Let’s romanticize, gamify, and bring the fun to our learning and creating goals this season with a “Personal Curriculum!” It is a trending topic that I can really jump on board with.
Let’s romanticize, gamify, and bring the fun to our learning and creating goals this season with a “Personal Curriculum!” It is a trending topic that I can really jump on board with.
What role can “gently Socratic” philosophical inquiry play in the context of performing arts education?I consider myself fortunate to have had the honor of participating in Dr. Thomas Jackson’s PHIL 492: Philosophy with Children (p4c) course in the Spring of 2015, one of the last courses in my work towards my MFA in Dance. The concepts and techniques have continued to prove valuable over time, so I wanted to share as a resource for fellow educators, performing artists, and dancers.
This article was originally part of my Theory and Criticism work for my MFA in Dance in 2014, and critical pedagogy and artistic practice continues to be relevant to my teaching, coaching, and creative practice over a decade later.
My perspective has continued to expand with my maturation, experience, and ongoing education, so articulating my philosophy and approach is an ongoing challenge.
Since my graduate school years, I’ve made updates based on my qualitative in-studio encounters and from others who wish to honor the tradition of dance, including classical ballet, while also supporting the whole dancer and society in a contemporary context.
I am studying, reading, and practicing a variety of “subjects” or “courses,” which overlap and could be grouped in different ways, which are related to my goals for the year. Topics encompass dance and movement, spiritual practice, creativity, business and finance (including sales and marketing), languages, travel and adventure, love, connection, and relationship.
When everything is turbulent, how can we find equilibrium, equipoise? In my work as a movement educator in ballet, dance, and yoga, as well as life coaching, the topic of balance comes up so often! Therefore, I thought I would do an experiential exercise where I ponder on the process of balance in the body […]
Looking at the news today can make me feel like the world is in a downward spiral. Sometimes our individual lives feel this way as well. And maybe we’d like for things to take a turn for the better, and just continue along a linear path towards perfection. Well, life seems to follow a more […]
Haiku #99 of 2021 by Blythe C. Stephens (inspired by Emerson) Poet as sayerrecognize experience,beauty, report back My Passion for Poetry I love poetry! I enjoy reading it, writing it, sharing it, using it for teaching and inspiring choreography. What do you use poetry for? Who are your favorite authors? Ever since I was a […]
For nearly a year, the A Blythe Coach podcast has consisted of weekly bite-sized insights on dance, yoga, well-being, creativity, and joy! But, to celebrate the 50th episode of my podcast, I’ve decided to share a special longer-form (1-hour) interview, kicking off a regular interview series to be interspersed with my solo episodes. I’m so […]
What qualities of focus are required to be a creative and effective person? How do dancers attend to the space within and around them, using focus to direct the viewer’s attention and to give shape to their environment? Let’s start with four haiku poems I wrote to distill qualities of focus as introduction to the […]
“Time is a matter of how long the duration between two events takes to achieve itself.” (The Nikolais/Louis Dance Technique* p.176) In “real time,” we have just had St. Patrick’s Day, are looking ahead at the end of March and Lent, and here in Cologne it is very much spring. Daylight savings has already sprung […]