Mia Michaels!
She is a choreographer who cannot be ignored. I have witnessed her walk out to teach
a class and be greeted with a thunderous uproar similar to a musical legend or
a movie star. She revolutionized
contemporary dance and helped modern audiences appreciate dance in a new
way. She has even won Emmys for
her work on SYTYCD! However, these things are not what I will be focusing on today...
Why I Love Her
The ability to teach is a God-given gift. “Those who do can’t always teach.” (I decided to change the original
cliché.) Just because someone is a
wonderful dancer does not make him/her a wonderful teacher and visa versa. Mia has been given the gift of
teaching.
I have had the privilege to take a class or two from the
contemporary legend. You never
know what to expect when taking class with such a famous icon. Some are wonderful and some walk in and
tell the dancers how worthless they are...others land somewhere in between. My experience in Mia’s classes landed
her in my “Big 6.”
Mia’s teaching and choreography philosophy is: it is not
about her. She creates movement,
gives that movement to a dancer, and expects that movement to evolve into a
beautiful piece of art. She
understands that all dancers and bodies are different and celebrates those
differences. She does not stand at
the front of the room expecting carbon copies to form behind her. Her classes are a collaboration. She also has the ability to recognize
weaknesses and strengths in her dancers and pushes her dancers to work on the
weaknesses and celebrate the strengths.
She expects nothing less than 100% of each dancer’s mind, body, and soul
while teaching, but will give the same right back.
It gives me hope that she has been able to maintain this
attitude and philosophy creating her formidable career, which is FAR from over.
No comments:
Post a Comment