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TEMPLE UNIVERSITY 

Fall 2019

Introduction to Classical Ballet (DANC 1836:002)
Instructor of Record
 

Overview of the Course:

This course is designed to allow students to build on prior training and concepts of classical ballet technique. Students will become familiar with traditional ballet vocabulary and the history of ballet. Students will hone skills in technical development, musicality, conditioning of the body, stamina, and performance quality and will focus on developing individual artistry and voice within the technique. Students will watch and learn classical ballet variations as a means to work towards specific goals within the given variation and for a connection to ballet’s historical past.

Spring 2020

Classical Ballet Enchainments (DANC 1839:002)
Instructor of Record

Overview of the Course:

This course is designed to allow students to build on prior training and concepts of classical ballet technique. Students will hone skills in technical development, musicality, conditioning of the body, stamina, performance quality, and will focus on developing an individual artistry and voice within the technique. Students will deepen their understanding of ballet, not only as an aesthetic philosophy, but as a historically-situated movement practice.

  • Managed to shift the class to online, provided a revised syllabus, and applied flexibility on coursework due to COVID-19.

Make Meaning in Dance (DANC 3897:001)
Co-Instructor of Record

Course Description:

Making Meaning in Dance focuses on methods of movement and dance analysis. The course offers a broad set of practical and theoretical tools to describe, interpret, and evaluate dance across a spectrum of contexts and media. We will practice locating ourselves as embodied spectators, practitioners, and writers, cultivating personal and theoretical bases for our investigations, and being transparent with our tools of analysis. We will develop our abilities to articulate well-structured viewpoints on the processes and performances of dance as both participants and observers. Students will be assessed on the basis of their course participation and three essays. Required readings are mentioned in the course schedule below and can be accessed on Canvas.

  • Taught Laban Movement Analysis (LMA) to provide a structural approach to analyzing dance

Summer 2020

Body-Mind Awareness in Ballet (DANC 2868:702)
Adjunct

Overview of the Course:

This course is designed to allow students to explore body awareness practices, including Bartenieff Fundamentals and Pilates, and how they can be applied to Ballet technique. Through imagery and experiential exercises, this online course will focus on the dynamic alignment of body and mind to discover new mobility and expressiveness in Ballet.

  • Developed a new course embracing a somatic approach to ballet.

Online Dance Class Series for Freshmen

Instructor of Record

  • Provided an online ballet class via Zoom for new students at Temple University.

Fall 2020
Introduction to Classical Ballet (DANC 1836:002)
Instructor of Record

 

Studies in Dance: Pilates (DANC 2868:001)

Instructor of Record

Overview of the Course:

The course will begin with an in-depth exploration of Joseph Pilate's original mat work, its origins, and its applications. We will focus on skills of self-assessment, using the system as a tool to improve both strength and alignment. Through imagery and experiential exercises, this online course will focus on the dynamic alignment of body and mind to discover new mobility and expressiveness in dance. Finally, each student will examine multiple ways of integrating the fundamental concepts of the system into both their movement training and their pedagogy.

Studies in Dance: Pointe (DANC 2868:003)
Instructor of Record

Overview of the Course:

This course is designed to allow students to explore pointe work in classical ballet. Classes concentrate on alignment and core connection; balance and/or aplomb; physical strength and flexibility; upper and lower body integration; clarity of line and direction in movement; qualitative range and expressivity inside movement; use of dynamics, weight, and breath; mental dexterity; and self-motivation. Students will learn and practice pointe barre work with an emphasis on the individual's correct foot and body alignment, as well as study the proper techniques for the execution of more difficult steps.

Foundations in Dance Education (DANC 2872:001)

Teaching Assistant

Spring 2021

Make Meaning in Dance (DANC 3897:001)
Instructor of Record

Course Overview:

Making Meaning in Dance focuses on methods of dance analysis. The course provides students with a broad set of theoretical and practical tools with which to describe, interpret, and evaluate dance in a broad spectrum of contexts, genres, and media. Students will learn to utilize both structuralist and poststructuralist modes of analysis. We will practice locating ourselves as embodied spectators, practitioners, and writers, cultivating personal and theoretical bases for our investigations, and being transparent with our tools of analysis. We will develop our abilities to articulate well-structured viewpoints on the processes and performances of dance as participants and observers.

