The First Research Gap

Tonight, as my brain was shutting down from exhaustion and I was just about to put my reading down, I found my first research gap, and it was a totally different direction than what I was expecting. I've been reading Paula Salosaari's dissertation Multiple Embodiment in Classical Ballet, and she discusses the three choreographic options in ballet. You've got narrative content backed by form (form roughly equaling technique), form without content (think variations, that sort of thing, although I'd say this is arguably the third category already), and the third option, form as content. She goes on to say the following:

If only narrative intention and content is recognised, the ballet classroom work from an expressive point of view becomes problematic. The technical execution of the vocabulary can often be clearly defined, while the expression in it is elusive. Teaching needs concepts and words for the qualities inherent in the vocabulary. If the classroom work is emphasising learning the vocabulary as a basic technique on which the later artistic intention (probably dramatic) is added, the dancer may not become aware of the potential expressiveness in the vocabulary itself. The lack of qualitative intentionality in the classroom practice leads to the attitude that formal dance material is to be performed ‘impeccably’, and that the range of choices is narrow (Salosaari 2001: 31).

When I read that, I realized that's exactly what's happened with many of my students. I'm working diligently with one of them to help them understand how to play with musical nuances, and I can tell I'm only getting through to them sporadically. Then I realized just how often I've heard teachers call for musicality, and how little I've heard about how to actually accomplish that (and even more so, how to teach it). A couple quick searches on Summon reveal an astonishing lack of results for "ballet musicality" or "dance musicality." There's some magazine articles and a handful of academic pieces on musicality in other disciplines, but only a single one for ballet (about Cuban dancers' musicality). There surely must be more to it, and I'll keep researching it, but it does so far appear to be a gap.

What I find rather amusing is this is a topic quite dear to my heart. There's a definite fitting-ness, so to speak, to my studying this. I've always been the musical one, the dancer who plays with the music and finds working with the music to be one of the most interesting parts of dancing. That being said, how I hear music has always been slightly different than most of my teachers' ideas, and I have only found one person who hears it the same way I do--one professor, in university. Now, as a teacher, I'm firmly convinced that a mainstay of what we call artistry has to do with this idea of form as content, how a dancer uses the simplicity of technique in conjunction with music (or other sounds/silence), but it's a very difficult concept to teach and to communicate its important to students who, in my experience thus far, seem mainly focused on form as form.

I've already got some ideas percolating about how to move forward with this, but it will have to wait until I've gotten some sleep! In the meantime, I would love to hear any thoughts from others on anything surrounding this topic, even if tangentially related.

Skype Followup

Yesterday we had our monthly skype meeting, and I found it very useful and refreshing. It was great to chat with classmates on topics that we're all dealing with despite our huge differences in age and work situations and home cultures.

One of the things that I brought up was how to find the sweet spot in research topics between something that has been researched enough that you can find sources on it and something that is still new enough that you as researcher are contributing something to the field and aren't just reinventing the wheel. I've been struggling with that as I thought there wasn't much research yet on this topic (feminist pedagogy in the ballet classroom/teaching dancers to think and contribute) but there very much is. That's a good thing, of course! But I don't want to reinvent the wheel in my research. On the other hand, I know that whatever research is being done has not yet translated into an awful lot of ballet classrooms, and that is still an area which needs a lot of work. Too many classrooms are still like some of the ones I was in growing up--authoritarian, harsh, and with little regard for the dancer's physical and mental health. I thankfully had mostly good teachers, but the few I had that weren't have left lasting scars. I don't want any dancer to grow up with scars like that, and so there is still work to be done.

Anyways, Brandon mentioned that the farther into research one gets, the more gaps will appear, even if seems like everything has already been researched to death. It hasn't, of course, and the further in one gets, the more holes will crop up in the literature. I'm hoping that as I go farther into my research, those gaps will appear.

How have you found those gaps in your own reading?

The Reading Continues!

Well, we're another week into the module and progress is happening. I've finished Bell's book, which is something I can tell I'll return to during the process, and I'm about a third of the way through with Decolonizing Methodologies. It's a fascinating read, not only for the intended content, but also for the history. I know very little about the history of indigenous peoples of New Zealand--all of my schooling focused on indigenous peoples of North America--so it's interesting, though obviously troubling, to compare the process of colonization and decolonization between the two places. A lot to process through and a lot to sit with, and I'm looking forward to seeing how the book continues.

On another note, I'm in a different place job-wise than I was last week. I've had some unexpected but very welcome opportunities fall into my lap, and it looks like I'll have more available directions to go in with my research than I expected, which is very exciting! That means I can really start looking into the research as such this weekend now that I can relax a bit on the job front.

And on yet another note, I've been reminded in the last week or two just how much teaching is a process of learning. I mean duh, of course it is, but I've had several moments in the last few weeks of trying to help students with this or that and figuring out to explain it as they were learning how to do it. I'm sure at a certain point, teachers see certain issues over and over again, an FAQ of sorts. I'm beginning to amass those things too (hyperextension, so much hyperextension with young students). But on the other hand, since every student is different, it's fun to think that there will never be an end to interesting challenges in this career.

What has happened in class lately that has surprised you? Perhaps something a student has done, or a new way of explaining things?

The Reading Begins...

