Updates on Inquiry Process

Tutorial 2/3/16

During my first tutorial of Module 3 with Paula we explored the potential areas of artistry to focus my professional inquiry. We discussed the concept of dance as ‘a living art form’ the purpose of which to evoke a reaction in the audience, to make them think and feel. I would like to lay emphasis on Musical Interpretation because it plays a key role in the influence and purpose of a particular piece of dance. It would be insightful to examine ways teachers, dancers and choreographers interpret music and how they have refined these skills. Investigate methods dance practitioners use to explore and develop forms of expression to depict mood, character and simply bring energy and dynamics to a performance.

I feel that I could incorporate approaches used by drama teachers in order to develop confidence in artistic expression. In terms of using drama within dance training, Paula suggest I look into the methods of Stanislavski and consider how this technique could potentially be applied to dance. I therefore plan to research his work and discover if dance practitioners use this to develop expressive performance.   

We discussed my Professional Artefact which could be in the form of a lesson plan created specifically to focus on ‘Artistic Development’. I feel that this will allow me to focus solely on musical interpretation as this can become lost within the quest for technical excellence. A lesson plan will enable me to demonstrate ways I could build student’s artistic skills and apply my newly acquired knowledge. This could include devising improvisational techniques, drama activities, exploring and discussing various genres of music. Develop creativity and choreographic skills, explore storytelling, mime and the development of certain roles or characters. It would of course be unethical to film me teaching this class due to parental consent and child protection issues, I will therefore write a concluding evaluation to record my findings.

Discussions

I have been engaging with my special interest group, (The Art of Performance) to determine ways teachers encourage musical interpretation in class. One teacher suggested using part of the lesson to listen and discuss varying genres of music and then perhaps set tasks to explore the expression in groups. Another teacher commented how the use of peer assessment encourages students to identify good performance and apply this to their work. Student’s confidence increases through regular performance experience and also by contributing their thoughts and opinions in class discussion.

By asking, what did you like and why? What might you do differently next time? Can enable the children to consider ways they can progress creatively, this a method commonly used in mainstream education particularly in practical subjects. When teaching key stage one and two P.E (in dance, drama and gymnastics) last year, we often used this at the end of each class to positively evaluate each other’s performance as it is motivational. As a result, I have recently been encouraging competent students to demonstrate positive examples in class, which has proved more effective than when I demonstrate.

A teacher from my professional network highlighted the importance of encouraging expressive performance early on in training to build confidence and shed inhibitions. She also commented that the students who study drama are more expressive in dance performance. We both agreed that particularly young teenagers find dramatic performance challenging and it is therefore important to lay the foundations early on to avoid feeling self-consciousness.

New Ideas

I plan to identify and establish the link between music and dance as I feel this an integral aspect of building artistry. I will be reviewing specific literature focussing on how practitioners develop musical interpretation within dance class. I am currently experimenting with various approaches at Stagecoach where the frame work for classes is free and does not follow a syllabus. I have been working on a ‘Creative Movement’ project to explore their response to music and encourage freedom of creativity without the worry of steps or technique. I have be documenting this project in my reflective journal and will evaluate the outcome at the end of term.

From sourced literature so far, I have discovered that interpretation of a theme is unique in every circumstance and each version individual. To achieve a greater level of artistry requires courage to convey originality and from my own experience as a teacher I am aware that students will perform the same choreography differently. I hope to broaden my student’s understanding of this and make the point that they are not expected to look like clones, they should make an interpretation their own.

I feel that drama training will develop student’s confidence in expression, allowing them to explore human emotion, how we feel, how we look and discover ways to communicate these through dance. By taking dance technique out of the equation this will lay focus solely on the dramatic element in order to apply it to the interpretation of music.

Upon consideration I am drawn to the idea of presenting my professional artefact as an audio visual presentation as I feel that it will be more informative and interactive than a lesson plan. I have not done anything like this before and feel it will enable me to acquire new skills in audio visual, presenting and editing.

My next task is to review some in depth literature, I have created a mind map to help me source publications based around musical interpretation in dance: