What can affect student's artistry?

 
 

As a student I commonly experienced intense anxiety when taking my graded dance examinations, disallowing me to perform at my best. I would worry so much about doing everything correctly that I would forget simple exercises I had practised hundreds of times. This crippling pressure to get good results and do everything perfectly lead to performance worse than me on a bad day (I am overly self-critical), so frustrating when I knew I could do better. Little mistakes on things I knew so well left me feeling angry and disappointed with myself, I would often walk into the exam and suddenly forget the plies, the exercise I should know the best! I’m sure I’m not alone in remembering that feeling of dread when the examiner would announce it was time for the rhythm section in Modern or Tap, why is it that I have suddenly forgotten how to count up to eight?!

Such pressure I feel particularly affected my level of artistry, that final layer of presentation and personality that gives life to movements through expression. With such focus on remembering the exercises and demonstration of good technique even smiling was hard as my mouth would shake with fear. Throughout the barre section of ballet exams (what a cunning invention, so thankful to have something to hold onto!) I would feel the initial panic disperse as I made my way through those familiar exercises I had spent months perfecting. However throughout the exam anxiety would cause tense shoulders and shallow breathing, making it impossible for me to dance with my usual softness, poise and expression.

I have taken many exams over the years as a young student, a vocational student and then as a teacher, I don’t think the exams I took as a dancer ever got any easier as the higher the exam, the greater the pressure. My practical teaching exams – ISTD Foundation in Dance Instruction and Certificate in Dance Education (Imperial Classical Ballet, Modern Theatre and Tap Dance) actually did get easier over time. I took a total of six exams altogether as well as a practical teaching assessment with an outside moderator (very scary).

The night before my first practical teaching exam (FDI Imperial Ballet) I had trouble sleeping with so much information whizzing round my head and the anticipation of what I could potentially be asked. I think my biggest worry was that I would walk in and suddenly forget my own name! This of course didn’t happen, the examiner was perfectly lovely and did her best to relax and encourage me. I found that the exam was more of a formal professional discussion alongside demonstration of syllabus knowledge and skills in choreography. My final exam (CDE in Tap) I don’t recall being nervous at all as I knew what to expect having been through the process many times I was therefore calm and confident.

Now that I am a teacher I try to reassure my students as best I can, I tell them that the hard work is done and to enjoy showing it off, the examiner is on your side and nerves help you do your best. I find myself feeling nervous for them as I don’t want them to be overly self-critical as a result of nerves, you can guarantee afterwards they will list what went wrong rather than what went well. It is reassuring and makes a big difference for the students when the examiner is particularly bubbly, smiley and encouraging as it can be quite a daunting experience for the children.

Excessive anxiety and perfectionism causes the individual to make unrealistic demands and expectations of themselves. Dance is both popular and highly competitive, it is also a very unnatural art form and often feels like we are continually attempting the impossible. Training is a lifelong commitment, there are not many professions you begin training for at preschool. Unhealthy competition and comparison with others overloads the student with negativity which will in turn affect their ability to do their best.

I did not experience overly critical self-analysis when I was attending dance lessons as a child, however I suffered a great deal at vocational college and I see it a lot as a teacher among my students. I think it is important to encourage our student’s self-belief and self-esteem as the negative impact can impair not only performance but also overall wellbeing. During teacher training we were taught the importance of giving constructive criticism, praise and encouragement to our students, I am a diligent advocate for this as I know the smallest hint of negativity can manifest itself.

I feel it therefore necessary to promote student’s understanding of the learning process, how we essentially get things wrong in order to get them right, to be patient, diligent and persevere. To focus on themselves as opposed to others, to ask for help when unsure, evaluate areas for improvement and how to learn from fellow students and role models.  ‘As dancers we are constantly failing and failing and that is all part of discovering how to master the body so it will do what we want when we want. That out of every failure comes a new discovery that we can use to make us stronger and better.’ (http://blog.discountdance.com/helping-your-students-overcome-their-insecurities/ Accessed 27.12.15)

Further Investigation

It would be beneficial to find ways to deal with such issues to ensure student’s artistry does not suffer under pressure. I plan to look for literature and raise discussions with my professional and online networks to investigate this matter.

Components of Performance Part 1

I wanted to consider further the various components of performance, I created the above mind map and looked into my personal experience of these. I found upon analysis that each component overlapped with another, I therefore grouped some of the similar titles together. I hope the following will bring about further questions to ask as part of my inquiry.

Influence and Meaning of Movements

From my own experiences of creating choreography and watching dance performance I feel that the movements should embody the emotions the dancer, the movements initially created by the choreographer. I plan to discover how choreographers explore human emotion and the influence upon the movement which is created. I feel awareness and appreciation of meanings behind movement will enable the dancer to cultivate expression and develop their own creativity, versatility and chorographical skills.

Below is a clip of contemporary choreographer and director Akram Khan discussing ‘Dust’ a piece created for English National Ballet commemorating the centennial of the First World War. Here, Mr Khan discusses how he considered words surrounding death - Life, Death, Absence and Memory, which originally came from a poem. This interview is evidence of how much research, thought and meaning is behind this piece of dance, he describes how he created movements have to utilise the classical dancers effectively.

Akram said: “The piece is inspired by two things. First, the concept of a trench, of the young men and old men all going into trenches, and disappearing. The other substantial part was inspired by the women. In WW1 there was a huge social shift towards women. They needed weapons made for the war, they needed a huge workforce. I felt this shift in role was interesting. They knew they would be letting go of fathers, husbands, and sons; they might lose them. Yet they were making weapons that would kill others’ fathers, husbands, and sons. It didn’t matter which side you were on – they both felt loss and death. But in order for someone to live someone else was putting their life on the line. That cyclical thing was what I wanted to explore.”( http://blog.ballet.org.uk/lest-forget-akram-khan-tamara-rojo-perform-together/ 15.11.15)

In the following clip we see how Mr Khan has explored this powerful concept through movement

https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=akram+khan+interview+lest+we+forget&FORM=VIRE1#view=detail&mid=87839F9A162DB329661987839F9A162DB3296619 (15.11.15)

Music Genre

The genre of music will of course influence the style, feel and subject of the dance, it is usually the starting point when creating choreography. When studying to be a teacher we were taught the importance of using a broad spectrum of genres in order to develop student’s versatility in style and expression. We were also encouraged to educate our students on the history and origins of a particular genre.

I remember having a lengthy discussion in class on the subject of Blues, we talked about how the slaves had created a genre based around the rhythm of the train, helping them along with their work to boost morale. We discussed how they would be feeling working long hours in the heat, innocent, desperate and longing for freedom. We put these thoughts and feelings into the choreography our teacher had created, the discussion informed the expression of the movements to bring it to life. We used visualisation throughout practising the choreography given by our teacher, she created a story on which to base the expression and quality of our movements. I am hoping to interview this particular teacher (who has since become an ISTD examiner) as I found her ideas and teaching so inspirational and effective in my own practice.

When studying for my ISTD CDE teaching qualifications I worked part time in an independent record store, one of the last few. I credit this experience with a positive influence on my teaching as it enabled me to explore new artists and genres of music. It opened my eyes to an eclectic array of music and it was delightful spending my days surrounded by friends who were as passionate about music as me. Each member of staff was employed based on their prior music knowledge and individual taste, it meant that we could each have a specialised area and we could also learn from one another. It was especially helpful to have my employer recommend music for my practical teaching examinations and classes. Although the shop is now long gone and I am teaching full time, my former colleagues and I keep in touch via Facebook sharing new findings of albums and songs we think each other might like.

As a dancer, teacher and music lover I am constantly on the lookout for unique pieces of music for my students. My personal music taste explores a huge range of styles including; Rock, Hip Hop, Funk and Soul, Blues, World, Electro and Classical. During my time at the record shop I discovered that many genres continually cross over thus creating new sounds. This concept has influenced me to experiment particularly with Ballet, allowing me to explore the modernisation of this, a trend currently emerging in commercial theatre. Through the exposure to diverse genres and the encouragement of student’s awareness, I feel that the teacher can encourage a diverse ability to express.

A particular song can be deeply meaningful for one individual but not for another, I feel that each individual will relate to songs differently and will therefore express their feelings and dance in their own unique way. Choreographing and indeed dancing to a piece of music you love is far more joyful than being forced to use a piece with which you cannot relate. This thought has influenced me to investigate; can music preference influence a dancer’s ability to perform effectively? Can a greater awareness of influence encourage a greater sense of performance?

Influential Performers Part 3

Bob Fosse (1927 – 1987)

One of America’s greatest choreographers also a performer, director, screen writer and actor, winner of eight tony awards famous for his productions Chicago, Cabaret and Sweet Charity. He was responsible for creating the traditional Jazz and musical theatre we know and love, performed with signature props such as Bowler hats, white gloves, canes and chairs. His distinctive style influenced generations to come, the hugely popular music video for ‘Single Ladies’ by Beyoncé in fact features Fosse inspired choreography.

In his early career he performed tap dance in seedy backstreet strip clubs, it was this experience that influenced his unique, burlesque style of choreography. At 19 he made his debut on Broadway and later moved to Hollywood with dreams of becoming the next Gene Kelly. He became a huge success and was responsible for producing many hit films and musicals.

This is a sophisticated, sassy style performed in heels and fishnets, only the more experienced, confident and mature dancer can do it justice. When I was working as a performer, Fosse numbers were always my favourite as I felt empowered, glamorous and strong dancing in this style. I feel that my classical training enabled me to achieve the elegant yet dynamic movements it required as well as the confidence to execute the strong performance element.

‘I see my style based on my own physical limitations and I’ve developed from them, a style because I’ve been dancing since I’m nine. So my style is kind of – I’ve stolen things from people, I’ve been influenced by people. I’ve been forced to dance in a certain way because I tend to turn in more when I’m dancing. I’ve never been a bravado person so a lot of things I do are very tiny and small. So it’s a maze of various influences.’ (Gottfried 1998 p81)

Fosse was a jack of many trades, he was a charismatic character and did not allow his technical limitations get in the way of his performing career, in fact he utilised his faults in order to create his unique style. He built this on his own quirks and idiosyncrasies - rolled in shoulders, turned in legs, small gestures of the hands and shuffling steps are signature moves, it takes a certain type of dancer to perform it with dynamic conviction.

Anna Pavlova (1881 – 1931)

Most famous for ‘The Dying Swan’ a solo created especially for her, set to the music ‘Carnival of The Animals’ Pavlova won over audiences with her sincere and delicate nature. When watching this solo you can see how much Ballet has evolved over the past hundred years. Despite her lack of refined technique she has gone down in history as a result of her emotional and heartfelt expression. If you can get past the turned in legs and rapid arm movements you can see something very pure and honest.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QMEBFhVMZpU 27.11.15

In class when attempting Legnani’s famous 32 fouette turns she was instructed by her Ballet master at the time:

"Leave acrobatics to others. It is positively more than I can bear to see the pressure such steps put on your delicate muscles and the severe arch of your foot. I beg you to never again try to imitate those who are physically stronger than you. You must realize that your daintiness and fragility are your greatest assets. You should always do the kind of dancing which brings out your own rare qualities instead of trying to win praise by mere acrobatic tricks." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_Pavlova 27.11.15

I feel that Pavlova is a rare artist who has gone down in history purely on the basis of her performance skills. This is not something one would get away with today as standards and expectations are much higher.

Influential Performers Part 2

Sylvie Guillem

“Sylvie broke the mould and redefined what a ballerina could be, post-Margot Fonteyn.” – Deborah Bull (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/theatre/dance/11218123/Why-Sylvie-Guillem-is-ready-for-her-swansong.html 16.11.15)

I have grown up admiring the work of Sylvie Guillem, her performing career spanned over 30 years which is basically unheard of for a Ballerina. As a child I was mesmerised by her acrobatic skill and her curiosity to explore beyond the realms of classical ballet. Like Nureyev she too was a nonconformist, he in fact mentored her in her early career at the Paris Opera Ballet.

Opinionated and strong willed she earned the nickname Madam Non (miss no!) She caused controversy amongst her peers and directors insisting on picking her own roles, later having many created especially for her.

She was an artist responsible for pushing the boundaries and influencing the evolution of Ballet, a concept which I find fascinating. As a Ballet lover and teacher I began to find traditional classical ballet a little boring a long time ago, I feel Sylvie was a pioneer among others responsible for pushing the boundaries to create something fresh and unique.

‘She could stand there, flex her feet and still be the most charismatic performer on this earth.’ (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/theatre/dance/11629739/Sylvie-Guillem-Life-in-Progess-Sadlers-Wells-review-the-most-charismatic-performer-on-earth.html 16.11.15)

New Adventures

‘Telling stories is more important to him than the steps he employs.’ Cameron Macintosh

In my opinion Matthew Bourne is the greatest dance story teller of our time, he has inspired a new audience to appreciate dance. New Adventures have accumulated a huge fan base over the years performing to sell out audiences across the world. Famous for reinventing and adding unique twists to old stories, New Adventures bring a fresh and current approach to dance.

I enjoy how the sickly sweet fairy tales Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella and The Nutcracker are transformed into gritty, contemporary depictions of modern life encapsulating comedy, tragedy and beauty. I enjoy the common feature of a male dominant role, male fairies and swans adds a new dimension bringing the story more up to date.

Matthew uses the company’s input during the creative process to cultivate choreography and bring the characters to life through the dancer’s own personalities.

Below is a clip from the BBC documentary ‘A Beauty Is Born’ showing rehearsal footage and interview with Matthew Bourne on his reinvention of Sleeping Beauty.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p012q15t (23.11.15)

‘His use of humour, grit, truth, sometimes violent sometimes beautiful his productions have taken dance in a direction I have never seen before.’

I have seen many of their productions over the years, Nutcracker! Cinderella, Dorian Gray, Sleeping Beauty and more recently The Car Man. I attended a Q and A with him at The National Theatre, was lucky enough to meet him and have him sign my book – ‘Matthew Bourne and His Adventures in Dance.’ (Conversations with Alistair Macaulay)

One particular scene has stayed with me since I saw it back in 2007, the snow scene in Edward Scissorhands. I still get chills watching it on YouTube, it was just so moving and beautiful I wanted to consider why it remains so special to me. The music ‘Ice Dance’ by Danny Elfman is haunting, magical and dreamy, the dancer’s soft, fluid movements float around the centrally placed ornate ice sculpture. The set a heavenly white, giving contrast to the earlier colourful comic book style scenes. The snow enhances the ethereal atmosphere, feeling the ice cold snow fall on my face made me feel part of the story.

