About/Contact


Hi and welcome to my blog: We All Are Dancers. My name is Linda and I live with my family in the scenic beauty of Western Ireland.
I am a creative dance teacher, love dancing and all sorts of creative endeavours.  Yet, as a mom of three kids (two very small ones) it can be tricky to live what I actually love to teach: dance, be creative, study, have fun, dance. 

So this is why I created this blog: A gentle reminder on how much I need dance in my life. Not only in form of physical exercise (even dance teachers struggle with that!), but for nourishing my mind and heart too! 

On the blog I will collect and share easy movement ideas, inspirations and information on (creative) dance and creative living.
Hopefully you will find some inspiration that you can add to your family life, your classroom or dance studio! I surely think we all are dancers!

A bit on my dance background and teaching philosophy

I started dancing at the age of eight. It was my grandmother who actually enrolled me to the State Ballet School of The Leipzig Opera House where I spent most of my afternoons to learn Ballet, Modern Dance and a bit of Jazz Dance for the next Nine years (Thank you Granny and a big thank you Parents for driving me there five days a week during the first couple of years).

However, when I was 17, my sport doctor advised me not to pursue a career in dance due to my scoliosis. Bummer.


I went back to school, did my university entrance diploma, started studying chemistry (stopped after a couple of month - I know, don't ask), did a bit of dancing at the Leipzig Dance Theatre, went back to the University. This time doing my M.A. in Theatre Studies and thereby, thanks to a great professor, got to learn about Rudolf von Laban.


After working at the University of Leipzig and the Dance Archive, my husband and I decided to move to Ireland. There, I got the chance to create my own dance work (after a break from dance for nearly 8 years) and finally managed to absolve my dance teacher training with the wonderful Laban Guild.

My dancing and teaching (philosophy) is strongly influenced by Rudolf von Laban (1879-1956). He is recognized as one of the leading figures in the development of what has been termed „Modern Dance“. However, he prefered to use the term „The Art of Movement“, since he was aware that the term „Dance“ was misleading and people refer it automatically to stage performers or to ballroom dancing.  He saw the necessity to develop a dance form that reflects and responds to society and its needs and wanted to bring back dance into everyday life.


Laban was not only dancer, choreographer, painter, architect and movement analyst, but also revolutionary in (dance) education. In his writing on education in 1948, he already noticed that the huge amount of intellectual knowledge required for the mastery of modern life needs a balancing factor (1948:22) that he thought to find in dance education. Yet a dance education that keeps the spontaneity of movement (that we all have as kids, but LOSE when not nurtured while becoming an adult). (1948::12) Therefore, he stressed the beneficial effect creative dance has upon the personality of the pupil, rather than pursuing artistic perfection or the creation of outstanding performances.


I wonder what Laban would have said to us in the 21st century, the digital age that increasingly values creativity and innovation, but forgets that our bodies are not merely "a means of transport for our heads" (Sir Ken Robinson on his great TED Talk on Do Schools Kill Creativity).

My acquaintance with the Laban Guild had an enormous impact on my life. Since then I have found my real passion: Teaching Creative Dance. This form of dance allows me to incorporate  all my different interests and activities i.e. dancing, being a mom, nature, art, research (not necessarily in that order) into my work. How fantastic is that!


And I like sharing my ideas and experiences with you! Because I want to encourage you to bring some of the Art of Movement into your everyday life, no matter if you are a parent, a teacher, a dancer or/and someone who never thought of being interested in dance at all. Just try it out! It is easy and lots of fun. Let’s dance together!

TRY:

If you have kids or work with kids why not start with this or that.
If you need to fit in some quick exercise into your busy life try the Fern Roll.
If you are a (dance) teacher you might like this or maybe that.

Read about my work a little bit here (St Patricks Day) and here (ASOB).


Or watch the trailer of one of my dance works (Finders Keepers) with my dance partner Magdalena Hylak here on Vimeo. 


Feel free to contact me:
linda.schirmer[at]googlemail[dot]com