It’s Tuesday, and you know what that means? Tuesdays are for Teaching Artists! Meet Rachel Whorton Tuggle (she/her), a Music Director teaching artist with TADA! Youth Theater.
Originally from Oklahoma (where the wind REALLY DOES come sweeping down the plain!), Rachel now resides in Brooklyn, NY.
Get to know Rachel a little better with this fun Q&A!
I appreciate how TADA! encourages students to be active participants in the creation process. Singing, dancing, and acting are awesome skills to learn, but learning how to build characters, tell compelling stories, trust your own creative instincts, and collaboratively make choices are highly transferable life skills. I love hearing students’ unique ideas expressed with bold confidence.
This past year we’ve all lost vital community interaction. Arts education is able to create a communal feeling of ensemble, even virtually, while also emphasizing play and joy, empathy and kindness, and all the things we could use way more of these days.
I love when the students don’t need me anymore! When they’re so confident with the material we’ve worked on and they fully own that confidence. I love to sit back and enjoy the show knowing my students have all the skills, knowledge, and tools they need to succeed.
“Vacation” by The Go-Gos, because I think we could all use a little getaway, or at least a break from staring at screens!
People have told me I remind them of Dory from Finding Nemo. Not so much the memory loss thing, but I tend to have a pretty optimistic, “just keep swimming” mindset and am a very loyal friend.
Did you miss our other Teaching Artist features?
Meet Rose Van Dyne.
Meet Eli Gonzalez.
Meet Miriam Daly.
Meet Diana Lawrence.
Meet Mariela Dorado.
Meet Eric Coles.
Meet Angel Reed.
Meet Chaz Wolcott.
Meet Kim Jinhyoung.