Drawn from the authors' larger study of teaching artists in dance and theatre arts (Anderson and Risner, Hybrid Lives), this analysis investigated participants' (n = 172) attitudes and beliefs about the need and relevance of a teaching artist credential or certificate. Data were obtained through an in-depth, online survey, electronic…

This case study is one of twenty cases derived from Anderson and Risner's international study of teaching artists in dance, and theatre, which investigated participants' (n=172) artistic and academic preparation in dance, and theatre, initial entry into the teaching artist field, rewards, challenges, and obstacles in participants'…

Writing about the teaching artist practice should mean writing about art making. As both teacher and artist, the authors are required to be cognizant of their own art-making processes, both how it works and why it is important to them, in order to make this process visible to their students. They also need the same skills to write about how and…

It is definitely easier to write about work when things are going well, but it is even more important to write about what happens when things get challenging. The act of writing about the challenging times can be challenging in itself but can also provide invaluable insights into the process of teaching: important for the writer and just as…

Stories in the "ALT/Space" section of each issue of "Teaching Artist Journal" illustrate and document a wide variety of topics surrounding the work of teaching artists while simultaneously revealing some larger truths about what it means to be an artist who teaches. This particular section focuses on the process and realities…

As a percussive dancer, Malke Rosenfeld makes rhythm with her feet while she dances, and she also helps elementary students make their own percussive dance steps by integrating mathematics into her lesson plans. To do this she uses the Jump Patterns tool, a tool she developed during the first six years of her teaching artist career to help…

Since 1999, when the author first started teaching creative process-based dance programs in public schools, she has struggled to find the time to teach children the basic concepts and tools of dance while teaching them to be deliberate with their choreographic choices. In this article, the author describes a process that helps students and…

This case study is drawn from the authors' ongoing international study of teaching artists in dance and theatre. The study takes an in-depth look at teaching artists' artistic and academic preparation in dance and theatre, entry into the teaching artist field, rewards, challenges, and assessment of their work, and their professional development,…

Dance education provides a language that allows students and teachers to express themselves in new ways and to think through ideas differently. All students deserve the opportunity to learn things in new ways, to internalize information and rephrase it, to understand their world and contribute to it. All students deserve the opportunity to…

In this article, the author describes an innovative collaboration with an elementary school math teacher that leads to original student choreography and engaging mathematical thinking. Using a tool the author created called Jump Patterns, students at Fox Hill Elementary School in Indianapolis, Indiana, engage in a robust, creative, choreographic…

The author is naturally a kinesthetic learner. As a child she was steeped in the wilds of seashore, fields, and woods in which she was free to roam, explore, and imagine in a deeply sensual, movement-oriented world. Because of these first experiences of freedom of movement and spontaneity in the highly intense natural world, she found the…

Like so many other doctors, the author loves the arts deeply. Playing a musical instrument and making photographs have been joyful pursuits throughout his schooling, training, and subsequent forty-five-year career as a medical school professor and practitioner of diagnostic radiology. Despite stretches when his healing art pushed aside his visual…

In this article, the author shares her experiences of the universality of art making and artistic experience of being a dancer and teaching artist. She describes her performance at Kohler, a worldwide leader in plumbing products in Spartanburg, South Carolina, where she had an epiphany dancing in a toilet factory--a sudden, intuitive moment of…

Schools that bring in teaching artists often look beyond their school walls--to other sources of funding and for collaborative partnerships--to work with teaching artists from the community. For the teaching artist with an expansive vision and a willingness to try new approaches, opportunities may be opening up beyond the typical…

Support from school partners is absolutely necessary. Every teaching artist knows this, and every arts education organization strives to cultivate this support. In this article, the authors create some powerful strategies for achieving this support, such as agreeing at the outset about the focus of the residency. Lessons that develop meaningful…