The practice of dance has tools that I take advantage of: structure and repetition.  Dancers strive for consistency and that consistency comes with repetition.   My modern teacher at East Carolina, Pat Pertalion, used to say, “It’s the drip drip drip on the rock rock rock every day day day,” that leads to that consistency. 

 

I also love asking my students questions.  We can learn from correct answers, but we learn even more with our mistakes.  I question my students in order to shake them out of the auto-pilot mode they so easily to fall into and make them examine not just the functional aspects of their movement, but also their expressivity.

 

I blend my studies in the Laban/Bartenieff Movement

System with the classical and release techniques and

somatic practices that I have learned from various teachers

to explore the body through movement concepts such as 

breath, alignment, articulation of spine and limbs, weight,

and more because technique is more than just mimicry.  

I much prefer students understand how their bodies work

and use their knowledge to create their own translation

rather than simply imitate movement.