teacher statement

by Sara

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.