Join Wherever You Are
Many small steps
Embodied technique improves through small steps. I've learned that building a Zoom studio works the same way. After two years of continuous small improvements, the space is well equipped for rewarding classes.
Many movements are easiest to learn by watching from behind the demonstrator. The addition of a second screen on the back wall allows me to watch students while facing any direction in the room.
Framed behind me are a sketch by Andrea Selby and a photograph of Tony Orrico.
One giant fern
Sharing the space with me is a large fern named Audrey III (a Little Shop of Horrors reference).
Multiple Cameras for Important Details
Close-ups even far away
Students take classes from Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Washington, Texas, New York, and Washington, D.C.
Despite our connection across distance, there's no replacement for seeing a movement or muscular engagement up close. A second camera on the floor makes it possible.
Sur le cou-de-pied
The wrapped position sur le cou-de-pied should be pain free. The details of how you get there make the difference.
Overcoming Distance Learning
Transform your perception of space.
I have long been enthralled by teachers who are capable of transforming their pupils’ experience of space. The best teachers achieve this not so much through altering the physical setting of instruction, but by enhancing students' awareness and engagement with their own bodies and each other. After more than 15 years as an educator in the movement studio, I finally felt confident that I had the knack for making that magic happen. In packed classes students would breathe deeply and with intention, allowing themselves to become fully present and thereby transforming our shared space as a community of creative movers. When class would end with révérence and a big round of applause, I would watch with satisfaction as classmates exchanged sweaty hugs and cheerful face-to-face conversation.
Obviously, COVID-19 transformed our sense of space that the scene I’ve described sounded less like a magical pedagogical moment than an invitation for infection. Our traditional teaching spaces and ways of being together seemed unsafe for the foreseeable future. Nevertheless, I continued connecting with students in the ways that really count.
Perhaps it helps that I’ve come to think of COVID-era classes less as “distance learning” and more as “overcoming distance learning”. Sure, part of that includes equipping my studio with the technology that enables me to be as scrupulous as ever with my students. Far more significant, however, is the deceptively simple (you, too, can find your space) yet decisive act of setting aside a space dedicated to our practicing together. I look forward to sharing this space with you.
The Atelier, a former wood shop, now a place for teaching.