Back To Work

Teaching

Today I started teaching again at Dance Space (I have a hard time calling it Dance New Amsterdam). I've been a guest artist teacher there since 1995. My class has been slowly but steadily evolving and teaching there has taught me so much about what to expect when teaching in New York. This has been a touchy subject for me since I have strong feelings about how teachers are treated by studios and also how they are paid. Maybe someone else can share their experience on that. Lately though, I've really been enjoying myself teaching at Dance Space. I've been building a loyal following for a while and classes have been fun. Teaching has taught me so much about what is important to me as a dancer and has improved my communication skills in so many ways. I feel like my eyes are learning to see clearly about how dancers move. If it weren't for these classes I think I'd be really depressed just dancing and working in a restaurant. I have taught at several places including Movement Research, Sarah Lawrence College, Impuls Tanz Wien and soon at NYU. I also have taught extensively under the auspices of the Stephen Petronio Company for many years and has spearheaded their teaching program on their way to developing a school. This has been extremely rewarding. Teaching, however, has its ups and downs. Today I had no energy coming into the class but as soon as we started things began to flow. This happens quite frequently. Although, more often than not I look forward to creating exercises, seeing the evolution of an idea into physical practice and making challenging phrases. I'd love to hear what others have to say about this, especially those who have been teaching for so many years.

Welcome!

Welcome to wealldance!

Hello and thank you for visiting this website. This site is a project I am working on for one of my classes at University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee's MFA program. I am interested in creating a place in cyberspace where dancers, teachers and choreographers can come together to feel a sense of connection and support as well as to raise issues that may rise as they work. It will also serve as a bulletin board to post announcements and as a place where people can offer answers to questions or receive suggestions that they may never have thought about.

Originally, I was going to create a website to be used as a forum. However, this has proven to be way too intense and out of my budget.  I do not have the manpower or the funds to run and maintain a website like this, or at least right now. So this blog has become my solution.  A blog (which is short for web log) is meant to be an on-line diary of one person's experience.  In this case, I am going to create a "team blog". Various people from the MFA department at UWM will be invited to join me in submitting entries that include issues surrounding our field. Invited contributors will be asked to share their perspectives on what's going on in their lives and anyone who visits the site is invited to share a comment, answer questions and offer some advice. By including other contributors I hope to make the site more robust and dynamic so that topics can ricochet from any subject matter that seems pertinent.  This is where my research lies.  I will document relevant issues that come up (whether they be cultural, artistic, financial, emotional, etc.) and submit a report as my class project from the point of view of an "observer".  I am not so much interested in hearing myself talk, rather, I am curious to see and will be relying more on the feedback received in the comments section of the site from team-bloggers and visiting non-members.  I will be sending out an email invitation announcing the site to all my dancer friends and will also ask them to forward the invitation to those who may be interested in reading about dancers' lives, our day to day struggles and victories providing a deeper understanding of what dancers must go through in order to get by.

A few things that wealldance can be useful for:

-Announcements (performances, teaching, taking class, rehearsal spaces, auditions, last minute changes in schedules).
-Searching for places to live, transportation advice, temporary sublets, recommendations for bodyworkers, doctors and dentists and advice for taking care of an injury.
-Touring advice (travel warnings, must-see locations, a good restaurant recommendation).
-Help with classwork, research and advice for navigating educational bureaucracies (for students).

In order to post a comment just click on the word "comment" at the bottom of each entry.

I hope you can come back regularly to visit wealldance so that you can follow along and stay connected. Remember that all visitors to the site value your opinion and look forward to hearing from you in the comment section at the bottom of each entry. As with any public site, wealldance will ask that there be a level of respect when making submissions and responses.

Thank you very much for your visit!

Gerald Casel