Jenna Zavrel

Teaching Philosophy

Dancers are extraordinary human beings, each a unique blend of physical, mental, and emotional complexities. All dance students learn and process differently, so I take great care to deliver a tailored experience --- particularly since I seek to foster dance artists.

While I hold a standard of technical proficiency, critical analysis, aesthetic and kinesthetic knowledge, the students must know that their own arrival process to these understandings is embraced.

To fully access their technical and artistic potential, a dancer must begin by honoring the dance space as sacred, deeply loving and respecting the practice of the art form.

I believe in discipline, unwavering focus, and meticulous attention to detail --- but I want to conjure a dance artist who instinctually practices these things because of their love and devotion to the art.

My style and movement vocabulary is a melting pot of Classical Ballet, traditional and current forms of Contemporary dance, and Hip Hop. The phrase work begins by experimenting with frequent qualitative shifts and culiminates in complex, technical, athletically and artistically demanding pieces that fuse pockets of improvisation.

Introducing challenging material that contains both specificity and ambiguity allows a student to fully explore their personal range of possibilities. This heightened self-awareness produces a profound experience that inspires them to continue.

Though repetition, these pieces begin to open and enable the student to explore their own voice, revealing a deeper connection to their humanity.

Objectives:
A vital purpose of teaching dance is to advance highly trained, creative artists who are interested in how their art can influence the larger society. I hope to develop dance artists who are versatile in mastering any style or content, but also extremely invested in discovering their artistic individuality.

My students explore their uniqueness not only in class but also through critical thinking responses, research endeavors and compositions. I want my students to have insatiable curiosity about how to connect their daily experiences with creating significant art.

I encourage students to embrace the ideologies and contributions of past pioneers, but also challenge them to make new discoveries that grow the field.

By what means/ How:
To do this, I teach classes that fuse rigorous elements of classical forms of dance, somatic practices, and relevant guided improvisational work. From warm-up to the culminating movement phrase, each class transmits a blend of techniques that allows exploration of a wide range of dynamic shifts and aesthetic possibilities. I believe that students will discover their full potential as movers, thinkers and creators when the class environment demands discipline while offering generous opportunity for self-exploration. My class atmosphere prompts questions that lead to self-motivated research. Students are encouraged to share their investigations and revelations with each other, as participants in the exchange of philosophies and discovery methods. I hope to guide students into a deepened sense of self through their choreographic process. This exchange fosters self-motivated artists able to discover career possibilities best suited to their individual desires. I urge my students to hold their studio practice with the utmost respect --- it is a gateway to performance.