Teaching Artists Directory

Artists in residence
         directory of teaching artists: Joy Esplin
  Joy Esplin was born in beautiful Southeast Idaho. There she enjoyed the unique things of nature, but gravitated toward an artistic sensibility. Her first love was acting and she has always loved performing for people. At the age of 15, Joy had the opportunity to participate in the high school dance team, and found a new interest for dance. Since then she has studied many different areas of dance including modern, ballet, jazz, tap, ballroom, and creative dance.

Joy attended Brigham Young University (BYU)-Idaho for 2 years performing with the Contemporary Dance Theater Company in Rexburg, Idaho. She further pursued a dance career by attending BYU-Provo where she finished a bachelor’s degree in modern dance and participated in BYU’s Dance Ensemble and Kinnect Dance Companies. It was while attending BYU that Joy discovered an enthusiasm for teaching and sharing her talents. She continues to share her passion for dance with her students as she teaches at private studios in Idaho. Joy believes that all children should have the opportunity to experience dance, and she supports this belief by working in the schools as a teaching artist.

Describe a transformative process that has occurred in your own practice as an artist or in a past residency as a teaching artist.
As a beginning teacher, I was always so focused on myself. What I was teaching and the concepts that I was trying to get across to my students. As I have continued to learn by observation and also by practice, I have been able to take my awareness outside of myself and really “see” my students. This has aided me as a teacher to feel that I can give better direction to their needs. I try to find what I call “magical moments” where I feel that understanding exists between both the student and the teacher. In this way, I believe that true development takes place.

When have you been able to recognize learning taking place?
I have observed learning taking place most often at the end of class when the students can perform a concept or an idea more fully than when they first explored it in the beginning. They also can respond more fully with their bodies, as well as in verbal discussion of what they have discovered and learned.

What excites your imagination and in turn how does your work excite imagination for your audience?
Anything that I have never thought of before excites my imagination. For example, a new way of looking at something that I have seen over and over again, and now can observe in a different and more fascinating way. This expands my knowledge of the world around me. When I as a teacher present a concept that I have learned in a new and interesting way, it will excite my students. When they can see connections and learn to expand what they already know, they will let their imaginations take them further.

What characteristics mark a successful collaboration for you?
Collaboration is when a group of different thoughts and ideas are brought together, creatively explored, and has a cohesive finished product. How do you foster creativity, both in your own work and as a teaching artist? I give myself personal goals and ideas that I am trying to focus on and accomplish. I believe that creativity stems from ideas and concepts, not nothingness. This gives the idea a direction. Then I think of all the different ways I could possibly explore it, which then produces connective creative thoughts.

Three key understandings of this discipline are:
Energy, Space, and Time

Outcomes of the three understandings are:
  1. Energy helps us understand expression and emotion.
  2. Space gives us a greater sense of what is around us, and how to interact with it.
  3. Time is a measurement that we use to control when we do things, sometimes fast and sometimes slow.
List three Idaho Humanities Content Standards that correlate with each of the key understandings you have identified above.
  1. Conduct analyses in dance using Energy.

    K-12. Standard 2, Goal 2.1:
    1. Explore the different energy qualities that are found in dance—including smooth,   sustained, sharp, and percussive movements.
    2. Discuss that the energy quality used often reflects the emotion of the dance.
    3. Create a dance that conveys meaning, by using the energy qualities that correlate.

  2. Communicate in and through dance application of artistic concepts, knowledge, and skills using Time.

    K-12 Standard 3, Goal 3.2:
    1. In a group, learn a dance sequence, and then experiment with changing the timing.
    2. With different body parts and movements feel and demonstrate different rhythmic   patterns.
    3. Move at various tempos using locomotor patterns and steps.

  3. Communicate in dance through creative expression using Space.

    K-12 Standard 3, Goal 3.3:
    1. Identify and practice the different pathways—including circular, straight, and zig-zag.
    2. Improvise and choreograph using the pathways and shapes.
    3. Discuss what personal movement preferences are discovered, and what that   communicates and expresses in the dance.
List vocabulary words that specifically relate to your discipline.
Body Motion (Locomotor and Axial):
energy
space
time
movement
rhythm
beat
expression

Creating Exploring:
form
music
choices
problem solving
relationships
movement phrase
Communication


List subject areas outside of the fine arts that relate to potential residency work ­ i.e. possible connections to the curriculum might include:

Social Interaction (relationships)
Self-Awareness
Creative Movement with Academics
Language Arts
Math
Science
Social Studies

References
    Wendy Bone
    BYU-Idaho Professor
    bonew@byui.edu
    (208) 496-2074

    Marilyn Berrett
    BYU Professor
    marilyn_berrett@byu.edu
    (801) 422-8339


top
Joy Esplin
Discipline: Dance

Phone:(208) 201-2258

Email: jesplindance@gmail.com

Website: na

Special Populations I work with: children to adult, and special needs students





Idaho Commission on the Arts- Teaching Artists Directory

Phone: 208/334-2119 or 800/278-3863 Fax: 208/334-2488
Mailing address: P.O. Box 83720, Boise, ID 83720-0008
Street address: 2410 North Old Penitentiary Rd., Boise, ID 83712