Research as Chreography - A little gem of wisdom

This little gem has made my Saturday night. The essay found in the link below has backed up what we have learnt in Module 1 about applying our practice to different things and helped bring relevance to what I am doing now in Module 2.

The essay was written by a dance scholar so resonated with me immediately but no matter what your practice is, is there a formula that you use that you can transpose into the idea research?

 After listening to most of us in Module 2 question if we are on the right path or how do we know if we are doing the right thing, I felt that I had to share this with you all.

"It seems important at this point to speak more about the kind of research I do and its relationship to other kinds of research. Some researchers are interested in pursuing questions of ‘Truth,’ or as close as they can get to it. For example, what kinds of dances were done by 15th century Italians? What are the effects of certain traditional dance warm‐up exercises? Other researchers, including myself, pursue questions of ‘Meaning,’ such as, how do different individuals perceive different kinds of dance? How do they perceive its value in their lives? The answers to this second set of questions do not exist as facts to be uncovered by diligent researchers, but are constantly in the process of being created. What we learned about reliability in 8th grade science does not apply, because the answers change over time. As different as these types of research are, all researchers, even those seeking objective truths, are involved in interpretation. We pay attention to things, select from our observations those which appear to be significant, perceive relationships between/among them, think about what these might mean, and make something out of the whole process. And what we as researchers, and thus interpreters, bring to our work is different because of who we are. One difference is that we as artist/researchers often choose to investigate phenomena of little interest to those outside the field. Despite desires for objectivity, we bring our passions, which determine what parts of the world we look at and the lenses we use to look at them. Both are shaped by our experiences as dancers." (Stinson, S.W, 2007)

The full essay can be found at https://doi.org/10.1080/14647890601029618

Bibliography - 

Stinson, S.W (2007) Research as Choreography [online] https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14647890601029618 (accessed Feb 2018)

Skype Call Catch Up

Today's blog is a summary of the 2 Skype calls I have had this week. Tuesdays discussion group led by Helen, was mainly us Module Two students discussing our Inquiry Topics, and how to sort through our ideas. Our discussion led me to be inspired to put my ideas through different lenses. Different questions will help me refine the subject of my interest. Such as:

Who are you asking? - Different subjects will lead me to discuss my ideas with different people

Look at relevance and value - Does my subject have relevance to what I'm doing now? Will it add value to my practice?

Are you making a contribution? - Where can I fill in the gaps in the discourses in my practice?

We also discussed Artefacts briefly for those on Module 3 and I found it really helpful to think of an artefact as a Mode of Sharing from your practice. So to step away from the idea of it being an object and it being something in a less static form. 

Today was the Module 2 Skype call based on Mapping To Build Understanding. The conversation really helped create a mental image of how we can add layers to our inquiry ideas by ensuring we go down every route in search for different angles.

One thing that gave me a 'LightBulb' moment was the discussion that this is a Research Project and that there should be as much emphasis on the research as the inquiry discussion.

It's recommended that we look into different ways that we can research. 

How do people research in my practice? 

How can I push the boundaries of what I understand as research? 

What other methods can I find outside of the main routes, such as surveys and interviews?

We were reminded that we are looking for qualitative research and I have been concerned that some are my topics of thought maybe a bit mainstream and literature is only on newspaper or discussion groups online but Adesola reminded us to consider the Ethical Considerations in order to find what the scholars are saying.

For Example, ask - "Should Dance Be Judged" as opposed to "Have Dance Competitions Become About Tricks?

This week's Skype Sessions have given me lots of clarification on where to go next and I'm looking forward to mapping my research ideas and topic ideas and putting them through the handbook cycle, to see what direction I take.

Campus Session - 29/10/18

A week has flown by since my first campus session, but I can still remember my feeling of excitement and apprehension trying to find the session room in the maze that is Middlesex University. I had ensured I wrote a few questions that I had been meaning to ask but other than that I had no idea what the session may entail. I was just excited to meet my fellow learners and make the whole experience seem REAL!

