Being a dancer requires artful movement through space, and being a dance instructor demands the ability to open students’ minds to the excitement of thinking and moving in new ways.

Making learning an exhilarating experience, one former student says, is dance instructor Margaret Stalder’s special talent. “Your classes motivate, teach and invigorate me physically and emotionally,” another student writes, while a third says Stalder “made me feel like I could dance even though I am a beginner.”

With a bachelor’s degree in theatre and dance (UW, 1981) and a master’s degree in physical education (UW, 1987), Stalder herself is a blend of science and art. “She is never static,” writes a faculty colleague, “for she is always in the process of gathering and connecting her ideas with others.”

This approach has led Stalder to collaborate with faculty in the physical sciences in developing courses that translate chaos and fractal theory into human movement and which employ rock-climbing gear to allow dancing in a vertical plane. Such classes not only teach students how to make their bodies do new things, they also help students’ minds grasp difficult scientific concepts.

A colleague notes that Stalder always shares the personal development she undergoes from such projects in her classroom, which welcomes dance majors and other majors alike. She remains a learner herself, the colleague continues, which in turn makes her an outstanding teacher. She uses the technique of alternating perspectives in her course on teaching movement to young children, asking her students to experience dance in the way a small child does.

One faculty member who has team-taught and been her student says she has inspired both his own learning and his own teaching. Another colleague notes how Stalder also teaches by being an excellent example of a working artist for Wyoming students.

Colleagues and students alike cite Stalder’s respect and care for students as whole people. One dance major could not believe the energy Stalder devoted to helping him put together his class schedule and his plans for later life.

“She’s always on me about what I’m doing with my summer, what companies have caught my eye recently, and what I am going to do to keep in shape over the vacation.”

Stalder leads her students toward self-discovery of inner resources they could not possibly have imagined before, while showing them how to dance beyond normal physical limitations.

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