Beyond the Mirror: Teaching Toward Internal Feedback

When I teach Bartenieff Fundamentals, we begin on the floor, eyes closed. A meditation becomes improvisation. Each cue builds from anatomical inevitability—a kinetic chain. The invitation is to sense and flow, not to arrive, copy, or perform. Inevitably, someone lifts their head to look around—abandoning comfort and breath in favor of sight. 

Even in stillness or guided breath, I see it happen. First-timers contorting, scanning for cues, wanting to know if they’re doing it “right.” What I believe they’re asking is: Am I safe here? 

That moment pierces me. There’s a tender sadness I feel watching a dancer choose accuracy over sensation. I want to say, “Oh…please care about what you feel, not what you imagine I want.” But I know how deep the conditioning runs. 

This isn’t the fault of individual teachers. The dance world has long privileged external outcomes over internal relationships. Most of us are simply passing down what we learned. But just as we interrogate other inherited systems—racism, sexism, and ableism—we must examine which pedagogies serve this generation’s needs. 

That doesn’t mean rejecting rigor. Many teachers work in environments—competitions, company schools, conservatories—that prioritize virtuosity. Dancers in those spaces do need to master extensions, turns, and jumps. This approach isn’t opposed to that; it makes those outcomes more sustainable and internally owned. 

The Bias Toward Outer Metrics 

In capitalist cultures, children are taught to value outer metrics—test scores over wisdom, applause over awareness. In dance, the mirror becomes the compass. The teacher, the authority. The student is often portrayed as clay awaiting sculpting. Rather than developing perception, interoception, and affective intelligence, our culture often prizes uniformity, productivity, and results. We teach students to measure themselves against a predetermined outcome, rather than using their inner experience to provide feedback. 

What legacy does that leave in their bodies?

Too often, students don’t find presence; they disappear behind performance. External metrics like leg height and turn count become stand-ins for value, crowding out sensation and intuition. This can lead dancers to feel obedient instead of curious, formulaic instead of authentic. They seek outer approval over inner knowing. 

It’s time to reclaim awareness and kinesthetic intelligence as part of virtuosity. 

There is technique in knowing where your weight is. In creating safety. In being attuned. There’s a world of difference between being pleased you hit four pirouettes and feeling the quiet satisfaction of alignment, control, and surrender that made them possible. That’s the beginning of artistry: self-witnessing. 

Intuition isn’t mystical; it’s measurable. The body knows. The nervous system registers “rightness” before we articulate it. Somatic awareness activates the body’s deep reflexes. We can teach this. It doesn’t weaken technique; it strengthens our relationship with it. It shifts pedagogy from output to inquiry. 

As teachers, you don’t have to overhaul your entire curriculum to use these strategies. Start small: integrate “Start on the Floor” or “Release the Mirrors” once a week. Use one or two questions from “Ask Real Questions” or “Name the Sensation” during warm-up or barre. Notice how small shifts create ripples in awareness, performance, and even retention. 

Ways to Support Internal Feedback in the Studio 

1. Start on the Floor 

Begin class lying down, eyes closed. Use biomechanical cueing to reorient dancers to sensation over forms. 

2. Release the Mirrors 

Try mirrorless combinations or improvisation scores. Reflect on how space, effort, and attention shift when visual feedback is absent. 

3. Ask Real Questions

Before offering a correction, ask a concrete and sensation-based question, like: “Where does your weight travel?” or “How are you stabilizing?” 

4. Have Students Name the Sensation 

Encourage dancers to describe not just how something looks but also how it feels. Build vocabulary: weight, tone, rhythm, flow, direction. 

5. Teach Tasks, Not Just Shapes 

Guide dancers through cause-and-effect events: “Reach until your weight tips and you tumble into five steps.” Orient them to physics rather than imitation, counts, or shapes. 

6. Cue Initiation Points 

Ask students, “Where does the movement begin?” A step starts with a weight shift—a turn, with a push. Initiation builds clarity. 

7. Clarify Stability vs. Mobility 

What stabilizes this action? What needs to move freely? Help students understand where to focus on control and release. 

8. Investigate the Physics 

Ask dancers, “Where is momentum generated? What’s resisting? What am I pushing into?” Understanding mechanics clarifies effort and intention. 

9. Seek Resonance, Not Just Agreement 

If a cue doesn’t land, ask students, “Where do you feel that?” This invites understanding, not just compliance. 

10. Don’t Let Them Fake It 

If a student lands a shape without clarity or momentum, they may be skipping the task. Ask what led them there and guide them back into the process. 

11. Replace “More” with “What Kind” 

Instead of simply asking for “more,” be specific: More what? Force? Speed? Tension? Abandon? Connection? Precision helps dancers direct their effort effectively. 

12. Co-Teach Virtuosity

Include inner listening in your definition of mastery. Dancers can hold extension and sensation. What they feel is part of what they’re learning. 

13. Model Not Knowing 

Respond to questions with, “I’m not sure; let’s try it.” Modeling curiosity invites co-investigation and dissolves perfectionism. 

14. Ask to See It 

Don’t answer in theory. Watch the phrase. Words often misrepresent movement. Real-time feedback supports individualized learning. 

15. Use Words Other Than Counts 

Counts can map rhythm, but they don’t guide sensation. Try layering cues like “Fold, swing, and…” instead of just “5, 6, and…” to embed musicality with qualitative information. This gives dancers both timing and intention, helping them embody the phrase rather than just execute it. 

This type of teaching requires more effort. It asks us to return to our own dancing and investigate what we were taught and what we weren’t. Many of us inherited tools that emphasized results over relationships. Dismantling that pattern means re-educating ourselves from the inside out. It’s not easy, but it’s thrilling. The ripple effect on students is profound. The classroom becomes a site of liberation, reinvention, and deep trust.

Alexandra Beller is the artistic director of Alexandra Beller/Dances and, prior to starting her own company, was a member of Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company. She was on faculty at Princeton University from 2015–22 and currently teaches at The Laban Institute for Movement Studies, in addition to leading residencies at universities in the U.S. and around the world. She is the author of two upcoming books: The Embodied Conductor: A Somatic Approach to Conducting with Laban and Bartenieff (Meredith Music, December 2025) and The Anatomy of Art: Unlocking the Creative Process for Theater and Dance (Bloomsbury, May 2026). —Ed.