I'm finishing up a flurry of administration details still, which is a pain, but I'm enjoying the start of research, which is decidedly not a pain. I've been tackling Judith Bell's Doing Your Research Project  and am about halfway through. It's a great read.

I've also been starting to let thoughts percolate about my project in general. I've known since I started module one what direction I wanted to take it in generally, but I do mean generally. I want to do something with dancers learning how to think, collaborate, and take responsibility for their own learning--so in the vein of how does one teach dancers to think? What does that mean? What is the value of it?

One of the papers that I did for my graduate pedagogy class several years back was about the authority structures in the classroom and the differences between ballet (authoritarian, usually) and modern (more collaborative) class atmospheres. It was absolutely fascinating research, and ever since then I've had it on my radar as something I want to look into more, as one of my key goals as a teacher is teaching my students how to think and evaluate their own technique and artistry and learn how to grow themselves forward.

Currently the first problem I'm running into that all the ballet lessons I'm teaching right now are private lessons and my modern class is the group class. So if I wanted to do any kind of research on ballet classrooms, my sample size is really too small. That means hunting for more classes to teach next year, a time-consuming process, but one that is going to affect which way I can take my research.

How is everyone else's week going? For module twos, what thoughts are beginning to percolate about your project? And for module ones and threes, how is the start of the module going? I'd also love to chat about teaching thinking skills in the classroom, so by all means comment on that too!

Hello, Module 2!

As of Monday, we're officially in the new term, which means starting Module 2 for me. I'm taking this first week to pour over the handbooks and orient myself into the semester as a whole. From my first glance through the handbook, I'm getting very excited. When I did three semesters towards my MFA a few years back, one of my favorite courses was called Research and Writing for Dance. It was one of the courses that has been most useful for me long-term. This module sounds very much in the same vein--looking at philosophical frameworks, orienting ourselves in current and historical research, ways of researching and ethics thereof, etc. My old textbook is even on the recommended reading list! So it's very exciting to have the opportunity to dive into all this material again, hopefully on a much different and hopefully deeper way now that I'm further into my professional practice than I was then.

One of my priorities for this module is fully participating in the MAPP communities--blogs, LinkedIn, skypes, etc. I feel like I still have barely scratched the surface of communication with my classmates. Last module I was hoping to get a slack group going, which Adesola kindly created, but I'd like to see that become active and useful to us. 

In the skype this past weekend I discussed attempting to find a more efficient way to interact with others' blogs. There's a lot of us, and so a lot of blogs to keep up with. It's not feasible to check out each blog every week, but if I even tackle a third (a third! so that's what, a dozen blogs?) each week, then I still only interact with each person/blog four times this entire module. Hm. Last semester I managed tackling 4-6 blogs each week, in part because not everyone was posting something every week, so it meant only 2-3 substantial responses. I'm trying to imagine more than doubling that. It's a daunting prospect, but I'd really like to be as active as I can. We'll see how that plays out though as the semester heats up. ;)

I'm going to keep chewing through this and investigating some technology options (like, is there a way to set up automatic notifications of new blog posts? That would save the time of checking but even more so ensure that things don't slip through the cracks) to see if there are things that would help. Perhaps something I find might even be applicable to the group as a whole and make things easier for others too.

When I reread this, I'm afraid my enthusiasm is leaping off the page... well, guilty as charged. I can't wait to get started on the module and get to know those of you I haven't yet interacted with much, and get to know those of you I have interacted with better.

Goodbye, Module 1!

Whew! I just turned in everything and that's the end of module 1. It's hard to believe the first semester of grad school is a wrap already! How is everyone else faring? Looking forward to module 2, and best of luck to everyone else getting their submissions in!

Considering All Students

Jane brought up something in our skype session yesterday that made me think about my own teaching practices. She was talking about how we shouldn't prejudge our students based on what we think they can or can't eventually do or pigeonhole them into a "lane" of ability. I totally agree, having been pigeonholed like that. It's hurtful and often winds up being inaccurate.

Now as a teacher, I find I really don't know how to do that anyway. It would feel very odd to me to treat my students based on their perceived level. Of course, that's not to say that my students are all at the same level--far, far from it. But I push all of my students to try for their best, regardless of what that may be. I'm not omniscient and have no idea what they'll eventually wind up doing with dance. Regardless, it's not my job to figure that out. It's my job to teach them as best I can, and in my opinion, to do any less is to neglect my job.

There are no guarantees with students. I had a very sharp, talented, and hard-working young student quit at the end of last season, because she wanted a break from dance. It was a huge pity (hopefully someday she'll return!), because to my eye, she could really do something with it if she wants to. I have other students who are less "talented" or have less physical capability, and yet they work very hard and their improvement reflects that. Some students take to one style more quickly than another, or find their stride later in age than their peers. I was one such student.

Ultimately, I try to assume that each student is capable of doing the movement correctly, perhaps with some modifications for less turnout or flexibility or whatnot. I very, very much hope that my students know that I'll always be their biggest fan. It is also my hope that if my students don't think they can do it, they'll catch a bit of faith from me and learn that they can, in fact, do the thing, and do it well. I think that's half my job anyway, right? Not just teaching them how to dance, but teaching them how to gain confidence, courage, and curiosity in dance and life.