It evoked many feelings within me, because I could identify with what the dancers were expressing. The characters were so lovable, particularly Edward I could really identify with him as most of us have experienced feelings of isolation in life as well as the joy of being accepted for your differences, coping with teenage awkwardness and the innocence of young love. As Matthew comments in the following clip ‘There’s an Edward in all of us.’

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KWp2UFm38Lo 25.11.15

We go to the theatre to get lost within a story, to be taken on a journey to feel something, to laugh, to cry. I want what I am watching to speak to me and move me, I want to identify with what I see and this clip does just that:

The snow scene:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_LgxmUKIFQ 24.11.15

Infuential Performers

As part of my research into the topic of performance I have investigated the attributes of influential performers. Below is a mind map of the dance artist that initially spring to mind:

Dance Artists Who Have Informed Performance

Martha Graham (1894 – 1991) The Graham Technique

‘The function of dance is communication… By communication is not meant to tell a story or to project an idea, but to communicate experience by means of action… out of this came a different use of the body as an instrument, as the violin is an instrument. Body is the basic instrument, intuitive, instinctive. As a result an entirely contemporary set of technics was evolved.’ (Brown, Mindlin & Woodford, 1998, p50)

Martha Graham is described as the mother of modern dance, her style and influence is still very much alive today, elements of which can be seen within the current ISTD Modern Theatre syllabi. The Graham Technique is often the centre of professional contemporary and classical dance training.

Graham developed an interest in the human body influenced by her father, a doctor specialising in nervous disorders, he believed that the body could express its inner senses which she found fascinating. Growing up she was not permitted to dance and therefore enrolled in an arts programme at college after her father’s death. She developed an original style incorporating jerky, inverted and rigid movements which clearly apposed classical dance, a far cry from the beautiful soft aesthetics of Ballet. The method of this movement requires considerable physical strength to accomplish such lines, it was therefore necessary for Graham to educate her students in the appreciation of strength. A vocabulary of exercises was devised in order to train the body in this unique manner and is still taught extensively today.

‘Since the purpose of dance is to translate emotional experience in physical form, in the Graham technique every movement must have a clear perceivable meaning.’(Mazo 1977, p189)

‘I wanted to begin not with characters or ideas, but with movements. I wanted significant movement, I did not want it to be beautiful or fluid, and I wanted it to be fraught with inner meaning with excitement and surge.’ (www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/episodes/martha-graham/about-the-dancer/497 8.11.15)

Graham’s work explores the darker depths of human emotion, the relentless use of contraction I feel signifies inner turmoil and sorrow. The signature ‘strike’ an angular arm line, as if shooting an arrow from a bow - strong and warrior like, perhaps representing battles of such strife. The distinctive ‘pleading’ position - palms forward at the hips, conveying vulnerability and desperation. Graham and her company dancers gave emotionally charged performances fraught with intensity and solemnity. Her dances were created to represent the current time – ‘Life today is nervous, sharp and zigzag. It often stops in mid-air. That is what I aim for in my dances.’ (Mazo 1977, p161)

When I first discovered the Graham Technique as a first year student I thoroughly disliked it, I found the lines ugly, impossible to get right and I did not understand the concept, why were we being taught to move in such a way? We had a guest teacher come in to teach us a piece from ‘Primitive Mysteries’ we were to dance as Mary at Jesus’s crucifixion. This seemed odd to me and truthfully a little boring (I was only sixteen!), however after learning the complex components and spending the majority of the afternoon in a rigid contraction I began to embrace its obscurity. At the end of the workshop I watched everyone perform, it all made sense the movements embodied the yearning, sorrow and emotional pain, it was truly moving to watch and indeed also to dance.

I use Graham’s influence extensively in my work when choreographing lyrical or contemporary pieces of a more sombre nature, I feel these types of movements portray those darker emotions effectively.

‘My dancing is not an attempt to interpret life in the literary sense. It is an affirmation of life through movement.’ (www.biography.com/people/martha-graham-9317723 4.11.15)

An example of The Graham Technique and its meaning can be seen in this youtube clip:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zYu-wL2ti80 12.11.15

Margot Fonteyn (1919 – 1991)

‘The most athletic is not necessarily the best, Fonteyn’s artistry and discernment make her a dancer to cherish.’ (www.telegraph.co.uk/margotfonteyn 7/11/15)

Margot Fonteyn was a classical ballerina whose legacy has gone down in history as a result of her charismatic and heart felt performances. Her portrayal of Aurora in The Sleeping Beauty was considered to be the definitive of the era. Fredrick Ashton created many roles especially for her outside of the traditional classical Ballets. Fonteyn was not a technical virtuoso however she danced with passion, serenity and a unique softness, she was a natural performer and a true storyteller. Such qualities lead to a television career following her retirement from dance.

Her famous partnership with the equally brilliant Rudolf Nureyev propelled her career further, despite being nearly twenty years his senior, they complimented each other both technically and artistically. She credited him with ‘giving her a new burst of energy’ while he claims she ’inspired him and helped calm him’, he said of Fonteyn that they danced with ‘one body, one soul’. They learned from one another and performed at their very best when together.

