Teaching Philosophy

"My arrival into dance education is informed by the integration of my formal university dance training, the grass-roots training I received from my mother, my field research work allowing me to travel abroad to experience village and tribal life, and my work as the Artistic Director of Silayan Dance Company. All of these experiences are sources of inspiration as I continue my role as educator after a life-long career of performance and production. This natural transition is the result of my readiness to share my findings, to share knowledge of the field informed by “real life” work situations, and to give voice to diversity and cultural sensitivity in recognition of the many faces who live in our world today.

Photo courtesy: Mathew Imaging

At this juncture in my life, it is important for me to recognize the training I have received from mentors who provided solid stepping stones towards a career in the arts. My movement is informed by important teachers who have inspired me – Judith Scalin, Susan Falcon, Jaime Stover, Fran Bowden, Edrie Ferdun, Ann Vachon, Hellmut Gottschild, Karen Bamonte, Philip Grosser, Sarah Chapman Hilsendager and Eva Gholson. While studying on the East Coast, I attended summer workshops with Erick Hawkins and Judith Jamison. My Modern Dance teachers worked in close association with the legendary Martha Graham, Jose Limon, Merce Cunningham, Mary Wigman, and Lester Horton. Combining my formal training with knowledge of island culture received from authorities including Ramon Obusan (National Artist of the Philippines), Wayne Mendoza (Dance Master of Philippine folk culture, University of Hawaii, Manoa), along with the important mentorship of the notable C. Bernard Jackson (Co-Founder of Inner City Cultural Center), I have created a new, unique, hybrid art form.

From the theatre to the classroom, I am a respected teacher who creates original dance curriculum which I bring to schools, colleges, cultural/community centers. I am skilled in teaching every grade. My students and the people I work with are broad in age and dance experience - from unbridled, early pre-kindergarten to gang-related inner city youth, to hopeful pre-professionals in well- known college dance departments at UCIrvine or Loyola Marymount University, to established teachers of the Los Angeles Unified School District. As a performing artist, I have danced in many famous stages locally and internationally, in street fairs and parades, in unconventional settings such as hospitals, high security prison grounds of San Pedro’s Terminal Island, or in cultural spaces located in remote seaside island villages. Outside of our learning institutions, I have come to realize that the arts are often misunderstood when it really should be a part of daily life. People often find it unnecessary or it is seen as frivolous activity. I come from the philosophy that creation, critical thinking, imagination and joy are necessary and just as important as breath. Arts education promises to deliver these gifts, and more. Dance and all the other disciplines should be experienced by everyone, be made available to anyone, and advocated. It can help open minds and hearts bringing on ideas not initially seen and for these reasons, the arts should be accessible to all people of all ages and cultures so everyone in the world can find a way to better understand one another.

I teach dance for these reasons.

Photo: Juan Martinez

Acknowledging the many ways in which students learn new material and recognizing that my work and movement are rooted in or informed by culturally specific dance traditions, it is important for me as a teacher to have students initially watch and experience my creations. Unspoken communication inspires and allows others to see someone as they really are. In order to create this connection, I feel it is an important experience for them to initially watch my work either through live performance or through video. The exchange sparks creative dialogue and stirs interest. Students begin to share impressions and ask questions. I come from the world of feelings and senses. For me, art and the making of dance is how you touch the life of another. Drawn from my background, memories or a wider consciousness, most of my choreography is literal in nature and is created to arouse strong emotions and feelings. Everyday gestures are used and translated into physical movement to trigger deep seated associations. I have always felt that exemplary art needs to move audiences to feeling something more powerful than themselves.

Dulce
Summer Sounds, Hollywood Bowl, Los Angeles / Photo courtesy: Maria Sunantha & Zosimo Quibilan

It is my goal to turn students into interested and curious participants who find connections to and empathy in things that initially look and feel different. As a teacher, I hope to instigate the desire for expression through physical movement, to find truth and non-verbal eloquence in these expressions, to encourage possibilities in the impossible, to create a better understanding of ourselves and of those around us.

It is my responsibility to guide students through an experiential, holistic and somatic journey of self-discovery. Listening to lectures, watching performances, writing and journaling, executing movement combinations across the floor, creating new choreography are all necessary ways of assessing and judging how our students are experiencing material. However, I believe that students are better able to deepen their learning, hone their craft and creative voice when they are in a structured and safe environment where play, experimentation, fearlessness and risk are invited. In this way, the creative process is not a judgement of artistic choices but rather a way to access each student’s authenticity. Arts education recognizes and celebrates the creative individualist. It also celebrates excellence and perseverance. As dancers, we repeat movement patterns over and over to aim for perfection in all that we do. To see the fruition of this transformation happen to what was once a reticent student of dance is what fascinates me as a teacher. I wish to encourage each student to own their unique and creative voice.

I am really a student of life; my only role is to open the portal to these experiences. I hope that by doing this, I am able to cultivate brave and responsible artists and arts advocates who take risks by contributing extraordinary work to the world. I have always felt that we learn from one another. While I strive for the end result, I am also interested in the process of partnership, collaboration, growth and discovery. Today, I teach to inspire, to connect, to communicate, to impart my knowledge, and to share my love and joy of dance to everyone. " - Dulce Capadocia

Dance Studio

Photo: Alex Delos Santos, Datu Lubay Arts Center, Antique Philippines
Background Image Photographer: Rico Mejia