Nearing two decades of educating young students, my aim is to foster well-rounded, collaborative artists, in addition to instilling clean, core-centered dance technique. I apply a solid, holistic instructional approach across the disciplines of classical and contemporary ballet, modern, jazz, choreography. My focus on somatics minimizes unnecessary tension with the goal of extending each dancer’s healthy performing years. Further emphasis on cross training ensures young dancers form habits that maximize healthy bodies as they age in a rigorous art.

Beyond artistic skills, my students–who will also choose careers as choreographers, educators and administrators–interact in seminars and writing assignments illuminating the culture and society of the dance world, thereby learning the soft skills of cross-discipline collaboration, cultivating community, and a sense for developing an individual creative voice with respect to one’s place in the rich legacy of dance history.

As departmental director, I ensure exposure to and partnership with many performing venues, including staged orchestral collaborations, opera ballet corps, and musical theater productions. Guest artists and master teachers are a regular part of each academic period, and I maintain a broad and varied network of national artists and master teachers who enjoy partnerships not only as educators but also as conduits for talent recruitment. The fruits of these collaborations have seen my department, which was on the chopping block when I inherited it, grow 300 percent in three years.

My creative vision centers on the human spirit, what it means to be true to oneself, and how to trust in and harness the inspiration each artist feels. Through this holistic focus and an emphasis in liberal arts education, I strive to mentor budding artists as well rounded, healthy, and positive young adults, ready to capitalize on whatever their creative spirit inspires within them.