Teaching In-person and Online: Jazz Instructor Tara Shepard Myers

By Raven Crosby, Emory Dance Program Office Assistant

Tara Shepard Myers is an instructor for the Emory Dance Program who primarily teaches jazz. This semester, she is teaching Jazz II and III in person and Jazz IV online. Although the physical format of these courses is different, the way the class is taught for all three remains the same. For both the in-person and online courses, the dancers start class with a warm-up, followed by strengthening and technical exercises, and end with center work. The only major difference Myers has found between the two is the limited ability of online dancers to perform “across the floor” movements, due to the smaller amount of space available for them to execute larger movements such as leaps. 

For Myers’ in-person courses, she has noticed a few challenges. She stated that “Of course, there are always challenges when using a space in a different way, or adapting to a new way of teaching, especially if you have been doing it one particular way for a while.” Initially, there was a challenge with wearing a mask through the physical rigor of a dance course, but Myers stated that you eventually get used to it. Having to shift material to fit into socially distanced boxes and lines (taped on the floor) has also raised unique challenges within the course. With these new boundaries, Myers has had to amend some of her material and the way she teaches it. Students have also had to adapt how they learn to these constraints. 

This semester will be Myers’s first full semester teaching online, following the quick transition to virtual learning in March. In the spring, Myers presented more asynchronous material due to the limited time to adapt a movement course to an online format. After having the summer to fully plan and adjust course material, most of her class meetings are now synchronous. She has noticed that through continued use, her Canvas* skills have improved, and she has added new methods for assessing students’ progress in her courses. 

While the adjustment to new teaching and learning formats has been a challenge at times, Myers and her students are working diligently to adapt. When asked how she felt her students are ultimately adjusting to these new formats she commented: “The students have been awesome! They have adapted with, it would seem, no [major] problems!”

*Canvas is an online learning management tool.