Skype call

Really enjoyable Skype call tonight. Some really interesting discussions on getting back into studying, critical reading, transcribing, working with peole who don't want to take dance as their career and processes. I'm trying to work out whether or not to transcribe the whole of my group discussions or whether to just transcribe the parts I feel are relevant. Ainsley was saying how beneficial it had been for her to completely transcribe as it had given her opportunity to listen without being part of the discussion and she heard different things. Someone else was saying that they had just transcribed the parts that were relevant and still had them as audio files . How do you put onto paper people's thoughts and voice intonation? I'm sure I'll find my way but wondering if anyone else has any ideas or thoughts on this? It was interesting to see how Suzy put clips of her actually interviews into her oral presentation.  We talked about how this showed her interviews were quite informal and how where you conduct the interview can make a difference as to what happens in the interview. We also talked about how to guide the interview or discussion and how to draw out quieter people. Ainsley said her surveys had really seen the quieter people come out to say things. I was due to have my second group discussion yesterday but unfortunately it wasn't able to take place. I'm looking forward to the next one as I'm finding them so interesting.
Processes!  It's something that is coming up all over the place. Life is a process and I feel we need to stop looking at the outcomes and results of things we are doing and focus on the process and what we are learning from that. Society is so focused on the end product and not always interested in how we get there.  However, that's often the interesting bit and makes us what we are and what we've learnt. One of the reasons I deferred my first module was I was enjoying the process of writing the AOL's and I have no time limits on doing this MA so why rush a process. Yes it's important to try to stick to deadlines but its about balance as well.
Hoping you are all enjoying the process. What will happen this term? Excited!

Ethical Consideration

So I'm finally deciding that I'd like to look at the psychological side of teaching dance. What will this mean as far as ethical consideration is concerned?
-I'm looking at psychological issues in children so I will need parental permission for all children involved.
-I will need my DBS check to be in place.
-Some parents may wish to see any questionnaires or want to know the sort of information being asked of their children, so I will need to provide them with this.
-If I decide to video any classes again parental permission will need to be attained.
I will need to check the insurance policy of where I work to check I'm covered for the work and research I want to do.
-I will need to obtain permission from my work place to carry out this research.
-I will need to have the children's agreement to be involved in the research.

Anyone with any further thoughts would be gratefully received.

Why are you thankful for dance?

I saw a Facebook post called "Why are you thankful for dance?" which Ainsley posted and after reading it wanted to add my thoughts. It could almost be a research question!
I'm thankful for dance for many reasons and these have changed over the years, however I think they all contribute to who I am today. When I was little about 6 years old my parents divorced. For various reasons I had to grow up quick but my dancing was where I could be who I wanted to be, which was me. I wasn't the little girl in between my parents or trying to put on a brave face because our family home was being sold. I could express myself while I was dancing and loved the exertion and complexity that I was being asked to do. The studios became my home from home.
When I moved from Australia to England at the age of 14, dance was my connection to my home of Australia. It was what I knew in a world that had become very unfamiliar. Having lived in a country which was very safe and I could go where I wanted pretty much whenever I wanted, to an all girls boarding school in Hertfordshire in the middle of nowhere. Dancing was my release and my safe place.
At dance college I found a new way to express myself other than ballet which is what I had done largely up until then. Contemporary dance released so much more and going to London Contemporary Dance School to study contemporary and choreography allowed me to delve deeper. I gained new movement to express myself and my new Christian faith.
Teaching allows me to pass on my love of dance and still allows me time to look at how I'm developing and growing as a person with and through my dance.
Dance for me is a vital connection into who I am as a person. Not just as a teacher but as a wife, mother, friend and Christain. I am thankful that dance has been a part of who I am to help me in life and to help me to understand myself better.

Martha Graham and George Balanchine

Martha Graham and George Balanchine
Notions of knowledge,certainty and body positivism.
I've really enjoyed looking at these two incredible people who had such a huge impact on American dance and also dance worldwide. They came from very different perspectives in Graham wanting to dance in an expressive way that wasn't controlled by what she saw as the confines of Ballet technique. Balanchine came from a very classical  view point and wanted to to see this ballet technique developed. Graham created a movemnet vocabulary for the human body to express itself whereas Balanchine used the existing ballet vocabulary to express. I beleieve both had an uderstanding that their bodies were able to express and learn through movement often by-passing their brains. Balanchine is quoted as saying, "Don't think, dear, do!".

Graham is quoted as saying "I wanted to begin not with characters or ideas, but with movements... I wanted significant movement. I wanted it to be fraught with inner meaning, with excitement and surge." Balanchine also often started with movements rather than characters and was the first to develop a full length ballet without story line in "Jewels".

