teaching & choreography
TEACHING
I LOVE sharing my experience and my passion for the craft with both established and aspiring artists - I've been teaching for over twenty years. I teach theater dance, Fosse-style jazz, ballet, pointe and audition technique. Multifaceted, I love working with versatile dancers to help them harness the edge they need to audition successfully, refine their alignment, enrich their musicality and use of dynamics, develop dexterity with style and become truly interdisciplinary. Clients range from coaching Oscar-winning Ariana DeBose to the artists at Noche Flamenca to the trainees at Joffrey Ballet School; from collegiate dance and theater departments to pop artist Lauryn Hill. Other teaching credits include Broadway Dance Center, Alvin Ailey, NYCDA's Summer Intensive, as well as guest teaching at universities and schools around the country. I myself work on a continual basis with the Verdon/Fosse Estate to restore and film Bob Fosse's original choreography for the Estate's archives, and I am thrilled to share his voice and fundamental jazz vocabulary.
Ballet was my first love and after years of work as a Soloist at a Balanchine-style company, I teach classical syllabus with a sense of expansiveness while emphasizing footwork, musicality, refining pointe work and my specialty, getting dancers turning. Lastly, because nothing happens for a dancer except through successful auditioning, I teach audition technique. Teaming up with some of the best music directors in the business, we give young triple threats some valuable insight as to what's going on "behind the table" and a real-world edge for how to succeed "in the room."
CHOREOGRAPHY
I create from the music and come to our first rehearsal with a skeleton piece that we then adjust according to the dancers' unique abilities and personalities. I love paying homage to existing masterworks. For example, I recently restaged "Blackbird" from Bob Fosse's "Liza with a Z" for the Joffrey Ballet School, expanding the original 10 dancer cast to include 25 young artists. When creating work for competition, I thnk from behind the judges table about what will dazzle in balance with what will give our cast a playground where they will grow technically and artistically through the season. At the university level, I enjoy developing more complex phrase work and sophisticated staging. I treat all dancers as professionals and encourage them to exercise as much integrity, responsibility and share their personal artistic voice as they would be expected to when working in a company. Thanks for your interest!