TEACHING AND LEARNING DANCE THROUGH MEANINGFUL GESTURES

By Celia Ipiotis

When I asked Anabella Lenzu why she took three years to write her newly published book Teaching and Learning Dance Through Meaningful Gestures, she smiled and ​exclaimed: “To pass on information.” A​ highly regarded ​dancer and teacher who explores dance​ practices, ​along with choreographic and film techniques, Lenzu feels the need to address the craft of performance.

In h​er ​35 years as a professional, ​Lenzu believes today’s students are seduced by the athletic demands of dance technique while `setting aside the one thing that differentiates​ dance from sports–artistry. She quipped “sometimes I think the students think dance studios are a gym for training–they forgot about the body, mind, spirit connection.”

Although Lenzu leans into the importance of understanding presence and how to project it, she asserts one must understand the body before all the aesthetic elements can come into play. In response to that theory, Lenzu dedicates the first half of the book to a comprehensive investigation of how the body operates. 

Part 1 is devoted to pedagogy, methodology and didactics–in other words, learning how to dance, methods employed to teach dance and essential practical skills and tools. The goal is to successfully merge anatomy and artistry. 

Already incorporated in university dance curriculums, including New York University Tisch School of the Arts, Teaching and Learning Dance Through Meaningful Gestures is a highly practical guide to better understand the art and function of dance.

To sum it up, Lenzu posits: “This is a tool box for dancers and actors to better understand the art of performance.”

The book is available on-line for $75 hardcopy and $35 paperback on Amazon.com. https://www.amazon.com/Teaching-Learning-Through-Meaningful-Gestures

Teaching and Learning Dance Through Meaningful Gestures “explores basic exercises, visualization exercises, active imagination, and artistic application. I explore how technique is a philosophy and a theory, and how the body is an instrument for expression.”

EYE ON THE ARTS, NY– Celia Ipiotis