Rudolf Nureyev (1938 – 1993)

‘Give your insides, blood! Perhaps something is dull? Do something about it. Gamble. Make the performance pulsate.’ (http://nureyev.livejournal.com/5370.html?page=1 11.11.15)

Nureyev, a late comer to the world of dance did not enrol into a dance school until the age of 17, at 23 he became famous after he defected from the Soviet Union to the west to perform with the Royal Ballet.

His artistic skills as a performer allowed him to explore the expressive side of dance, he was an individual artist and a nonconformist. He redefined the role of the male ballet dancer, an artist in his own right no longer serving purely to partner the women

He excelled predominantly in classical Ballet and later on branched out into modern dance, proving his versatility. He later went on to direct, choreograph and act, he even became a conductor in his final years before he tragically died Of AIDS.

He attracted a new audience to the dance world, more than any other dancer in history, if you ask the average Joe to name a dancer Nureyev is sure to come up.

Later in his career he directed and choreographed extensively for many companies as well as appearing in films, he was also famously a guest star on The Muppet Show in the 1970s, which clearly demonstrated his celebrity status.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PUKmzKXNnSs (12.11.15)

Tak 4d: Literature Review (Part 3)

The Heart of Expression, Teaching Mime and Acting for Ballet

(By Pilar Garcia)

http://gelseykirklandacademyofclassicalballet.org/the-heart-of-expression-teaching-mime-and-acting-for-ballet/

(Accessed 3/4/15)

The author of this article is a mime and acting teacher who works extensively with dancers aiming to 'chase the gold in a performance'. Having trained in Ballet from a young age up to advanced level, it became apparent throughout her training that the acting element eclipsed her dance ability. This passion for acting lead her to coaching younger students to act within their Ballet roles, working alongside the Ballet teacher to achieve characterisation and animation bringing the vision to life.

Her professional role entails nurturing student's expression in performance through the means of acting and mime. The author credits the use of mime particularly in early training to encourage artistic growth, to add the expression a movement requires, giving purpose to Ballet in terms of communication and story telling. The author's personal explanation of performance I consider to be the most fathomable I have so far come across; one's ability to dramatise movement, giving it meaning and enable the power of communication.

She encourages students to seek counselling for self esteem and confidence issues, a concept addressed by my previous literature review. She feels low confidence will inhibit not only the dancer's ability to fully express themselves but also impair the learning process, affecting student's potential.

Garcia believes technique provides the foundation, a canvas on which to create the visage allowing a means to express oneself through, therefore technique and performance cannot exist without each other. 'The purpose of technique is to ultimately serve the artistic endeavour which relies on the heart of the expression, otherwise you will not have a whole dancer.' The concentration solely on technique can bury the joy of what one is doing, this now leaves me to ponder, to what extent is technique overlooked in favour of performance? Reading this article has lead me to ask, what is more important technique or artistry? A question I intend to include within my inquiry research.

I now consider it necessary to gain the view point of other arts professionals not just dance teachers.

The collaboration of dance, acting and music all contribute to the overall performance, I therefore now need to look at interpretation and influence of music on performance.

Task 6a Pilot Survey

Here is a link to my pilot survey, I would really appreciate any feedback as it is still in the planning stages, let me know if you found the questions straight forward and if it was easy or hard to fill in, I look forward to your comments.


https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/JK7BZ66

Task 4d: Literature Review (Part 2)

The Student Dancer; Emotional Aspects of the Teaching and Learning of Dance

(Julia Buckroyd 2000)

The author herself is not a dance artist or teacher but has worked extensively with dance students throughout her career. She worked as Student Counsellor at London Contemporary Dance School, (a role I did not know existed until reading this book). She is the the director of studies for counselling at university and works as a psychotherapist and consultant to many professional dance schools. This book gives an over view of the emotional and psychological aspects of dance teaching and training. Information for this book has been sourced from staff at leading dance training establishments such as Central School of Ballet, Elmhurst and Arts Educational School

The relevance of this book to my inquiry is based on the notion that one's ability to express oneself derives from one's level of confidence. The book explores what factors might affect this throughout the process of emotional development in childhood and adolescence. I have previously studied this subject in the 'Life Span and Development' module of my Certificate in Dance Education (ISTD) and feel it important to explore this subject further. 'The Student Dancer' enables the reader to gain a greater understanding of how and why students express certain behaviors and how these could be strongly linked to the ability to perform.

Student's self belief is vital in order to achieve a level of competency, this is a common occurrence I feel my students struggle with. The book explains how factors such as upbringing, parenting and bullying can have an effect on a child's emotional and social development. For example, some children are encouraged to voice their feelings and express themselves fully where as other families strongly discourage this behavior, therefore resulting in a more introvert child. This could be one explanation why some children are socially more confident than others, the book gives a study of students displaying varying behaviors and how this will affect their presence and ability to 'add colour' to their work.