It was great to meet Adesola and Maria in person, and I was joined by Liza, Lee and Beverley. We starting by introducing ourselves and our practice. I went first and reeled off my life story, throwing out acronyms of ISTD and DDI assuming that what I was saying made sense. After my 4 minute epilogue Adesola commented "It was a nice story, but was it a description of my practice?" The group took notes on what I had said and fed it back to me. Lee who is a graphic designer ascertained from my speech that I ' taught some street dance and enjoyed turning non dancers into performers'  This feedback clicked with me instantly and has given me much more focus for the introduction of my Essay. I need to imagine I'm explaining what I physically do to someone that knows nothing about the arts and performance world. Here are a few notes I made for myself to consider when introducing myself.

Think more as an artist what you bring to things. 

How I use the mind of a dancer to do things. 

How I use my approach ; what is my approach?

Tagline vs the way that we do it.

The way I teach, what ethics I use, what theoretic paradigms I use. 

Teaching approaches ;considerations. 

Be specific, what my practice means to me.

How you see your self connected to the things around you. Ethical considerations.

What I do - Inspire dancers age 3 - 17, at weekly dance classes in genres of Ballet, Tap, Modern and Street Dance through displaying my passion and love for dance and seeking opportunities to expand knowledge, educate and improve current dance skills of students through set graded work established by a well recognised Dance Society. Promote enjoyment of dance. Choreograph for all dance styles ensuring students can relate to the material and can explore their range of techniques used in my teaching. Seek popular music and trends. Work with fellow practitioners to synchronise and enhance teaching methods and skills.  

Opposed to - I am a dance teacher with the ISTD, I started dancing at age 5 and danced professionally abroad. On returning to the UK I took my DDI and now teach syllabus work to children age 3-17.

The main thing to consider was not being defined by a label or tagline, explain what goes into that label.

We then transferred these thoughts to the subject of research.

Here are my notes from the discussion -

What is research?

The thing it's about and the way that it’s been done. 

A way we do something colour’s what it is. - What angle we begin our Research will have an impact on what we find.

Qualitative – understanding every level vs Quantity – looking at many items  

Research can be approached from different angles and achieve different results each time.

You will always find what you’re looking for. In research and life, find ways to find what you don’t know what you’re looking for. Don’t stop if you think you’ve found an answer. 

We then wrote a statement on our thoughts - 

 Personally, I have subjects in mind when researching, things I want to explore, however I often go into these topics with an idea of where my views stand. When researching ethics, I started with a question I already had a view on, but this then lead to further writings. It lead me to PhD papers I really enjoyed reading or could relate to that I wouldn't have found in my initial google search. 

This then lead us to discuss algorithms and while you may think you are finding new unrelated literature you very well may be boxed in by technology.  

Below are some ideas on how to look outside the box - 

Use bibliographies to source information - are the same authors reoccurring?

Different search engines - not just Google

Look into what people are saying from different fields, outside of your practice.

We also spent time trying to define the meaning of Ethical Considerations, not just seeing them as a subject of Good Vs Bad, but how we need to consider the impact reading someone else's work can have on us or us sharing our work can have on others.

There are certain ALERT WORDS that should be considered.

REAL - what is real to me might not be real for someone else, it;s a case of beliefs and feelings. 

MEANINGFUL - We all have a different idea of what is meaningful for us. When writing you had a meaningful experience, can you use a different term or define why it was meaningful to you?

My campus session ended with us making videos in pairs with the information we had collected in discussing research. Mine and Liza's video is on Adesola's blog and I have to give full creative credit to Liza, she is a whizz with a movie maker. The 2 hour trip was definitely worth it and I learnt a lot discussing ideas with Lee, Beverley and Liza. I also feel like I have expanded my professional network and also discovered that there is a Costa Coffee on Campus, but they don't serve Flat Whites???