Nancy Kane
category: Dance,
Artist Statement
Nancy's teaching style reflects British ballerina Margot Fonteyn's belief that "We should take our art seriously, but we should not take ourselves seriously," meaning that studio work must be done to the very best of each student's ability, but creating stress in the classroom by use of force or harsh criticism helps no one and can actually adversely affect class progress. Different students need different touches of encouragement, humor, prodding, and explanation to understand concepts, but all must addressed in a spirit of mutual respect. Her ability to teach a wide variety of dance techniques has made her a valued faculty member at colleges, universities, private studios, community centers, and schools. In addition to ballet, character ballet, pointe, modern/contemporary, jazz, theatre dance, and tap, she also teaches children's creative dance, folk dance (mostly Irish), ballroom/social dance, Appalachian clogging, improvisation, choreography, and tumbling. Her classes are informed and supported by her extensive studies in dance history, education, aesthetics and criticism, and arts administration.