Sarah Matzke is a human that uses the studio as laboratory and movement as choreographic medium. Her research focuses on embodied cognition and the roles of experiential learning theory. Matzke holds a Master of Fine Arts in Choreography from Jacksonville University and a Bachelor of Arts from Southern Methodist University. She is a professor of dance at Texas Christian University and Störling Conservatory of Dance, previously at The University of Texas at Dallas. Matzke is the co-founder of Aaron + Hur, a non-profit organization that equips leaders to use somatic movement for healing and community reconstruction. As a guest artist, Matzke has worked throughout the United States, South America, Southeastern Asia, and the Middle East.

It is my life’s goal to create outlets for thought, curiosity and abandoned creativity. The moving body is an entity so simple, yet so wildly complex. The dichotomy fascinates my attention and fuels my passion for research and education.

Within every class, I present opportunities for play and empowerment of the thinking/doing mind. It is often thought that during contemporary movement practices that the body moves without the mind. It is my belief rather that the body and mind work harmoniously together. The body does not abandon the mind, but rather the two, through practice, develop a hypersensitiveness of one another. This awareness drives the work of my students and allows their minds to move in freedom without hindrance or binding needed for identification. As a result, an endless supply of possibilities and information is unveiled.

I believe kinesthetic engagements of the body are deeply seeded in a relationship of phenomenology. The body becomes an extension of the environment, playing in an affect exchange. Knowledge and perception emerge as the body encounters events through experience. It is through handling that we form knowledge. This active phenomenological experience places confidence in the body. It is within this confidence that play becomes available.

Plato once said, “You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation”. In play, guards are dropped, judgment and egos removed. New movement experiences are welcomed and a student flourishes.

Success to me is training someone to explore, gathering information, problem solve and critically thread information together.

I am a collector of human portraits and a sculptor of life’s narratives. My work forces on kinesthetic experience of the body and the inner dialogs of our humanity- our relationships, struggles, strengths and triumphs. I believe dance is one of the most powerful mediums for affect. It is a modality of the senses, one of the purest forms of ephemerality. With every choreographic piece, I challenge myself to give honor to the body as a fleeting form, believing its delicacies and intelligence should guide the work.

I am given the opportunity to truly see the people, the mover, in front of me and to tell their story. It is an honor that I do not take for granted.