What got you into modern dance?

 

I was first exposed to Modern Dance as an undergraduate when I came to ASU when I was 18. I took a Modern Class with Karen Shupe, and that was great, being my first exposure. I’ve been kinda working towards that ever since. I like Modern Dance, but I like a lot of other dances too. 

 

Would you say Modern dance is your preferred genre of dance?

 

No, when I was told I was going to teach modern this semester, I was actually really nervous about it, because it’s not really my forte. However, I have really enjoyed it!

 

How would you say Modern Dance has effected following genres of dance?

 

Well Modern definitely set the tone for rebelling against the classical genre of ballet, and so then I think it kind of gave permission to the rest of the dance forms to go ahead and go beyond what was considered classical or technically correct or this that and the other, because now what you see is a bunch of styles emerging out of other styles which I think Modern was the first to do that. 

 

What do you think makes Modern different?

 

 Something that makes modern really special is that it teaches a lot of body awareness, and understanding of the self and how to move your body through space, which a lot of other styles kind of skip over. It’s more about the experience versus the picture of what it looks like, and I really appreciate that about modern. It really makes you connect the pieces and help you move efficiently, where other forms don’t really focus on that.