Teaching Dance: The Spectrum of Styles
Elizabeth Gibbons received both the BFA and the MFA in Dance from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, and Ph. D. in Dance and Related Arts from Texas Woman's University. She has taught dance for 30 years, at East Stroudsburg University of Pennsylvania since 1992, and is director of the dance program. She teaches a variety of dance and theory classes, and enjoys working with students and the challenge of balancing guidance and freedom to help students develop as dance artists, teachers, choreographers, and individuals. Teaching dance is an activity that is both a rigorous discipline which involves many years of study and a deeply personal expression. Many of us started in dance because we loved the act of dancing, and teaching was something that came later: it was necessary to teach dance if we wanted to continue dancing and making a living doing it. I started my life in dance intending to choreograph and perform, but teaching dance has become one of the great passions of my life. Two important concepts are at the heart of teaching dance: enabling students to educate themselves through the art and medium of motion, and dance's capacity for the self-transformation of the dancer. The Spectrum can be an amazing tool for self-transformation for yourself as well as for your students. Throughout the years, from the time I first encountered the Spectrum, I've realized more and more what an amazing pedagogical tool it is, for all ages, forms, and levels of dance as an art form. My main reason for writing this book is to share the Spectrum with as many current and prospective dance teachers as possible and to help you to benefit from all it has to offer.