DANCE EDUCATOR
teaching philosophy
“My mission as a dance instructor is to promote each student’s artistic and personal development by infusing class sessions with information and experiences that increase technical proficiency, nurture critical thinking, demonstrate culturally germane applications of the subject matter, and empower students to be active participants in their education.
I strive to respect each person involved in the learning process, value every relationship and class session as an opportunity to share knowledge and to gain greater understanding, to recognize the uniqueness of every student, and to respect the educational goals of the organization, university, school, and student.
I seek to always continue to grow as a teacher through my own studies of dance techniques and in my own teaching practice. And I endeavor to lead my students by example, respecting the studio as a place to investigate one’s own connection to and understanding of the technique, to commit to the work, to fall, to identify the rough and weak spots, to make conscious corrections, and to succeed the next time.
To paraphrase Rumi, this being a dancer is a guesthouse. With each new student, with each new class, and with each new day, there is a new arrival. A triumph over an elusive step, pirouettes that don’t come as abundantly as the day before, a class that comes the day after a long night of tech rehearsal, some fleeting realization comes as an unexpected visitor. I welcome and entertain them all.
I hope the same for each of my students - that in pursuit of their artistic and personal development they will respect the learning process, reciprocate the sharing of knowledge with their own understanding, value the uniqueness in their peers, and commit to lifelong learning goals.”
-Karilyn Ashley Surratt