The author describes how dancers can command an audience through their charisma, presence and ability to communicate, in spite of technical limitation. This raises the question, would what audience members rather see, technical excellence or performance? Obviously they would rather see both, but to what degree? I suppose technical ability underpins the performance and the response it evokes from the audience. I feel that technical expectations continue to rise through standards and greater access to dance and forms of media.

Task 4d: Literature Review (Part 1)

I have selected various pieces of literature to review as part of my research based around the topic of performance. The current working title for my inquiry is: How can we as teachers develop the following in our students: Artistry, Presentation, Performance, Interpretation, Expression?

Developing Performance, Expression and Communication Skills in Ballet

(Angeline Lucas 2013)

www.danceadvantage.net/performing-with-artistry (Accessed 14/4/15)

The author explores the concept of performance and what aspects this entails, something I find quite difficult to describe. This article was obviously written for dance students wishing to improve their performance skills, however I feel teachers can equally benefit from ideas and methods within this article. I particularly liked how she explained the subject matter, 'how to breathe life into your work', which explains my topic perfectly. The article is intended to increase one's awareness of this subject and asks the questions, what is performance? How can students be more expressive?

The author (a dance teacher) believes, from personal experience that such skills are mastered and continue developing over time. The notion that performance incorporates an individual's charisma, stage presence, artistic sensitivity through one's ability to command attention, sensitively respond to the music/choreography and show a sense of confidence.

She gives varying examples of imagery that could enhance performance, I feel that the suggested methods would also perhaps be used in meditation or in a drama class. Imagery is an effective teaching method particularly in Ballet as some movements are so difficult to describe. Imagery needs to be age appropriate to allow the student to relate it to personal experience, it can be a wonderful form of motivation and promote greater understanding. I thought her ideas were imaginative and I would like to try these out on my students in order to assess the effectiveness.

This article is based around teaching Ballet which is useful for me as I teach a lot of Ballet, however I wish for my inquiry to be based around improving skills in various genres including Modern, Tap, Contemporary and Jazz. I feel that the principle of this article can be applied to teaching other forms of dance.

This piece of literature will be useful to my inquiry as it incorporates the aspect of musical awareness which I plan to explore further. The author describes how the dancer should give the illusion that the music is 'channeling through you' and she encourages her students to take time to listen carefully and describe the music in detail. This approach will enable the student to not just focus on the steps but make the music interpretation a priority allowing the significance to become the subject matter of the dance.

In a typical class, set syllabus music can become rather uninspiring for the student (I recall thinking this myself). Which raises the question, how far can the use of free music in class influence one's performance skills? If a student is dancing to the same piece of music week in week out, how will they be inspired to express themselves? A broad musical education will potentially contribute to one's versatile ability to convey a wide range of moods and genres.

Choreography might need to be expressed in a certain way by the demands of the syllabus where as

a solo piece might require individual interpretation. I think that awareness can be gained through the syllabus work, paving the way for a more individual approach through maturity and experience.

Reader 6 and Skype Session

Reader 6 and Skype Session

Upon reviewing reader 6 and taking part in the group Skype session, I have gained an understanding of ways in which I can utilise various research tools in order to formulate my inquiry plan. I am aware of methods used to collect varying forms of data, depending on it's purpose. Reader 6 has enabled me identify how will I go about obtaining the information I need, considering how I will record and the archive this. With regards to part 5, I can apply knowledge of ethical practice to my research to ensure I do not cause any negative affliction to others.

I feel the nature of my inquiry requires a predominantly qualitative approach as a lot of my research will be based around people's opinion's and personal experience. However I feel a degree of quantitative research will enable me to collect less complex statistical forms of data and reach a wider audience. In order to to gain a wide perspective of my topic, 'Artistry In Performance' I propose to arrange interviews with professionals in varying roles to inform my research, these include; My employers, colleagues, ex students, Drama Teacher, Ballet Pianist, Examiner, Company Director and a Company Dancer. I am continually developing my questions for the roles of these individuals through the interaction of like minded professionals .

I plan to conduct class discussions and observations with my students, upon being given permission from themselves, my employer and parents (ethical practice). I feel it would be an ideal time as we are working towards exams and I will tackle the inevitable anxiety that students often experience affecting performance under pressure. During this process I will be keeping a work journal allowing me to reflect and record my findings. My school also have their annual production coming up in June so it will be interesting to analyse the degree of performance skills in varying ages and abilities of students during rehearsal and performance.

A survey will allow me to discover popular opinions of teachers and dance professionals, this information will enable me to analyse trends and variations. A survey is a useful tool as I can send it out via post, email and share it on social media sites, again considering the ethics relating to this tool.

I like the idea of conducting a focus group, however it would take careful organising to ensure that participants were all able to attend, given the location and time. I think a focus group would be useful as it's a more informal approach to gathering research, based more on discussion. As detailed in Reader 6, it can encourage the more self conscious individuals to voice their opinion. It would be interesting to analyse what conclusions arise from this method of research.

