Melanie Calhoun Teaching Philosophy As a teacher of dance, I find the blending of technical ability and proper alignment with

performance skills to be the most valuable thing I can teach any dancer. Dancers should be able to know the proper alignment of their pelvis to the rest of their body and how to articulate the joints to achieve maximum rotation and mobility, reaching their highest technical potential. However, a dance technician is drastically different from a dance artist. Dance students should also be taught the importance of risk taking and falling off vertical, the complete use of space with all limbs, full-bodied dynamic usage, and intentional focus choices while dancing. As a teacher I stress that everything a student does, from the warm-up combinations to the center phrasework, should be thought of from both technical and artist standpoints. I also emphasize as a dance teacher the importance of being a well-rounded artist. This could include encouraging my students to take every style of dance class they are offered, or seeing as many different styled dance shows as they can. Being a well-rounded dancer and never allowing myself to know limitations has been a large reason for my success as a dancer; I would like to pass this idea down to my current and future dance students.