One of the newest teachers on campus is Marina Gonzalez, the new dance/drill team teacher. Assisting Red Rhythm director Nicole Nothe, Gonzalez is a graduate of Texas Women’s University where she earned her Bachelor of Arts in Dance.

Wingspan: What inspired you to start teaching dance?

Gonzalez: “What inspired me to start teaching dance were all of my high school fine arts teachers. My dance teacher, the drill team director, the theatre director were such awesome teachers, such inspirational people that I knew that that’s what I wanted to do. I wanted to be like them.”

Wingspan: How do you plan to inspire students while teaching them dance?

Gonzalez: “I plan to inspire other students while I teach them by being genuine and the most honest version of myself for you guys. I like making sure that you know we’re in it together, and that I’m pushing you, and encouraging you guys while giving you the tools you need to learn the information we are covering.”

Wingspan: How does teaching dance differ from learning it?

Gonzalez: “Teaching dance is a lot different than learning it, because whenever you are learning dance you are listening and putting it in your body and trying to figure out how to make that work for yourself. But teaching is different because, one I don’t get to move as often, so I’m not dancing as much and it’s a lot of words. How do I want to describe this? How do I want to deliver this information? So teaching it is a lot more stationary than learning dance.”   

Wingspan: How does your experience as a student help you be a better teacher?

Gonzalez: “My experiences as a student helped me this entire time, because I think back on learning a specific skill that was hard and I reflect on that a lot. Why was it hard for me to learn, why was it difficult? What words were my teachers using that didn’t work for me, and what would’ve helped me?”

Wingspan: Can you tell me how dance affected your high school experience?

Gonzalez: “It was my high school experience. I was involved in all the dance classes, and then I was on drill team, and helped choreograph some of the musicals, and so if I wasn’t in dance classes I was probably in the auditorium for theatre rehearsals. It was just kind of what I did.”

Wingspan: Can you tell me about a time where dance influenced your actions or helped you get through tough times?

Gonzalez: “If I can push myself to my limits in dance or in drill team, if I can expel all my energy trying to solve a problem or trying to understand something I can apply those skills to real life, and I do that a lot.”

Wingspan: Why is dance an important art to learn?

Gonzalez: “Dance is an important art to learn, because it challenges students to think very very creatively. Dance is a lot of problem solving, it doesn’t always feel that way but dance requires a lot of higher order of thinking, and higher levels of thought. For me to say put your leg here, and I want you to hold your body together and lift up into the air or you know stuff like that if you’ve never done it you have to really focus on, ok what does that feel like, how do I do it, how do I know if I’ve done it correctly, how do I make things move across the floor? I think dance is really important for kids to learn, because it’s challenging. It’s a challenging thought process and at the same time it’s also beautiful and it feels so great on the body, it’s a good workout as well.”   

Wingspan: How can dance help students get through high school?

Gonzalez: “Dance is a really great way to relieve stress. It’s a really good space to kind of check in with yourself and your emotions. If it’s a fun dance and your energy is kind of low you can use the dance to lift your spirits. If you’re kind of going through something that’s a little harder you can retreat into yourself through our warm-ups or our reflection periods. I think dance is really really helpful to students going through just the day-to-day high school life, and any struggles that lie outside of the school.”

Wingspan: How does dance help students express themselves?

Gonzalez: “Dance is all about expressing yourself and releasing your personality and letting your inner self roam through the space. Dance is super helpful for that, because if there’s a place to do it it’s in dance class.

Wingspan: What do you hope to accomplish your first year on campus?

Gonzalez: “I hope to really leave a mark on my students so that they want to stay in dance for another year or like another two years. That’s kind of what I want the most aside from surviving.”