Shifting embodied perspectives in dance teaching

Drawing on somatics, phenomenology, psychology, personal teaching strategies and feedback from dance students, this article discusses crossing the objectifying divide between first-person and third-person perspectives of embodiment in dance teaching. Traditionally, western dance training encodes a Cartesian object body, which can potentially confine dancers within an interior landscape that may be multifaceted and complex but not easily integrated or verbally articulated. This can be an objectifying experience for both student and teacher, and counterproductive within a third level education environment where students need to engage critically with new ideas and develop autonomous outlooks in order to be prepared for professional practice. Writing as a dance lecturer on a Bachelor of Fine Arts dance programme with a professional training focus, I chart some of my experiences of teaching, outlining the circumstances that have enabled the objectifying processes to soften and more open engagement with students to unfold.