Photo: Allison Mersereau
Philosophy
Because of Danielle’s commitment to life-long learning, she continues to develop her philosophy on art, research, and teaching through the lens of movement, dance making, and historical inquiry. She examines these philosophies from multiple perspectives and understands the dynamism of dance and it's ephemeral nature. She has a keen interest in the human condition as it relates to time and space and how that can be translated to gesture, virtuosity, and scholarship.
Photo: Allison Mersereau
Artistic Statement
As an artist, Danielle aims to create works that are an expression of human consciousness through the medium of physical exploration. They may or may not have the intention of telling a story but the act of removing the audience’s previous lived experiences from the interpretation of the dance is to her, impossible. She believes dance can reveal physical, mental, and emotional information stored within the performer, choreographer, and viewer to reveal aspects so profound it can free the spirit. She also believes dance has the innate ability to heal and to express. It has an intrinsic and visceral honesty with which each body moves. Natural, uninhibited, authentic movement cannot be duplicated, only reproduced and interpreted. It becomes a transformative act rather than a facsimile. A dance will inevitably change with respect to its environment and cast; but its communicative powers remain and its capabilities to transform persist.
Photos: Allison Mersereau
Teaching Philosophy
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On Technical Training & Artistry
Danielle's instruction of dance technique is grounded in the somatic and holistic approach. She strives to provide her students with technical training that is both safe and effective. From her years as a professional dancer and working with physical therapists, she has come to understand the importance of holistic training, treating the whole dancer so that technical proficiency with sound anatomical alignment can be encouraged.
Danielle believes finding one’s voice is of utmost importance so we can learn who we are and who we might like to become. Therefore she fosters developmental artistry and uplifts process over product to persuade dancers beyond their perceived artistic, technical, and intellectual limitations.
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On Autonomy, & Collaboration
Through creating and maintaining an environment that is based upon trust, mutual respect, and agreements, Danielle acts as a guide. She promotes the exploration of unknown areas to drive student development so that meaningful growth can occur. She also believes in developing students and artists that can dance between the lines of autonomy and collaboration, who have a strong sense of self while allowing themselves to integrate artistically with others. She seeks to produce artists that can work both individually and collectively to further establish artistic connections related not only to dance but to other areas as well. Finally, she believes that the pursuit of autonomy and collaboration are not mutually exclusive but very much co-dependent processes.
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On Community & Belonging
Civic Engagement and social justice are common themes in Danielle’s classes and she believes their inquiry and analysis are an integral part of the development of future artists. As an educator, she believes it is our duty to produce artists that are socially and culturally conscious and can communicate on a global level. It is her firm belief that we must celebrate diversity. Our differences, visible and invisible, are indeed what make us unique and an inclusive representation of that uniqueness is what allows us to be culturally aware. She is committed to working with diverse student, faculty, and community populations as a collaborative member. As educators we have a duty to lead example and demonstrate the various ways we can learn from our differences so as to build a more resilient future.
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On Mentorship
A huge advocate for mentoring, Danielle enjoys developing students' portfolios and the network of individuals they can interact with in order to receive support throughout their journey. She begins by considering the development of each students’ distinctive technique and artistry and helps them to contemplate and clarify their visions along the way. Recent successes have been mentoring students in presenting at the SoloDuo Dance Festival held in NYC at Dixon Place, presenting a TEDxSUU Talk entitled The Evolution of the Africanist Aesthetics, and showcasing their works at ACDA. Students have also supplemented their collegiate training with Perry Mansfield, SALT Contemporary Dance's Summer Intensive, Dance West Fest, and the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre's Summer Intensive.
Photos: Steve Korn
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As a researcher, Danielle is greatly interested in the intersection between somatics and dance training. Applying the biopsychosocial model to develop sound anatomical alignment, longevity, and injury risk reduction techniques.
Continually training in various movement modalities such as Pilates, Gyrotonics, Alexander Technique, Yoga, and Coutertechnique she has become increasingly interested in the idea of vectors, spirals, and directionality as they relate to Boimechanics, making space for the joints to access functional mobility, becoming available for movement as opposed to restricted and fixed. She is captivated by the body's emotional response to trauma and human developmental patterns.
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Erasure in the field of dance history has been perpetuated time and time again. Debunking ahistorical narratives is an important part of Danielle's work as a scholar as she continues to develop a deeper understanding of power structures and dynamics at play that help to frame accepted narratives in the field.
Most recently, Danielle's Dance History class headed to Topaz, UT to learn more about the contributions Sahomi Tachibana had on the Utah's dance community, on Japanese dance in America, and on the larger impact that Japanese internment camps had in the region. In addition, she has partnered with the New York public Library Jerome Robins Dance Division bringing their exhibit Border Crossings: Exile and American Modern Dance 1900-1955 virtually to Southern Utah University.
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As a scholar, Danielle is deeply passionate about continuing the legacy of choreographers both past and present. Because of the ephemeral nature of dance, she feels a drive to pursue an active research agenda in Dance Documentation and Preservation. She is struck by the notion that one cannot view a live dance performance as one views the Mona Lisa at the Louvre. When one records a dance there are technical and aesthetic issues that arise. When répétiteurs are no longer with us to teach the steps and the essence of a piece, the works’ very existence is threatened. These are but a few of the cumbersome issues that surface when we discuss how to document and preserve a dance today.
With masterworks under threat, Danielle sees it imperative to develop ways to document and preserve so that we do not loose historical and contemporary masterworks. She is fascinated by the many ways one can document and preserve their work and while she enjoys archival options she is also keenly interested in the re-staging of works so that they can be readily available to the public in performance.