I'm about to leave Atlanta to head to SC to teach for Lesley U and then HOTschools Summer Institute in Connecticut. Both are opportunities to teach teachers. Classroom teachers. Last night I was having a conversation in my head with my students. I wanted to say to them that the way I teach is to figure out ways to open up doors. Then I thought, maybe its more like pathways. So here's my metaphor- there's this huge jungle and its called "Integrated teaching through the Arts" - and I know the part of the jungle that is dance pretty well. Have been trekking through it for many years. I can be a good guide through the part of the jungle that I know. And my teaching style is not to lecture (because that would mean that people wouldn't actually be in the jungle, they would be listening to a lecture somewhere other than the jungle) my style is to teach in the jungle. And as a guide, I point out paths rather than walk out in front and expect everyone to dutifully follow behind me. We start out together, and then we get to the waterfall and I say - well you could go this way and you might find.... or if you are interested in (fill in the blank) you might want to go that way...... my delight is when one of my students discovers a path, or something in the jungle, that I haven't seen before. A point of view, a piece of research.....
Which is not so unlike how I make my work. I usually say that I collect threads and then the fun is to figure out how I can weave them together. But I wonder what would happen if I stick to the pathways metaphor and think about how I construct my work with the metaphor of trekking through the vast, looking for familiar paths (my usual choreographic tools) and also looking for new pathways, and sometimes going where there is no path.
So I'll be following through on this thought. More soon.
