In my teaching, I prioritize play and curiosity. Integrating tools from my training in Hip Hop dance, Contact Improvisation, ensemble dance, site-specific composition, modern and postmodern dance, somatics, theater, sports, meditation and bodywork, I practice creating dynamic, welcoming environments for education and transformation.
I have taught Hip Hop dance to folks of all ages -- littles, youth, adults, elders -- at a variety of spaces including arts centers, summer programs, adult education centers, dance studios and the YMCA. While earning my Bachelor of Arts degree in Dance at Wesleyan University, I assisted two professors with Modern Dance courses and a Bboy/Bgirl instructor for a youth class at the local community arts center in Middletown.
Growing educational programs for GROUND SERIES and Wyld Womxn collectives has provided me with meaningful experiences in designing and offering workshops which foster critical thinking skills in relationship to one's own body, as well as the relationship between gender and sexuality, movement practices and culture, dance and choreographic politics, personal and communal healing. Committed to inclusivity, I have taught lessons in English, French and Spanish, and I have offered free movement classes with fellow artists of Peer Practice in the Desert. In 2008, I worked with Pedro Alejandro, Toni Craige and 'Luz Del Sonido,' a group of blind musicians, to help create a methodology for teaching experimental dance to blind or visually impaired students. This work was supported by an Andrew W. Mellon summer research grant in the Dominican Republic. In collaboration with colleagues from the Arts & Planning Division of American Planning Association, I have presented and facilitated engagements on how to center arts in the planning field to develop healthy and equitable communities.
My love of learning is informed by my generous and talented immediate family: my mother, a master teacher of history and culture; my father, a skilled physician, healer and poet; my brother, a coach, realtor and community steward; my sister, an exceptional friend, mother, business woman. I give thanks to my grandparents who have taught me about the power of coaching, integrity, humor and cultivating disciplines and a true zest for life. I give thanks to my formal instructors in school and classes, to writers and activists who construct new worlds, and to the endless teachers and beings of nature.
Workshop Examples:
Storytelling Through Movement
Site-Specific Dance Composition
Hip Hop - Old School and New School Techniques, Bboy/Bgirl, House
Orientation Dance Workshop for the Wesleyan University freshman class
Safety Training Workshops - in Spanish and English for businesses in the Bay Area
Curating Performance for Small Spaces in the Bay Area - Dancers' Group
How to Find and Pursue Arts Grants - California Desert Arts Council
Using Arts and Culture to Create Healthy Open Spaces During Recovery - Arts & Planning, Americans for the Arts
Photos 1 and 2: Movement Workshop and Site-Specific Dance Composition Workshops for Wyld Womxn at the Ace Hotel & Swim Club in Palm Springs. Photo 3: Storytelling through Movement Workshop for GROUND SERIES 'Free the Body', in partnership with Danza Azteca Citlaltonac at the Coachella Valley Art Center in Indio, CA.
I have taught Hip Hop dance to folks of all ages -- littles, youth, adults, elders -- at a variety of spaces including arts centers, summer programs, adult education centers, dance studios and the YMCA. While earning my Bachelor of Arts degree in Dance at Wesleyan University, I assisted two professors with Modern Dance courses and a Bboy/Bgirl instructor for a youth class at the local community arts center in Middletown.
Growing educational programs for GROUND SERIES and Wyld Womxn collectives has provided me with meaningful experiences in designing and offering workshops which foster critical thinking skills in relationship to one's own body, as well as the relationship between gender and sexuality, movement practices and culture, dance and choreographic politics, personal and communal healing. Committed to inclusivity, I have taught lessons in English, French and Spanish, and I have offered free movement classes with fellow artists of Peer Practice in the Desert. In 2008, I worked with Pedro Alejandro, Toni Craige and 'Luz Del Sonido,' a group of blind musicians, to help create a methodology for teaching experimental dance to blind or visually impaired students. This work was supported by an Andrew W. Mellon summer research grant in the Dominican Republic. In collaboration with colleagues from the Arts & Planning Division of American Planning Association, I have presented and facilitated engagements on how to center arts in the planning field to develop healthy and equitable communities.
My love of learning is informed by my generous and talented immediate family: my mother, a master teacher of history and culture; my father, a skilled physician, healer and poet; my brother, a coach, realtor and community steward; my sister, an exceptional friend, mother, business woman. I give thanks to my grandparents who have taught me about the power of coaching, integrity, humor and cultivating disciplines and a true zest for life. I give thanks to my formal instructors in school and classes, to writers and activists who construct new worlds, and to the endless teachers and beings of nature.
Workshop Examples:
Storytelling Through Movement
Site-Specific Dance Composition
Hip Hop - Old School and New School Techniques, Bboy/Bgirl, House
Orientation Dance Workshop for the Wesleyan University freshman class
Safety Training Workshops - in Spanish and English for businesses in the Bay Area
Curating Performance for Small Spaces in the Bay Area - Dancers' Group
How to Find and Pursue Arts Grants - California Desert Arts Council
Using Arts and Culture to Create Healthy Open Spaces During Recovery - Arts & Planning, Americans for the Arts
Photos 1 and 2: Movement Workshop and Site-Specific Dance Composition Workshops for Wyld Womxn at the Ace Hotel & Swim Club in Palm Springs. Photo 3: Storytelling through Movement Workshop for GROUND SERIES 'Free the Body', in partnership with Danza Azteca Citlaltonac at the Coachella Valley Art Center in Indio, CA.