I think what kinds of dances we teach, and how we teach them, is important. I teach forms and techniques, that, like me, are both Inside and Outside of the dominant norms of the dance industry. I’m interested in lineage, source, and midrash, the Jewish practice of critical commentary on and around a historical text.
I teach Flying Low & Passing Through, the methods of David Zambrano, as well as Vernacular Jazz and Africanist Principles & Aesthetics. In the black vernacular, mimicry, musicality, expressiveness, and performing for the group offer built-in learning and teaching tools. I use them to teach vernacular jazz. These same tools are central to how I teach Flying Low & Passing Through, in alignment with the teaching methods of the technique originator David Zambrano, with whom I have trained extensively. I teach Zambrano’s work not as a disciple, but rather as a critical enthusiast.
Collaborative dance-making with young people — undergraduates or high schoolers — can be transformative and empowering for the participants and the audience. I care about the cultural capital (stories, references, friendships) young people carry. I am passionate about using this material in an environment of consent and creativity to express something new, and usually, quite hilarious and profound.
Photos courtesy of Concord Academy (Cole +Kiera Photography) and California Institute of the Arts.