Whilst Graham wanted to impact political and social views in society with dance that reflected much of this, Balanchine wanted to create an audience that could appreciate the Arts in all their 'beauty'. They both were challenging the world around them but in very different ways. Graham's way was far more raw and wanted to get to the heart of issues whereas Balanchine wanted to create culture in America and it to be American not European.

They both believed that the body was an instrument to be used to communicate experience as action. Not necessarily stories but they were able to show the experience they had of life through the body and therefore understood the body could gain knowledge through experience. Therefore they both must have beleieved in embodiment.

Skype call 4th October 2015

Finding Time
We spent quite a while talking and sharing about ways to 'find time' to study for our MA. I found this extremely useful as I tend to be the sort of person who likes to block out chunks of time and if that gets interupted I struggle and feel like I'm on a slippery path away from ever getting to do the MA. Some useful advise was to make sure your family are on board ,which I know mine are. However sometimes they forget!! Also to get work on board which I know I haven't particularly done and will try to do.
The next thing was to find small pockets of time. I get to the point where if I have a spare 30 min I think I haven't got time to get anything significant done, so I don't. Some of the others on the skype call were encouraging to say use this time to read even just a few pages of a book or go back over something already done. If I can make a list of things that I need to do then when I have a few moments then I can jump straight back in where I left off.
Another suggestion was to keep notepads and pens around the house so that if you think of something that is related to your MA you can easily jot it down. Helen was also suggesting that if you're in the car to use voice memos.
Finally having cut everything into bit size chunks the other suggestion was to take a whole day and sit in a library without your phone so that you can get away and really focus,
I'm hoping to try a combination of the above and really hoping that this term goes really well.

Day 4 of the Summer Intensive

I haven't written on here in ages but doing the Summer Intensive has made me realise how important this space is so I thought I'd share my reflections from today.

20^th August 2015

A good day today on reflection. I felt much calmer today than yesterday although I have felt quite tired. We had a good session of Gyrokinesis with Adesola. We went further with the movement than we had on Tuesday and I really enjoyed moving in this way. I often talk to my students about when we dance we need to dance from within and then out to the audience. By working in this way, although very different from ballet, the thoughts of having the 5^th line I think is a similar thing to what I say about starting your dancing from inside to out. It’s about energy and where that energy comes from not just about the exercise.

Maybe because I’ve been tired today I have felt a little frustrated with a couple of the conversations that I had. I’m not always someone who puts my view across forcefully and have felt a bit over powered by people in conversations. I don’t like confrontation and so tend to let these things just happen. On refection how do I deal with this? Not very well and probably should carefully say something rather than just letting it wind me up. Maybe I’m winding other people up.

We had a conversation with a beanbag today and once we’d had this conversation talked about how the conversation had gone from one thing to the next through different themes and emotions and would probably be best described as a rhizome. I found this way of having a conversation very ordered and structured in a good way as you weren’t supposed to interrupt and you had to think about the connection from one to the next. We’re back to the connections theme.

Just a thought that occurred to me, none of the movement classes that we’ve done have had music. It hasn’t felt like we needed it maybe because of the use of breath and that rhythm coming through.

We talked about social media and how we can use it as a network. I think the whole Blog thing is starting to make more sense to me. However I still think this whole process needs you to be a little brave to step out and say what you think. Sometimes people will agree and sometimes they won’t. I know I won’t like it if people don’t like or agree with what I’m saying but I need to remember that doesn’t mean they don’t like me as a person. Finding out what other people think about a subject helps us to think about all sides of the subject and may even mean we change our minds which isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

This afternoon we watched another TED by Dave Isay. It was all about an interview pod and how interviewing 1 to 1 can be a great way to listen to other people and to be able to share with other what we really feel. Having real interaction with people can produce authentic experiences. These can be really important when researching something but remembering that by doing interviews we are not looking at finding the answer in those people.

We went through the structure of an essay again which helps as every time we go through it I seem to get I think a slightly better understanding of how it should be. We got into groups to try and put a mock essay together. I’m not sure how well this worked but I’ve tried to finish it off tonight. I feel like I still have some gaps in my understanding of what the Methods are but I’m hoping I can go through module 2 a bit more as I think some of this is in there. 

I’m starting to think about my research and whether to do something on the difference between teaching children and students ballet. I want to start finding some books and also talk to a few people to thrash out some ideas on this a bit more.

Module One

I did it! Feeling quite proud, very exhausted and really tired! Having deferred from handing in module one in January as the pressure became too much juggling work, family and MA, I have handed in today. Not quite sure how I did it as my husband has been really sick for the last 4/5 days and then my eldest son came home from school today sick as well.
I'm really pleased with what I've done. Whether I pass or not I have learnt so much and realised how much I do know about my job. Looking back and reflecting on all the different areas has made me realise how much I've done.
Bonus news of the day, one of my ex-students has been offered an apprenticeship with Atlantic Ballet!
Anyone who reads this I hope you have found the process as encouraging as I have. Onto the next module!!!