I have been teaching dance since I was in high school and have presented in several professional development seminars for arts educators through HeART with Lines (Lines Ballet) in San Francisco and the National Dance Education Organization. I am a Youth Protection Advocates in Dance certified teacher and have received additional training in trauma-informed, anti-racist, and culturally responsive pedagogies. I have taught ages ranging from 18 months to adult, and experience levels from never-before-danced to professionally trained. I specialize in Jazz, Contemporary, Creative Movement, Musical Theater, Hip Hop, and Ballet.
Currently, I am a Single Subject Credential Candidate for Dance at Cal State East Bay, and the Dance Teacher at Theodore Roosevelt Senior High School.
For my general bio, click here!
TEACHING
A LETTER TO MY FUTURE STUDENTS...
Dear Future Students,
I am so excited to have the opportunity to get to move with you soon. Dance has been an integral part of my life since I was four years old. So whether you are an absolute beginner, an experienced dance artist, or somewhere in between, there is always a place for you in my class as long as you are willing to try.
What I love most about teaching is getting to share my lifelong passion with others, and hopefully sparking a sense of creativity and capability within them as well. After working as a professional freelance dance artist and choreographer for nearly a decade, teaching afforded me a new way to relate to my dance practice through the fresh eyes of my students. Since then, I've found teaching to be the most fulfilling and challenging chapter in my career to date. My hope is that my students also leave my class feeling both challenged and fulfilled.
I believe in creating a dance class that feels safe, supportive, and inspiring for students of all cultures, learning styles, experience levels, orientations, and abilities. Thus, I have created five main goal posts for my teaching approach that I endeavor to root all my classes in.
I aim to:
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Use a combination of physical practice, direct skill-building, student-centered pedagogy, applicable assessments, and reflection to expand my students’ definitions of what dance is and what it can be, how their bodies move, what they are personally capable of, and how to build the emotional awareness and strength of vulnerability needed for artistic creation.
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Establish clear intersections of relevance for my students, so that they come away with an enduring understanding of the cultural, social, personal, and/or intellectual connections between themselves and the material presented.
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Create a physically and emotionally safe environment for my students that is rooted in comfort, trust, respect, and a solid foundational understanding of the material, so that students are able to create, experiment, and express themselves.
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Infuse a sense of energy, inspiration, and excitement into my classes.
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Provide students with the tools to build physical, mental, and emotional resilience by embracing the idea that challenges and imperfection are the pathways of improvement and growth.
I cannot achieve these goals on my own, however. It is also up to my students to contribute to a class culture that promotes respect, openness, a preparedness to move, and effort. In this way, we can all have and awesome dance experience. See you in dance class!
Your Teacher,
Becky Robinson-Leviton