Cabeen holds Teaching Certifications from The Martha Graham School and OM Yoga Center, a BFA from Cornish College’s Professional Dancer’s Program Magna Cum Laude, and a 2009 MFA in 20th Century Dance History and Gender Representation from the University of Washington.
Cabeen teaches contemporary dance technique, 20th century dance history, and workshops based on movement and gender, nationally. She has been adjunct faculty at Cornish College and the University of Washington as well as a guest lecturer at Western Washington University, the University of Illinois Urbana-Champign and Northern Illinois University. Cabeen also teaches frequently for the Bill T. Jones/ Arnie Zane Dance Company’s Education Outreach Department. She will be a guest instructor at Bard College during the Fall of 2010.
Cabeen set Bill T. Jones Rep on Ailey/Fordham students in the spring of 2010 and on New York’s Young DanceMakers Company during summer 2010. Cabeen is responsible for the reconstructions of D-Man in The Waters for the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company on SUNY Purchase students (06,07), the University of Illinois students (07), and the University of Washington's Chamber Dance Company (09). She has also set excerpts of Power/Full for Bill T. Jones on Peridance Workshop Participants (05) and Cornish College students (07), as well as at the BTJ/AZ 2007 Skidmore Summer Workshop.
Teaching Philosophy
Physical and intellectual training should be undertaken simultaneously. I believe that posture, technique and performance quality can best be taught through the frame of history, philosophy, and culture. This context invigorates a student’s mind/body connection and deepens her appreciation of the consequences of her choices as an artist.
The current questions in the field of dance are the result of a historic trajectory. As a teacher I celebrate the fact that early modern dance techniques can provide a strong foundation for dance students’ kinesthetic knowledge. Historic uses of the body can be explored as points of both connection and juxtaposition to how the body is used in contemporary choreography. By being exposed to these techniques students are able to understand intimately the evolution of thought that has led us to the myriad contemporary dance aesthetics that are in use today. Embodied knowledge of dance history allows students to make choices in their dancing that are considered, communicative, and consciously subversive.
Dance, whether social or performative, is an art form and as such, capable of shaping the world in which we live. Whether in the classroom or the studio, my teaching emphasizes the rich history of social and political change that has been instigated and embodied through the evolution of concert dance. I strive to raise students’ awareness of the politics that are inherent in using their bodies as mediums for expression. I encourage students to investigate how their experience of their own body is affected by cultural representations. This contemplation can provide fuel for them to explore both how and why they want to dance.
Technique is health insurance. At the core of all of my classes is a love of the body as a miraculous feat of engineering. Whether teaching Graham technique, yoga, or improvisation I stress the student’s need to appreciate the anatomical design of the body, so that his or her physical creativity can flourish in a safe environment.
Each dancer’s path is unique and valuable. I invite students to participate in class as a mutual exploration in which we are both encouraged to contribute the best of our knowledge and experience. In turn we are able to open our minds and expand our paradigms through the offerings of the other.