Teaching

At the core of my current teaching practice is the intention to facilitate agency, curiosity, and a space for students to settle, rest, swell and expand in each dance-movement class. One of the ways I propose agency and curiosity to emerge is through improvisation in individual structures and group practices. Improvisation invites decision-making and personal identity to be witnessed and shared; it is a site for collective feeling and composition to emerge. Dedicated time for collective leading and communal dance-making is another integral part of my teaching. By inviting students to enter both roles of student and teacher, I attempt to lateralize the traditional classroom hierarchy. 

       I currently offer classes in contemporary technique, improvisation, beginning ballet, yoga (power flows and restorative forms), and beginning composition. Drawing on my yoga teaching philosophy and experience, my classes include moments of rest, relaxation, and reflection. This rest intends to momentarily quiet the go-go-go external world and return to the internal and eternal landscapes where there is more space and time for observation and rejuvenation.

       Teaching is an ongoing learning experience that requires reflexivity and humility. Individual and group discussions about my students' needs, wants, and experiences are a practice I use to evolve and grow my teaching-learning. These discussions are also a dedicated time to share feelings of safety and (dis)comfort around sensitive topics, including touch, consent, partnering, and teacher feedback. As a movement practitioner, student, and teacher, my goal is to cultivate a classroom of joy, possibility, and pause for students to gather and grow what they need and desire in that moment of movement.

​

Joy,

Chloe