Dawn Karlovsky
More inspiration for the coming week, from artists around the country. Click on any name below to read each artist's full profile on the blog:
Ellen Bromberg (Salt Lake City, UT):
I started teaching at a very early age, and in addition to being able to support myself within the field of dance, teaching was a critical part of my education about dance as an art form. Teaching on a regular basis allowed me to constantly experiment with movement ideas, rhythms, phrasing, etc. It also helped me to analyze how best to communicate these ideas to less advanced dancers. Learning how to teach was a lot of trial and error, a very humbling process, and one that continues to this day. My advice to young dancers is, if you feel interested in teaching, do it. Not everyone feels drawn to teaching, but it is a wonderful way to give to others and to deepen learning at the same time.
Annie Beserra (Chicago, IL):
Teaching is central to my understanding of myself as a creative artist. I’m teaching and learning in every creative process - so I really don’t see my teacher self as distinct from my choreographer/performer self.
Dawn Karlovsky (St. Louis, MO):
My main source of income comes from teaching. I am dance faculty primarily at Webster University and Washington University in St. Louis, but also teach at other area universities if they need someone to teach particular subjects. I studied pedagogy in grad school, but so much of what I have learned comes from years and years of actual teaching --- assessing what seems to be working and challenging myself to try different approaches to keep improving and to become more effective. I credit so many of my wonderful teachers whose skills were imparted onto me as well. Just like in dancing, I keep exploring options as a teacher. I continue to investigate, understand movement more deeply, develop my teaching skills, and hopefully impart something significant and memorable to my students as well. The cycle continues, and it continues to expand.
Leah Cox (New York, NY):
Teaching dance becomes a revolutionary act and requires a complete overhaul. Who are we teaching to move? What is the value system? What are the skills? It seems to me that training dancers to be polite and obedient experts in doing what a choreographer tells them to do is so completely out of the realm of importance now as to be comical. Dance education should focus on teaching everyone to move as a basic part of their skill set as an engaged citizen. To address those that are serious about staying in the dance field, we should focus on enabling them to be visionaries, giving them opportunities and skills to imagine and proliferate dance as a way of reconnecting people with their bodies, their physical creativity, and their corporeal power.
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