Teaching Philosophy

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My outlook on dance teaching has undergone a number of changes and will, I hope, remain uncodified. The changes have come about more in the form of how I believe we dancers should perceive ourselves while `in-training' (in dance technique, improvisation, or choreography classes, in performance), and as we go about the everyday movements generated by our encounters with daily life.</div> <bR> <div> Dancers usually perceive themselves as fairly sentient beings, yet given our different temperaments and circumstances, and the nature and/or aesthetics of whatever modes of dance we have trained in, we may often push ourselves beyond the limits of what is structurally possible and tow and towards irreparable injury.</div> <bR> <div> Not recognizing that there is a way to `allow' the movements to happen, we interfere with the natural action of our muscles, tightening or `binding' their flow in order to perform movements, and equating tight muscles with strength. Instead of safeguarding and pacing our energies as we should, we throw our movements beyond the range of biomechanically correct flow. </div> <bR> <div> Thus it is that I have become more aware of the need for us to `think-feel' our movements as dancers, so we are not as John Stirk says: “aware of our body in our head … but not really in touch with [it].” The corollary to moving from a kinesiologically sound base and being sensuously attuned to the workings of our bodie,s is that we will give a more equal weight to the aesthetic component of things in our bodies - the poetry of the movement. The result will be less reliance upon what Erick Hawkins terms `dumb' virtuosity, and which he observes: “obscures the subtle virtuosity of quality.” Instead of dancing with an over-reliance upon position and shape, we will find ourselves dancing with the appropriate amount of energy for each action - with the capability of using the full palette of energy-use, from maximum contraction to de-contraction, as we phrase and sculpture space and time. </div> <bR> <div> So in my own teaching, although I teach towards dynamic contrast in action, flow is an important part of the continuum of my movement vocabulary.</div> <bR> <div> What I am after at this stage of my teaching/learning, is a seeing-sensing-`learning-from-the inside' kind of approach -- for myself and my students -- a very different reality from what many of us were taught in our dance classes, or may have encountered in the body training of other disciplines. Since we often tend to see ourselves as `front,' `back,' and (narrow) `sides,' and have very little sense of ourselves as `volume,' my goal as a teacher of dance is to have my students move out into the space from an inner-sensing of the 3-dimensionality of their bodies. I wish them to appropriate themselves and the space, sculpturally rather than as superficially as we have been accustomed to. I am concerned that they develop a malleable body placement, and more particularly, a flexible psyche. I believe the combination of a qualitative awareness of our actions, and the depth from which those actions begin, will lend our dancing a greater expressiveness.</div> <bR> <div> I also feel that `live' musicians, if possible, are a great asset to the `lived' quality of the dance experience, and that it is necessary for us to be `musicians of the body,' sensitive to the instant-by-instant unfolding of time. Therefore, I try to plan my classes accordingly, with a great attentiveness to sound, rhythm and musical phrasing.</div> <bR> <div> While I have had an eclectic technical training in dance with classes in Nikolais/Louis, Limon, Graham, Cunningham, and Hawkins techniques, along with ballet, and some jazz and tap dance, my aesthetic leanings are towards Erick Hawkins's technique. My strength is that I have been able to synthesize these into a workable technique to serve my needs as a solo dance performer, and as a teacher of students from diverse dance backgrounds. I have taught at all levels, but am most comfortable with the intermediate and advanced dance levels.</div> <div> My technique classes make use of floor, center, and across-the-floor work. I pay particular attention to efficient use of the body and energy, and to making dancers aware of `the moment,' to musical and physical phrasing, and to ensuring that students experience the qualitative aspects of dance movement. I try to ensure that my classes are kinesiologically sound - students are taught to center movement and support weight in the pelvis and front of the spine, rather than in the lower back and legs. Although a balance is sought between muscular effort and `letting go,' I challenge my dancers to increase their flexibility, strength and endurance - and to grow intellectually and artistically.</div> <bR> <div> My greatest concern is that each student has a `dance experience.' I try, if possible, to allow them to perform more extended dance phrases by the end of a semester, and to provide more of a challenge in terms of the complexity of the design, dynamics, and rhythm of those phrases. My classes are usually prepared with a particular principle or principles in mind, either related to dance as it manifests itself in terms of its use of `space,' `time,' or `energy/effort' (the elements of dance), to its use of the body (technique), or to presentation and performance. Sometimes this may necessitate exploration and discussion, and the students' observation of one another or of video material, or the use of improvisation, but we quickly get back to what we are there for - dancing.</div> <bR> <div> I approach improvisation and choreography from many directions. Here there is the opportunity for students to dispense with clichéd choreographic statements, and to free movements and gestures from prior associations and give them fresh and uncluttered juxtapositions. Sometimes I may operate from a space-time-energy focus; from a creative-process base (idea-exploring, idea-finding, idea-transforming, idea-crystallizing, performing and dialoguing); with an emphasis on craft (design, dynamics, staging). However, I don't believe in formulas, and try not to teach any; I see myself more as a catalyst and observer/witness to a student's work. I believe in guiding a student to the fulfillment of his/her personal vision, and encouraging him/her to take risks.</div> <bR> <div> In a nutshell, my dance training in the United States and South Africa has led me to explore in my own teaching a means of dancing that is respectful of the limitations of the human body and which would enable a dancer to enjoy a long performing life. I hold to Erick Hawkins's ideal that: "tight muscles cannot feel," and that “not everything that is possible in dance is always desirable." I try to reflect this in my teaching, believing that holding and gripping our muscles will inevitably lead to a loss of the moment-by-moment sensation so necessary to living a fully realized life in dance -- and everyday life.</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div>  <table width=100 border=0 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0> <tr><td bgcolor=#FF0505 align=center> <font color=white face="arial,helvetica" size=2> <b>Be notified of page updates</b> </font></td><tr><td> <form action="http://www.ChangeDetection.com/detect.html" method="get" target=ChangeDetectionWiz> <INPUT TYPE="TEXT" NAME="email" SIZE="12" value="enter email"> <table width=100% border=0 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0> <tr><td align=left valign=top> <small> <input type="submit" name="enter" value=" OK " onclick="w=window.open( 'http://www.ChangeDetection.com/blank.html', 'ChangeDetectionWiz', 'resizable=yes,scrollbars=yes,width=624,height=460' );w.focus()"> </small> </td><td align=right valign=top> <a href="http://www.ChangeDetection.com/privacy.html" target=ChangeDetectionPrivacy onclick="somewin=window.open('http://www.ChangeDetection.com/privacy.html', 'ChangeDetectionPrivacy','resizable=yes,scrollbars=yes,width=624,height=390');somewin.focus()"> <FONT FACE="Arial, Helvetica" SIZE="1">it's private</FONT></a><br> </TD></TR></table> <tr><td align=center valign=top> <FONT SIZE="1" face="arial,helvetica"> powered by<br><a href="http://www.ChangeDetection.com/">ChangeDetection</a> </td></tr> </FORM> </table>  </div> <bR> <div> © 2001 BRIAN G. 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