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Teaching
All the work I do - be it lecturing, instructing an acting class, performing, directing, choreography, research, or writing - is a
combination of learning and teaching. I believe that the two must co-exist if inspiration and an exchange of ideas are to truly take
place. I believe the role of "teacher" to be one that is more of a facilitator than some fount of knowledge. I encourage my students, and any group of performers I work with, to think for themselves and to explore possibilities. More often than not they come up with miracles I could never have imagined.
In both directing and teaching I work very viscerally. I believe that any learning takes place in the whole body, not just the in the brain. My dance and movement background has led me to find the physical routes to an end and I find that my directing and teaching reflects my interest in corporeal means of expression.
Most recently I have been teaching Asian and Japanese Theatre lecture courses at UBC, and experimental performance classes at the Great Northern Way Campus. The GNWC courses have focused on the use of space and time. In the case of the course "Mediative Bodies, Mediative Space" (co-taught with Sachiyo Takahashi), this was accomplished through emphasis and awareness of ma a Japanese aesthetic term indicating the spaces between objects or the silence between sounds or time between actions. In "Mapping Empire" the focus was on the use of "site" and the placement of bodies and objects in that space to create a meanigful visual or performative installation. "Mapping Empire" also looked at body mapping, mind mapping, location and journey, and used online space as a creative and communicative "site."
See the Mapping Empire Blogsite: Mapping Empire.
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
- 2005-Present: Adjunct Professor - University of British Columbia
Taught movement for actors to all three levels of the BFA acting program and 300-level.I have also taught regular classes in Asian and Japanese Theatre combining lecture, visuals and some hands-on practice. I am currently teaching an Intro to Theatre class.
- Summer 2009: Noh Instructor -Noh Training Project
Taught noh chant and dance to first year participants of the Noh Training Project in Blooomsburg Pennsylvania.
- 2008: Instructor - University of the Fraser Valley
Taught a lecture/practical course on theatre for Young Audiences.
- 2005-2008: Instructor - Great Northern Way Campus
Facilitating experimental performance/design classes and interdisciplinary performance creation classes through UBC to students from four different partner institutions. Classes focused on the use of space and time, and site-specific performance/installation creation, and emphasize the use of online space as a creative and communicative tool.
- 2004-Present: Noh Dance and Chant Instructor - The Dance Centre (Vancouver)
Leading regular classes in the movement and vocalization of noh theatre at a dance studio in downtown Vancouver.
- 2005-Present - Artist in the Schools - Learning Through the Arts
Co-instructing classes in Vancouver public schools in partnership with regular classroom teachers, using theatre and dance skills to teach curriculum. This program focuses both on teaching children and on professional development for the teachers.
- 2005 - Sessional Instructor - Simon Fraser University
Taught Introduction to Acting for the School of Contemporary Arts. Focusing on voice, bodywork and collaborative creation.
- 2001-2004 - Acting Instructor/Lecturer - University of Hawaii
Taught courses geared for non-major and major beginning actors, which focused on the basics of Western realistic acting: exercises, theatre games, improvisation and basic text work.
- 1997-2001 - Movement Instructor at the UPS Academy - Tokyo
This is a two-year professional training course for actors, focusing on American Method acting techniques. Movement classes consist of basic body awareness and centering as well as creative expression in the form of contact improvisation and physical character development.
Taught movement for actors to all three levels of the BFA acting program and 300-level.I have also taught regular classes in Asian and Japanese Theatre combining lecture, visuals and some hands-on practice. I am currently teaching an Intro to Theatre class.
Taught noh chant and dance to first year participants of the Noh Training Project in Blooomsburg Pennsylvania.
Taught a lecture/practical course on theatre for Young Audiences.
Facilitating experimental performance/design classes and interdisciplinary performance creation classes through UBC to students from four different partner institutions. Classes focused on the use of space and time, and site-specific performance/installation creation, and emphasize the use of online space as a creative and communicative tool.
Leading regular classes in the movement and vocalization of noh theatre at a dance studio in downtown Vancouver.
Co-instructing classes in Vancouver public schools in partnership with regular classroom teachers, using theatre and dance skills to teach curriculum. This program focuses both on teaching children and on professional development for the teachers.
Taught Introduction to Acting for the School of Contemporary Arts. Focusing on voice, bodywork and collaborative creation.
Taught courses geared for non-major and major beginning actors, which focused on the basics of Western realistic acting: exercises, theatre games, improvisation and basic text work.
This is a two-year professional training course for actors, focusing on American Method acting techniques. Movement classes consist of basic body awareness and centering as well as creative expression in the form of contact improvisation and physical character development.
