
Dance — Attention and Focus in Dance

Get to know Clare Guss-West and her work of...
By Human Kinetics Recently, the Swiss Dance Association interviewed Clare Guss-West about her dance experience and the origins of attention and focus in dance. Clare is a former professional dancer, choreographer, holistic health practitioner, and Human Kinetics...

Teaching Tip: Becoming More Aware of Our Thoughts
By Clare Guss-West, Director of the Dance & Creative Wellness Foundation For most of us, shifting attention in dance is like learning a new language that becomes more familiar with practice. Even just becoming aware...

Teaching Tip: External Attentional Foci
By Clare Guss-West, Director of the Dance & Creative Wellness Foundation In my direct experience of teaching dancers, I have learned that we frequently use multiple types of feedback from diverse sources involving both self-related,...

Teaching Tip: Preparing Students for After Graduation
By Ali Duffy, PhD, associate professor of dance at Texas Tech University and founder and artistic director of Flatlands Dance Theatre The first year after graduation can be overwhelming as dance students transition from college to the...

Teaching Tip: Working in a Systematic Way
By Clare Guss-West, Director of the Dance & Creative Wellness Foundation There is, in general, a lack of a systematic attention and focus strategy or of consistent mental training for dancers, in comparison to the heavy...

Teaching Tip: An Intro to Attentional Focus in Dance
By Clare Guss-West, Director of the Dance & Creative Wellness Foundation What is the power of attentional focus and what can it add to your dance teaching and performance? Here is a brief overview that...