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| directory of teaching artists: Rachel Swenson |
| Rachel Swenson is a wife, mother, teacher, artist, and performer. Rachel has a BFA in Modern Dance and a MEd in Elementary Education, both from the University of Utah. She has performed professionally in various venues in Utah. Rachel was a guest performer for Ririe Woodbury Dance Company’s Alwin Nikolais’s Tensile Involvement (1959) Man Made concert, and guest performer in Joan Woodbury’s Ready, Set! (2001) The American Showmen concert. She has also performed for choreographer, Jim Moreno, with Paradigm Dance Project, and Proving Ground dance company.
Rachel is passionate about promoting dance in public and private schools. She was the Conference Chair for Utah Dance Education Organization from 2005 to 2008. Rachel is a licensed elementary teacher in Idaho and Utah, and has her Utah State Office of Education Level II Elementary Dance Endorsement. She has presented for and taught at many schools in grades pre-kindergarten through twelfth in Utah and Idaho, for the Utah State Office of Education, and Utah Arts Council’s Arts Networking Conference 2005-2008. Rachel has taught as an Art Works for Kids teaching artist for seven years and taught creative dance through the University of Utah’s Virginia Tanner Dance Arts in Education program and studio program. Rachel teaches both the art of dance and how to use dance as an integration tool. Describe a transformative process that has occurred in your own practice as an artist or in a past residency as a teaching artist. The possibilities for dance are endless. I did a residency for a school in Utah a couple of years ago and the school wanted me to teach creative dance and create with the students a dance to perform for an audience. The residency was around four weeks long and the students I worked with were 1st through 5th grade. The theme chosen by the school was “The Golden Rule.” The summer before the residency, I had no idea what I was going to do with the theme and the classes till I found inspiration in a wonderful book by Douglas Wood called, “Old Turtle and the Broken Truth.” The theme of this book is “the Golden Rule.” Between the input from the teachers in what they envisioned in the residency, what they wanted to learn about in creative dance, and with the beautifully written and illustrated book, the dance was born. The residency experience for both sides was seamless and balanced between learning about the art form, exploration, and creating a final dance performance. We created a dance drama; a creative dance that told the story of the, “Old Turtle and the Broken Truth.” The dance drama included seven creative dances in which we used some props, simple costumes, some narration, music that went perfectly with our dances and story. The students had enjoyment during the creative process and during the performance. I also taught an hour-long teacher workshop on using text to create dance, and the school had a family dance night where parents and children were able to participate in an hour-long dance class with me. I write of this example because the school planning and collaboration with me as the artist was well thought out and carried out. There was a balance between dance education and dance creating/performing. The entire school community was able to experience watching dance and/or dancing. The teachers and students saw dance as an art form to express and communicate, and they were excited to keep dancing. The teachers continued to use creative dance in the classroom. When have you been able to recognize learning taking place? I recognize learning taking place in creative dance when the dancers are effortlessly creating new movement and finding the dance around them. Dancers will readily connect dance with the idea or theme we are working on, and with ease work in groups to problem solve through creative movement. I see learning taking place when the dancers begin to not just “do” the movement, but perform with focus, risk taking, presence, and joy. What excites your imagination and in turn how does your work excite imagination for your audience? The possibilities for dance are endless. My imagination is usually excited with visual stimuli (pictures, photos, real life objects), or descriptive text (poetry, imagery, verbs, adverbs, or onomatopoeia), or narrative stories (characters, settings, emotions, situations). I am the type of artist that searches first for the inspiration for the dance, then creates the movement, sometimes adding props, and then finds the perfect music to carry and expand the artistic representation of the dance. When the dance is born, costumes, lighting, and scenery are added too. Dance as a performance art is layered in a 3 dimensional way of visual, sound, energy, and movement stimuli that carry the audience on a journey with the performers in real time. Many times I use narration during, before, or after to help with the theme of the dance and to educate the audience on the art form of dance. What characteristics mark a successful collaboration for you? The characteristics that mark a successful collaboration are teachers and students experiencing ownership of their creative compositions and pride in their own creative work. Success is also marked by attaining established goals for the residency. Success comes from a balance of dance education through exploration, creating, and performing. The final and most important characteristic of a successful collaboration is students and teachers expressing joy in moving. How do you foster creativity, both in your own work and as a teaching artist? A modern artist is one who is forever trying new ideas, willing to risk, wanting to grow, honest with their self, knowing where they are as an artist, and knowing where they need to go. Creativity has endless possibilities. There is an artist in all of us. I foster my own creativity by always reaching out of my comfort zone in creating dance. I like to use subjects for inspiration that take effort and amounts of risk taking to create the dance within. Each time I do this, I feel my creativity as an artist grows and so do I as an artist. I want my students to also see the world with dancer eyes. I foster creativity as a teaching artist by revealing my creative process step by step. To help students create, I use simple structures of dance with multiple creative choices embedded within. The students take ownership by using creative problem solving to create an artistic expression via dance. I like to model that the creative process should be collaborative. As an artist I am always open to feedback and new ideas from my viewers and fellow participants. Three key understandings of this discipline are:
Outcomes of the three understandings are:
List three Idaho Humanities Content Standards that
correlate with each of the key understandings you have identified above.
Body, Axial movement, Locomotor movement, Warm-up, Unison, Improvisation, Choreographer, Choreography, Phrase, Theme, Energy, Quality, Dynamics, Collapsing movement, Percussive movement, Suspended movement, Sustained movement, Swinging movement, Vibratory movement, Abstraction, Space, General space, Personal space, Stage space, Pathway, Level, Time, Rhythm, Tempo, Meter, Metric rhythm, Non-metric rhythm, Accent List subject areas outside of the fine arts that relate to potential residency work i.e. possible connections to the curriculum might include: The possibilities of connections to dance are endless and I am willing to try any new connections. I have experience in connecting and integrating dance with Social Studies, Science, Language Arts, Math, Life/Character Building Skills, Visual Art, Music, and Theatre. References
Utah State Office of Education Dance Consultant for Public Education Utah Valley State University Assistant Professor of Modern Dance Wk (801) 863-6444 Jean Irwin Arts Education Manager Utah Arts Council Wk (801) 236-7542 Carol Syroid Principal of William Penn Elementary Wk (801) 646-4960 Toni Cook Elementary Teacher Wk (801) 646-4960 Mary Ann Lee Director of Virginia Tanner’s Children’s Dance Theatre Wk (801) 581-7374 Tamara Burnside Granite School District Arts Coordinator Wk (801) 278-9460 |
 Discipline: Creative Dance Phone:208-939-1083 Email: rachel@evoldatasystems.com Website: na Special Populations I work with: I believe dance is something all people can do regardless of age, gender, or ability. I am willing to work with any Special Populations. I have experience working with Pre-kindergarten through 6th grade Special Needs Children with varying degrees of functioning, participation, and help from special needs aides. ICA Artists by Disciplines Music Ken Harris Dance Wendy de la Harpe Joy Esplin LiAnne Hunt Norma Pintar Rachel Swenson Theater/Storytelling Joy Steiner Teresa Clark Language Arts Malia Collins Judy Sobeloff Visual Arts Deana Attebery Tom Bennick Judith Brand Sue Rooke Lizette Fife Helen Grainger Wilson Terrie Kralik Jeanne Leffingwell Benjamin Love Linda Wolfe Video/Media Arts Peppershock Media |
 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 |