Exactly what did you learn from your dance teacher/mentor?

 It is hard to imagine some days, exactly why I am keeping a blog. This particular blog was started in the hopes that I might reach a larger audience, than just my 10 most avid followers, who might have an interest in trying out a new dance teacher. I think I was also trying to expand my reputation in NYC as solely a former Paul Taylor dancer, about which I am incredibly proud. I started teaching ballet classes at the new midtown studios of Paul Taylor on W 38th Street, and it felt like, in the competitive market of NYC ballet teachers, I needed to have some place to explain why anyone might take an interest in trying out my ballet and my modern classes. I firmly believe that I have something to offer in both disciplines and in connecting those disciplines.

Demonstrating without jumping! Photo: Amy Marshall.

Just last week, Dance Teacher, released an article about how I address music in my teaching dance classes. I was honestly surprised that the writer asked to speak with me specifically, and I am very grateful to have been given the platform to speak about how important musicality and live accompaniment for dance class is in my approach to training dancers at any stage of their learning. Why Chen See's students... I apologize that the article is behind a paywall, and I will honor the magazine's request to not share the article in its entirety, at least for a few months. LOL. I may allude to some of my answers in future posts.

Keeping track of what I have written about previously in my blog can be challenging, so I do try to let "current events" drive my content. Sadly, it is the deaths of people who have had much impact on my career and pedagogical approach to dance, that has been fairly current in news from my life. Many of my peers and friends have written lovely notes on social media about how much our friends and mentors have added to our lives. And I thought that I would try to pick just one specific thing that someone who passed away recently continues to live on in my life and career. 

Linda Hodes in Martha Graham's "Phaedra". Photo copied from Graham Company's post.

The above pictured Linda is a much storied former Graham dancer who lived a remarkable life, spanning 94 years. I first met her in 1993 when I had just joined Paul Taylor Dance Company, and she was the director of the newly formed Taylor 2 company. We have maintained contact and friendship through the end of her life, and she taught me to slow down in my interactions with others, and truly hear what they were sharing with me. Whether people use words or demonstrate through their actions as dancers in my class, I have learned to take the time to truly observe and take in what they might be trying to communicate to me.

Linda was never one of my directors. I never learned a dance from her, though I did take a few classes that she taught at the Taylor School in my early years with the company. Still, I learned so much about how to listen and how to interact based on what I was hearing (observing) from how Linda spoke with me, and how she interacted with others.

At this point in my life, the list of people whom I have known far surpasses those with whom I get to spend time with regularly. Yet I know that I am a "sum of all who have touched me". This is particularly true of my sense of self and knowledge in the dance field.

I have mentioned many of my former teachers and mentors in earlier posts, and I am guessing I will both revisit lessons I have learned from them, and others in future posts. I just wanted to take the time here to be specific...  Maybe in the future I will discuss how certain excercises I teach were learned from particular teachers, and have become anchors in how I build classes based on how dancers execute those exercises.

Every teacher is different, because they are a product of their own unique collection of training and experience. And every dance student can learn so much from any teacher. The magic is in the effort to find the right teacher for the right dancer inside each of you!