In the group tutorial we spoke about the importance of creating a time line in order to enable to formulate a schedule to organise ourselves, this allowed me to plan my time realistically as I must confess I am always one of those last minute students in a big stress at the end of term! At present I am currently catching up on a few previous tasks as well as formulating my plan. I feel my literature reviews will be ongoing as I continue to discover more and more throughout my ongoing research on particular topics that relate to my inquiry.

Task 4b: Special Interest Group - The Art Of Performance

Please join my Special Interest Group by following the link on google:

https://plus.google.com/u/0/communities/105881750232330332856

Or on Face book if you'd prefer:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/809665509117098/

My special interest group will help me to network with other dance professionals as well as those who enjoy watching dance and fellow students on BA PP Arts. I am looking to explore how performance skills can be developed in individuals, as a teacher I feel that this is the most difficult area to address. I feel that as dance teachers we spend our time teaching technique, musical awareness, vocabulary and choreography, but how do we encourage a student's own sense of artistry and performance? What do audiences consider to be an engaging performance and why?

As teachers, most of us generally teach to a syllabus as we find it a good basis for structure and repetition, an order to follow to base each lesson around. However it is equally as important to teach unset work in order to develop student's ability to pick up and retain choreography, encourage a varying repertoire of styles within a genre and influence versatility. I gained a greater insight into the debate between benefits of syllabus vs free work from Jess Marshall's blog (Module 3).

This lead me to consider how this might affect one's development of artistry, the ability to add interpretation, character and 'bring to life' a set of steps or movement, to commutate and captivate an audience. In my SIG I would like to find out what fellow teachers, performers, students and dance lovers consider to be truly memorable performance and their reasoning.

Anna Pavlova was not renowned worldwide for her technique and impeccable lines, but for her engagement with her audience. When watching footage of her perform, I truly believe that she is a forlorn swan dying of a broken heart. This is what made her truly iconic, I wonder where this ability came from? I plan to explore further...

I am a massive fan of Matthew Bourne's New Adventures as I particularly enjoy the animation of the dancer's characters, they are so entertaining and charismatic, there is never a dull moment on stage.

I often find stories sometimes difficult to follow when watching dance productions, however I never seem to get lost when watching New Adventures, which gives credit to their fabulous story telling abilities. Upon attending a Q and A with Matthew Bourne I discovered that one of the prerequisites for his dancers are their excellent acting abilities, which makes sense as dancers are of course story tellers.

Through my Special Interest Group I hope to raise the discussion of possible topics such as:

What is stage presence?

Is it something one is born with or can it be taught?

I wish to encourage members to share:

Who are your favourite performers/performances/companies and why?

What is it that makes their performance so captivating?

How do you as dance professionals encourage and develop a sense of artistry and performance?

I plan to share some of my favourites and explore my reasoning for preference.

From a teaches point of view I would also like to utilise my SIG to discover how other practitioners and teachers develop performance skills in their students. I wish to discuss what factors might affect one's ability to perform, what methods have proved useful and how others raise confidence effectively to improve performance.

I have personally found that the exposure to performing to an audience on a regular basis has allowed some of my students to improve their performance skills. We are lucky at my school in that we do a show once a year as well as summer fêtes and festivals.

However I expect students to perform during class so it becomes second nature to them and I often find they are rarely able do this. I feel these skills should be nurtured with equal importance to all the other elements of class, but how?

Auditions for professional performing work demand the dancer's ability to perform a piece of choreography learned in a short space of time. This is the ultimate aim for our students so it is our job to prepare them adequately as a performer, this is an area I particularly struggled with as a dancer which hindered my chances of employment and I found it particularly challenging to perform choreography learned in that short space of time.

However the majority of our students will be attending class as a hobby purely for pleasure, to keep active and express themselves. Dance training I feel gives individuals vital skills for a world outside of dance instilling motivation, discipline and perseverance from a young age encouraging commitment and dedication in whichever path they wish to pursue. I came across an article on Adesola's blog: '6 Reasons Why Dancers Make Awesome Employees' (http://www.partnershipmovement.org/news/p/6-reasons-why-ballet-dancers-make-awesome-employees/ which discusses further the subject of transferable skills from a dance background.

I look forward to discussions and the sharing of ideas surrounding performance skills from my peers and fellow arts professionals.

Skype Tutorial for Part 5 17/03/15

Part 5: Professional Ethics

During the group Skype tutorial with Adesola regarding Task 5, we discussed the various aspects of planning a research project and the impact ethics have on our inquiry’s. I feel that during the tutorial, I gained a greater insight of what ethics actually are and how they affect myself and others, it is the definition of one's actions on other people. I feel it is a much broader subject than I initially understood, it made me consider my inquiry question in greater depth and the various issues I should consider when conducting my research.

I had previously planned on who I was going to interview for my research, I thought it would be a great idea to interview some of my students in order to gain an perspective on what they enjoy/find most challenging in their work and discuss what has helped them to overcome certain obstacles. However this could potentially have a negative impact, the students may not be 100% truthful, feel self conscious, might feel 'put on the spot' or not understand why they are being interviewed. I do not want my research to cause insecurity so I therefore decided that a class discussion and analysis might be more a more appropriate method, but again the ethics of this need to also be considered!

