That said, I feel like sharing the following about why I teach for University of Utah's Tanner Dance Program. Tanner Dance did not endorse me to write this. No one has any idea that I did write it, unless they read this blog. I actually wrote this for my own purposes earlier, and for some reason, I feel inclined to share it on the blog today. So here it is:
Why I Choose Creative Dance (and the Tanner Dance Program):
Many people ask me why I choose to work for a dance organization that is based 45 minutes away from my home, when there are tons of dance studios in my local area. Aside from explaining that Tanner Dance offers classes only 15 minutes away from my home, through their satellite program, I offer my opinion that Tanner Dance offers children a unique experience.
What I love about creative dance is founder and dance pioneer Virginia Tanner’s philosophy that we are not only “developing excellent dancers, but more importantly, developing young people who are useful, imaginative, worthwhile human beings.” In a creative dance class children learn dance technique in a way that involves imagination and creativity. There is an expectation that the dancers rise to be their best self, and opportunities are given to express themselves in a place of respect and friendship. Children are inspired to think outside the box as they improvise and create in class. They work together as they dance and develop their movement vocabulary, which encourages friendship, teamwork, and problem-solving skills. Dancers are respected for who they are and what they bring to their dance community. They are free to explore movement, and in doing so they often discover not only a love of dance, but a love of the world and people around them. That love often brings greater respect for their environment within class as well as without.
Movement and costumes are always modest and appropriate. Children are treated as children-not dressed to be someone or something they are not. As such, the children who dance within the Tanner Dance program seem to glow. They touch audiences with their innocence and honesty. Children have a power to move our souls with their simple goodness and pure love. Creative dance encourages the natural goodness and beauty found within children.
In a creative dance program, Dance is respected as an art, not just a means of exercise or entertainment. Though it may serve those other purposes well, dance is an art form. It is a means of bringing something beautiful, inspiring and new to the world. Dance, and all art, helps define and add to our humanity. It reaches into our souls and encourages us to do and be better than we already are. It helps us connect with others and reminds us that we are not alone in our feelings and experiences. Tanner dance teaches dance as an art. Creative dance not only trains the body, but enlightens the mind and inspires the soul.
Finally, the teachers, children, and parents who have experienced learning and dance in such a program come to view the world with a “magic eye.” This eye searches for the dance in the world around them and inside them. Upon finding the dance in the tiny seedling, the whistling wind, the lonely heart, and the joyful butterfly, creative dancers discover and treasure an inner peace and satisfaction-knowing that we are truly all connected, that all life is valuable and worthwhile, and that everyone has something wonderful to give.
So, there you have it. I tend to get a little passionate about it at times, but having grown up in a creative dance program inspired by Virginia Tanner (Southwest Dance Theater) and knowing how it influenced my life for good, and now having taught for nearly 9 years and seeing the good it brings into my student's lives, and that of their families I think I have good reason behind that passion. I'm vey grateful for the choice my mother made when she took me to Miss Candy's class for the first time. My life is so much richer because of that choice. Thank you, mom!
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