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Alan Scofield

Alan Scofield

dance, master teacher, storyteller, consultant

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RDA Pacific Festival 2016 – An experience to treasure

May 10, 2016 by Alan Scofield

Alan and Marin ballet and utah ballet 2 RDA 2016 resized 400In 1993 Mitch Albom wrote a terrific bestseller about “The Five People You Meet in Heaven”. In it, a man passes from this world and enters heaven where he encounters five key people whose lives he touched, and by doing so, is shown his life’s meaning.

This kind of experience happened to me last week and I was right here on earth in Phoenix, Arizona! I had been invited by Debra Rogo of Mid-Columbia Ballet, to join the faculty of the Regional Dance America Pacific Dance Festival 2016, serving not only as a master teacher of musicality, but as a co-adjudicator of the Monticello award given to emerging women choreographers.

Over and over, I had the pleasure of meeting many of my former students, who introduced themselves to me and helped me recall the connection we had made and inspiration they had felt from studying with me or dancing in one of my pieces.

I met a popular guest teacher who told me that she had had an awakening to music and contemporary dance while she was in my class, that propelled her to study and become a choreographer and teacher. I met a mother I had taught who brought her daughter to my musicality class, telling her to learn everything she could in the time she had with me. And there was a young man who came up, who towered over me and said: “I was the little boy you taught in the summer workshop classes in Vacaville, California.” I smiled, remembering his keen, eager eyes.

Company directors appeared and recalled the festivals at which I’d taught, ones they had hosted. And lastly, I spoke and reflected with Gretchen Vogelzang, the president of Regional Dance America, who, many years ago was my student at Marin Ballet, the place I first introduced my course: Musicality and Performance Skills for Dancers. So many connections coming full circle.

Now, at this festival, there were 12 new companies for me to teach, each full of talented, well trained and motivated young dancers. In these sessions, the history of my musicality class, the arc of growth that had taken place from its planning at Lincoln Center, NY, to its tenure at San Francisco Ballet, Sacramento Ballet and Richmond Ballet, Virginia, and finally to this festival, became clear. There was so much instruction I had gotten rid of along the way. The ideas and exercises in my current work had become simple, clear and impactful. Musical history, imagination, melodic phrasing, time signature, tonality, texture, theme and variation, musical markings and instrumental voices were now woven together in a joyous journey of discovery.

The teaching load was dense and challenging, but I loved all of it. And each night, as I fell asleep in utter exhaustion, a wonderful kind of happiness crept over me as the smiles of the students I had taught each day swirled in my mind. The joy on their faces and the gratitude in their eyes glowed brightly. And each day, as word spread about my class, more and more people came to watch the energy and expression bursting from the students as they danced. Their enthusiasm was contagious; allowing me to conclude that dance in America will be alive and well for a very long time. I still look forward to opening many more young hearts and minds to the rich world of music, dance and performing. And that, for me, is a heavenly thought.

Filed Under: Dance Tagged With: dance, Musicality, performance skills, Regional Ballet Festival, teaching

“What Else Do I Do?”

February 21, 2016 by Alan Scofield

What else do you do?

This question has been asked of me for many years and is often sparked when a student or client suddenly discovers my work at a brand new place.

As the official KIDDO dance teacher in Mill Valley, California, I’ve taught thousands of elementary school children throughout the years. For example, a fourth grader at a local Marin County school will chance upon me teaching my Contemporary Jazz dance class at Roco Dance and ask, “What are you doing here?” I explain that I ALSO teach adults. Their eyes widen and they smile as if they are the first to know the secret. But actually, the secret of diversification has been the key to my robust career as a professional teaching artist, and the many hats I wear, are in fact, cut from one cloth: the power of dance.

A single educator can teach both, kindergartners and corporate teams, the art of teamwork, and I have done it for years. For at every age and in every profession, even that of budding five year old’s, the art of moving together brings out the best in a community. Barriers fall for the business participants and values are born in the youngsters. The art of dance, levels all ages and all categories, for it is supremely human.

Once, after I finished teaching an elementary school dance class, a boy came up to me and asked, “what do you really do?” I said: “This is what I do.” He shook his head and said, “no, I meant what is your real job? Like where you go to work and have an office.” I smiled and said, “look, I go many places but this is my job.” “You do this for a living?” he said. I replied, “yes I do.” It was hard for him to get, I imagine.

So to make it easier for you to get, we built this website that traces my trail from the world of studios to the domain of schools and businesses, to the College of Marin where I am an associate professor, and reaches all the way to the world of curricular design for school districts.

And lastly, when the journey is done, come listen to The Story Home, and treat yourself and your family to the enchantment of children’s audio stories, loved by millions of families around the world for the last nine years.

You do that too? I hear you ask.  Oh yes, and so much more… stay tuned!

Filed Under: About Alan Tagged With: arts education, dance, kiddo, rocodance, teaching, the story home

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