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 objecti-fying 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.