct honor of presenting at the McEntire Education Summit, hosted by Trent McEntire. Trent and I are old friends- the best kind, where you don’t speak nearly often enough but when you do, it is as if not a day has gone by. Trent is a force in the pilates…
Read MoreBend It Like Bikram
Gloriously, I am back into my Bikram practice. So far, it hasn’t been as frequent as I’d like but I gradually feel myself coming back. In the months away, I continued to teach and dance yet I lost a lot of strength. It has been a strenuous year in terms of body and spirit and…
Read MoreDavid Howard
When I was living in NYC, David Howard’s ballet class saved my soul. In a city where most dance classes felt like an audition, taught by people who didn’t really understand how to warm up a body or just really loved deep plié in second position, with the body folded over- David Howard’s ballet class…
Read MoreCycle 1: How much of what we teach is “curriculum”?
Let’s face it, I am fortunate in that my subject area- dance- is not included in the standardized tests that my students take each year. That doesn’t mean, however, that I am not careful and intentional in how and what I teach. As I see it, there are three main types of teaching/learning relationships in…
Read MoreLetting It Be: Renewed Intent
Friends are the best. I tend to get ahead of myself in most ways, worrying about things that are important but likely to ebb and flow as we move through life. This is true of my professional life and my personal life. I spend a lot of energy putting things into action that sometimes I…
Read MoreI’m Not Sure I’m Ready for My Close-up, Mr. DeMille
Sometimes I see more clearly through a lens. When I feel like I start admiring the productivity, perspective, or accomplishments of others I think about how I have spent my time and I choose a lens. Sometimes it is the actual lens of a camera through which I capture the happy faces of my children,…
Read MoreHere is the link to a review of two new excellent reads. Check them out! Prepping for the Common Core with Two Informational Dance Texts | Dance Advantage
You Can Do Anything But Not Everything 1.0
Recently, Dance/USA produced a series of articles about professional choreographers who have turned to working in higher education as a means to keep creating choreography within concert dance and earn a living. Most of the artists interviewed are of notable stature (David Dorfman, Joe Goode,…) and discuss the balancing act required of working in two…
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