Ambassador: a person who acts as a representative or promotor of a specified activity. Proposed actions for various groups: Promote the success of your arts students. Tell the stories of their triumphs and acts of creation all the time. All. The. Time. Represent the body, the container for the whole person, in every interaction. Proactively … Continue reading Ambassador before Advocate
Setting the Tone for Engagement
Earlier this week, I was coaching a new client on engagement in the virtual world. The question: How can we create connection when the digital landscape feels flat? Answer: 1. Get your clients to connect with themselves in real time. 2. Connect with them and connect them to each other. 3. Connect the ideas. One … Continue reading Setting the Tone for Engagement
It Starts With the Body
In yesterday's HVS Movement Study video, I offered an explanation for how "embodiment" and "somatic" work weave together in our ideal practice, whether that practice is for our own personal growth, for learning in a classroom or studio, or for leading into somatic work within a therapeutic space. In my years of teaching, I have … Continue reading It Starts With the Body
Connecting to Ourselves
At some point, most of us have abandoned ourselves. How do we come back? Slowly. Daily. Incrementally. Drip by drip, as all real progress is made. Taking notice of the sensations present in the body, in order to let the soul breathe. Playing with time and qualities of energy, slowing down long enough to invite … Continue reading Connecting to Ourselves
An invitation to re-wild
Many of us have tense relationships with our bodies. Frustrated by the body's unwillingness to "behave", we typically resort to judgement, hostility, abandonment, and even name-calling. What if we treated our bodies the way we aspire to treat our children? What if your relationship included acknowledgement and encouragement, guidance, and compassion? In a recent movement … Continue reading An invitation to re-wild
The Spiral: Deepening your Teaching Practice
Movement educators: Join me this May 24 and 25, 2019 as we: Connect to ourselves: re-examine your motivations for teaching, your role in the studio/community, and reinvest in your creative and teaching practices. Do your actions align with your intentions? Is upholding the legacy of your discipline serving the people you are leading? Connect to … Continue reading The Spiral: Deepening your Teaching Practice
Breath and Substance
Not long ago, I coached a few movement educators who were going to be working with at-risk kids. We talked through a variety of approaches and strategies for allowing the kids to see themselves in the work being offered to them and in the coaching, we reached a point where I needed the educators to … Continue reading Breath and Substance
Self-made Armor
To get out of a funk, I sweat or I create. To face the unknown, I armor up. Passion as protection One passion is handknits. In the crafting, I process my circumstances and my responses to whatever is happening in life. It becomes a safe space to pour my worries and aspirations. The product, is … Continue reading Self-made Armor
A Life of Quality
In both of my fields- movement design and arts education- I have taught at length about "quality of life". The truth is, though, I am really asking my clients and students to engage in a life of quality. It means living in presence and making choices which support our over-arching values. It means celebrating the … Continue reading A Life of Quality
Boundaries to Our Truths
Last week I presented at the National Dance Education Organization conference. I attended sessions which spoke to my soul, my curiosity, and my biases. Some sessions fed me. Some infuriated me. All were useful. As typical with attending any conference at which you see faces from your past, present, and future- conversations traverse over the … Continue reading Boundaries to Our Truths