Studies in Dance: Pilates (DANC 2868:001)

Instructor of Record

Fall 2021

Global Ballet Styles and Conventions (DANC 2833:002)
Instructor of Record

Overview of the Course:

This course is designed to allow students to build on prior training and concepts of classical ballet technique. Students will hone skills in technical development, musicality, conditioning of the body, stamina, and performance quality and focus on developing individual artistry and voice within the technique. Students will deepen their understanding of ballet, not only as an aesthetic philosophy but as a historically situated movement practice.

Studies in Dance: Pilates (DANC 2868:001)

Instructor of Record

Dancing Self in Community (DANC 8861:001)
Teaching Assistant

Spring 2022

Creative Process in Dance (DANC 3812-001)
Instructor of Record

Course Description:

 

This course explores the creative process within the context of choreography, using personal memories, images, and text as inspiration. This immersive, experiential, and multi-disciplinary course will focus on the investigation and practice of skills that facilitate creative processes in art. Students explore the creative process, particularly as it applies to dance-making. It is a studio course that also uses readings, video viewing, group discussion, contemplative practices, and writing to inform students' choices about all the elements necessary to craft dance, including movement invention, the nature of movement and its communicative capacity, spatial considerations, sound, music, silence, continuity, choreographic devices, performance arenas, and dancers.

Students will have an opportunity to generate material physically in ways that demonstrate their understanding of creative problem-solving’s components: fluency, flexibility, originality, and elaboration. They will explore a concept incrementally, participating in class “work-in-progress” showings and a final open dialogue showing. Emphasis will be upon students’ commitment to the process rather than the execution of their final piece. Students will provide written documentation of their progress, maintaining daily journals and analyzing outside performances as a means of investigating both one’s own choreographic methods as well as the methods of other artists.

  • Designed a course for Juniors to prepare for their Senior concert.

Directed Study in Dance Research (DANC 9883)
Instructor of Record
  • Ph.D. Course.

  • Helped advise individual students and set up the Canvas for the course.

Fall 2022

Dance Composition I (DANC 2813:001)
Instructor of Record

Course Description:

This course introduces the art of making dances, offering beginning-level compositional tasks, which include how to start creating, the use of repetition, using space to design your work, and how to frame dances. As a prelude to each composition assignment this semester, students will explore various concepts through a series of tasks and improvisations. They will then apply their experiences in crafting short studies that follow specific directives. Readings, viewings of dance, and journaling will also play into the investigative nature of this course.  Ultimately, students will gain an understanding of choreographic elements and the creative process involved in designing a dance.

Embodying Pluralism (DANC 0828:002)
Instructor of Record

Course Description:

Were we humans ‘born to dance?’ How do dance and the arts represent diversity? From everyday interactions to dance theater to music videos, movement expresses human identity and difference. Through a variety of media, we will examine theories and practices of race, ethnicity, gender, and other social constructions that form the fabric of American society. Embodying Pluralism combines dance and movement experiences with reading, writing, viewing videos and live performances, and class discussion. Classes and assignments emphasize active learning in small groups. No dance experience is necessary! Embodying Pluralism is an experiential course that incorporates personal histories, opinions, and embodied learning activities. The course may evoke strong and differing perspectives; thus, high respect for individuals and differences is necessary to create a safe learning environment.

  • Gen Ed course

Spring 2023

Movement Improvisation II (DANC 1812:001)
Instructor of Record

Welcome to Class:

This is a process-oriented, emergent, and experiential movement course emphasizing dance as a movement exploration and research tool to study yourself and your surroundings. Students will be introduced to a movement-based practice through body awareness, notions of movement initiation, movement exploration as ‘physical thinking,’ and relationship to self and others (including non-human components such as technology and environment).

 

The goal of the class is to stay in the moment, pay keen attention to the lived experience of the body of the moment, and increase awareness of the self and others in the space by concentrating on bodies and movements. Students will be invited to ask questions. The inquiries will include but are not limited to personal, social, and cultural identity, value, belief, bias, preference, etc.

 

Based on the main structure of the curriculum designed by the teacher, the course will also add flavors to the class with improvised components by the class participants (students and teacher).

 

Come and ready to move, think, write, read, and discuss – we will undertake the bulk of these in most of our time together, sometimes independently, sometimes collaboratively! We will look to the dance field and various other disciplines to further our knowledge and inspire us to think as broadly as possible.

S T U D E N T  T E S T I M O N I A L S

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