On Teaching Dance…

I don’t think my students know how much I love teaching.

There is something almost magical about imparting your knowledge in a way that it comes out in someone else’s technique. It is an amazing feeling that is hard to describe. When you are a dancer, you are self-focused. When you are a teacher, you are other focused. Different mindset.

It is both challenging and freeing to have this shift in focus. The challenge is in figuring out how to take what is in your head, heart and muscles and translate that into something that makes sense to your students. Not having to focus on your own technique is the “freeing” aspect. You are free to spend that energy helping someone else perfect theirs. It’s a wonderful thing!

I always thought I would love dancing more than teaching. Truth is, I love them both, but teaching is the perfect fit for me at this point in my life. I’m older, and quite frankly, it hurts to do much of what I enjoyed doing in dance. Now I get more joy out of helping others reach their potential–whatever that means for them as an individual.

I love teaching for so many reasons, but probably the biggest one is its similarity to performance in terms of concentration. When I was on stage, I couldn’t concentrate on anything other than what I was doing. I never was aware of the audience–I never saw the conductor. Much like that, when I am teaching, the outside world drops off for me. The only thing that exists for that hour and a half is my students and the music.

And there’s nothing quite like that feeling.

And I’d love to know if anyone out there can relate to that.