On the Subject of Teaching

I've been thinking a lot lately about teaching and what it means to be a teacher. Call it too much time on my hands or a journey of introspection, but I think about the relationship between teachers and students and the tenuous trust that exists between the two.

I admire my students for setting foot in my studio. I respect the trust that they have placed in me. Because to actively become a student, you have to actively believe there is something you want or need to learn and that you don't know everything. This isn't something that most of us easily admit. So to surrender your mind and body to a new form of dance or new subject is a huge undertaking that I respect immensely.

I then turn to the teaching part of the equation. Teachers also place themselves in a position of vulnerability to their students. As a teacher, you are sharing the knowledge you have. As a teacher, you remain a student, constantly searching for more knowledge. But what if you don't have the knowledge you need at any given moment to answer a student's question? What if your students don't like what you are teaching? Or don't take you seriously? Or think you are wasting their time? When you teach people, you are not only presenting the knowledge you have, you are giving part of yourself over to your students for their thought and consideration.

As artists, we are creating choreographies and then attempting to teach that choreography to someone else. Sometimes a part of the choreography doesn't work in a group setting or for the students level and you have to recreate portions of it. Sometimes you get a great idea for a combo, and the footing doesn't instantly work. Sometimes, you are focusing on 500 things as once (choreo, music, placements, checking posture, watching faces, remembering the steps, how will it look in performance) and you forget what you're doing! Haha! Or at least I do!

I had a huge epiphany after a workshop I attended recently. It was the same epiphany I had upon graduating University. I DON'T KNOW ANYTHING. Now of course, literally, this is a very silly statement. I know lots of things. But figuratively, the more I learn, the more I realize I don't know. And the more I want to learn more. And so then I am in the position of student.

And then I look at my students. I have learned so much from them about humanity, vulnerability, compassion, what it means to be a woman, and how to be a better teacher. So in essence, they have become MY teachers. And they have done so through their express trust that they have placed in me by just simply showing up to class, which is an act of bravery. I spend my life encourging people to step out of their comfort zones and embrace all of the wonder they hold within themselves just by existing. I feel very humbled by that and what I have chosen for a career path and calling.