As Margaret Mead said, “Children must be taught how to think, not what to think.”
Teacher is the facilitator of an inner process already begun in each body-mind.
Teacher must be a synonym of mentor. The first goal must be TO INSPIRE.
Mentor is opening the infinite possibilities of the accomplishment and comprehension of a movement. Stimulate creativity and inner voice of each student making each process an individual and self-create achievement- with each student’s contribution as important as the others.
Give direction not correction. Create connections.
Teacher must know each student: “Can you teach without knowing who is in front of you and their goals?”.
Building a relationship 50-50: “I can teach you all I know, but it is up to you what you get, and how you evolve my knowledge”.
Demonstrating the teacher role is just the beginning seeds of a wider and various knowledge.
Leading to self-education. Give a purpose. Trigger curiosity creating questions instead giving answers.
Giving tools to learn by yourself and be free in the student self-thoughts. Education as practice of freedom.
Connecting dance and life: each lesson is a possibility to learn about life, not just about dance.
In ancient Latin “to study” means “to get passionate”; it is the role of the teacher to educate students how to get passionate about something students don’t have knowledge about.
Be transparent in the process: each teacher has been a student before and being a teacher does not mean you are end studying. Be vulnerable.
Two of the biggest lessons I’ve ever learned are:
“To be or go home” from Marijke Eliasberg. It means “commit more than one hundred percent in what you are doing, or just don’t do it”.
“Teaching/Learning is like swimming in an ocean during a storm: if you go against the waves you are going to sink down, but if you follow the flow, you can reach the destination” from Aika Takeshima.