ABSTRACT
When asked to write about the influence of Maxine Greene on arts education, I thought of all the times I had heard her speak, with images that drew me in and a message that spoke to me in a way few other theorists have done. I reviewed my collection of her books and essays, and considered how many lines from them I have quoted in my own writing, how many pages I have assigned for students to read. Her work has guided my own professional journey as dance educator, and I cannot imagine any serious scholar in arts education who is not familiar with her work. Yet in trying to put into words the influence she has had on the field of arts education, I found it rather like trying to describe Martha Graham dancing; there is no substitute for the real experience of seeing or reading a master. It was at this moment of frustration, when I realized my words could not do justice to hers, that I recognized that Maxine Greene is not only a philosopher, but an artist as well. She creates not just scholarly articles, but alternate realities, and invites us to enter them with her. Through this journey, we come to see possibilities we might not have recognized otherwise.