We looked at alternative ways to word our questions and how these words might alter the direction of our inquiry. I re worded my initial question to, 'What varying methods of developing performance skills do successful professionals use?' This brought about the query of, well what is one's definition of success? The definition of success will be different for each individual as everyone has their own unique personal ideals and goals. Therefore as a result of this, I feel I need to perhaps look at the varying ways of asking my question, baring in mind that it will alter over time and bear in mind I cannot predispose the outcome.

We discussed the importance of the use of data, what you draw from the analysis and how you evaluate it. If two people were to ask the same question of inquiry, they would ultimately result in very different outcomes, as the significance is in the process. We need to ask the questions, how am I engaged in what I am doing? How is my research impacting others? The research is all about making yourself better, in turn helping other people.

Starting Module 2

Principles Of Professional inquiry

I have to say that upon reading through the hand book and reader 4, I felt rather overwhelmed by the prospect of choosing a topic to form my line of inquiry. There are so many aspects involved in my role as a dance teacher, how would I decide on just one area to focus on? The answer lies in the process of discovery I am about to embark upon through the theories and research discussed in Reader 4.

I am studying on BA PP Arts as I would like to improve the quality of my work and my career prospects, I hope to eventually work as a lecturer in a practical sense in either further or higher education. I also like the idea of being an Arts Journalist, but this will perhaps more likely become a hobby for me! I am currently predominantly a Ballet Teacher however I am qualified and experienced in many genres of dance, in the near future when my degree is complete I also plan to work towards my ISTD Licentiate in Imperial Ballet in order to take my work in Ballet to the next level.

There are many areas of my profession I would like to develop further, these include: Choreography, class management, developing student's confidence and performance skills, ways in which to increase student's musical awareness/appreciation as well as continuing to develop more effective teaching methods. In order to identify these areas I brainstormed and created a diagram of headings incorporated in my role as a Dance Teacher, I wrote all the aspects I could think of in order to establish some options to explore. As you can guess, I have now possibly ended up with too much! (But it's better than not enough!)

Brainstorming diagram:

The first task for me is to devise a set of questions to establish a potential topic to form my inquiry. To allow me to decide what questions need to be asked, I reflected upon areas of teaching I find challenging and considered what aspects I struggled with myself as a dance student. What areas did I not understand and why? I often ask myself what could my teacher have done differently in order to address certain issues effectively?

I recall always struggling with my confidence, which resulted in affecting my performance. At the time I feel that my teachers assumed that maybe I wasn't serious about what I was doing which was not the case. In light of this, I have always strived to create a positive learning environment, to always be approachable and encourage communication to establish a good student/teacher relationship. I feel that this has been a motivation for me to develop understanding of individual circumstance, I would like to develop this further.

Skills in creating Choreography I feel are crucial in the effective delivery of successful training. When choreographing a piece I call upon past experience and also my influences, had I not had such a wide range of training and been taught by lots of different teachers, I feel I would find my skills very limited. Having said that I do run out of ideas and would like to broaden my abilities in this field.

I considered effective teaching I had received which has influenced my practice today, one particular teacher who I trained with for my ISTD Modern and Tap teaching qualifications, (who I plan to interview as part of my inquiry) encouraged me to develop a good musical education in my students. As a huge music fan myself, this made perfect sense, a lot of children's awareness usually only stretches as far as current chart music and Disney songs. In order to vary in styles of choreography and enhance performance it is necessary to provide background knowledge of the era, culture, heritage and genre to ultimately produce a more versatile performer. I plan to discuss this further with this particular teacher during my interview.

So I feel I now have a starting off point and a few several aspects to explore, through this reflection I have developed my questions which I plan to ask my two employers a Dance Teacher, a Drama Teacher, as a fore mentioned I plan to ask one of my teachers from college who is an examiner. Finally, I feel it would be interesting to interview two of my students one young, one old (with the permission of my employer and their parents of course!) as this may throw up further areas for research.

Task 4a

Here are a set of questions I have devised in order to help lead me to explore a potential topic further. My questions will obviously vary depending on who I will be asking, these questions are for my 2 employers and also my former tutor for CDE (Alex, Jon and Rachael):

• As a teacher, what do you find is the most challenging aspect of your practice?
• What areas do you find are the most difficult to develop?
• How would you differentiate the approach to this regarding different age ranges?
• What teaching methods do you find useful for developing performance skills?
• How do you build confidence in your students?
• And do you find this helpful in encouraging their sense of performance?
• What factors do you consider when selecting music for a piece?
• Do you have a particular process or formula when creating choreography?

Possible questions for my students, 1 senior, 1 junior:

• What parts of the lesson do you enjoy the most and why?
• What do you least enjoy and why?
• Do you prefer syllabus work or free work and why?
• Who are your role models in dance?
• What is it about these individuals that you like?
• What do you understand by ' a sense of performance?'

I look forward to receiving the answers in order to aid my research.