Teaching Philosophy
As an educator, I believe in cultivating a space where movement becomes both a language and a form of self-discovery. My teaching encourages curiosity, discipline, and storytelling through the body, drawing from diverse dance lineages while emphasizing authenticity and emotional connection. I earned my Bachelor’s degree from Chapman University and my MA in Screendance from the London Contemporary Dance School, where I deepened my commitment to integrating choreography, film, and education to inspire the next generation of movers and creators.
Throughout my MA in Screendance at London Contemporary Dance School, my research has centered on the intersection of movement, narrative, and cinematic form, with a particular focus on how dance can operate as a mode of storytelling and authorship. I began by engaging with the fundamentals of cinematography and film language, examining how compositional choices, editing, and camera movement shape the perception of choreography on screen. Parallel to this practical inquiry, I conducted an extensive review of screendance scholarship, exploring critical discourse on embodiment, spectatorship, and the politics of representation. This academic foundation informed a feminist research paper investigating the representation of women in movie musicals and the lack of female directorial voices within the genre. The paper interrogated how gendered authorship impacts the portrayal of women’s agency and emotional complexity in musical cinema, highlighting the ways in which choreography can both reinforce and subvert patriarchal narratives. These theoretical insights directly informed my creative practice, culminating in a narrative-driven short film that integrates movement, character, and cinematography to articulate a distinctly female perspective. My current thesis project, Murder on the Queen Mary, extends this line of inquiry by situating the body and camera within a historically charged space, merging elements of mystery, performance, and feminist reinterpretation to reimagine how women’s stories can be embodied and re-authored through screendance.
MA SCREENDANCE
During my time at The Place London Contemporary Dance School, I deepened my craft in storytelling and explored how narrative can drive movement within the screendance form. In my first-term project, I was interviewed by the school for my feminist reinterpretation of Much Ado About Nothing, which examined female perspective and agency through dance. I have a deep fascination with classical literature, stories, and plays, particularly how women are often woven into the fabric of mystery and reasoning yet rarely centered. As a choreographer and director, I am continually drawn to gothic, noir, and period-piece aesthetics that allow me to merge elegance, tension, and emotional truth through movement and film.
Much A Do About Something
A reimagining of Act 4, Scene 1 from Much Ado About Nothing, this short dance-film retells the infamous wedding scene through Hero’s perspective. Blending movement with a single monologue, it explores the silence, rage, and resilience that follow public betrayal. The film transforms a sacred space into a site of feminist resistance, where haunting imagery and poetic choreography express what words cannot. Intimate yet universal, it reframes a classical moment through the female gaze, offering a visceral meditation on vulnerability, defiance, and rebirth.