I see myself as a traveller, partly goal-directed and at the same time free to go with the wind.
Being a gymnast as a child and teenager I experienced the rewards of practice, determination and commitment, all driven by passion. When starting my education at the Rotterdam Dance Academy, I took those and also added the joy of dance: the aesthetics, the physicality, the expression and the creativity.
I’ve always preferred teaching over performing and soon after graduating I was teaching dance full time. From the very start of my career, I crossed borders between disciplines: combining dance and gymnastics while teaching toddlers, inviting male gymnasts in my women dance class, choreographing for both, combining physical theatre and dance in workshops and performances, exploring the use of text and voice in dance, using all different images from nature to deepen the understanding of my learners and more.
I am a collaborative learner and I have always reached out to find partners to work together in choreographing, in teaching, in in creating all the different projects I joined and implemented.
Since 2009 I’m working at Codarts, university of the arts in Rotterdam and since 2016 also at Fontys, academy for dance education in Tilburg. I teach, do research, coach students in internships and research. I was a member of research group of the lectorship blended learning.
I’m fascinated by how people learn. Finding the balance in the education between group and individual, between giving space and giving directions, between process and result, between authentic artistic development and craftsmanship is a daily challenge. My master thesis in the education of Learning and Innovating was about peer feedback. I developed a strategy to implement peer feedback through the curriculum of the music theatre department. Other themes of research are self-management and team-teaching. All research projects were practice-based.
I was invited to the transdisciplinary group because of my knowledge and experience in team-teaching. I believe this is where the wind took me. I’m happy with the challenge and opportunity, because I think this is what I’ve always been doing and because I believe this approach will help education and learning.