Friday 11 March 2011

Reflection on what I am finding whilst Scrapbooking.

Hi everyone,

Seeking some advice this morning. I am well and truly involved with creating a scrapbook for my method of reflection. I am finding it is not only really fun, but a really effective way of creating an actually, tacile object that to me, is concise and logical. It has not only provided me with a way of expressing how I felt about a piece of choreography, but a way of creating so much inspiration for future pieces, or just simple more ways in which to improve and better pieces I have originally had ideas over. My issue however is more from a self-confidence point of view. I am anxious that although the scrapbook pages make perfect sens to me, as an individual, they may look just like a 'mish-mash' or newspaper cutting to anyone else. Is this a negative point of this particular method perhaps, in the sense of had I wanted to express my thoughts and ideas to someone else in the Professional Practise (perhaps a future employer for example), this may be a very difficult process as, have to be able and capable of translating what each article, colour, quote, movie actually means in terms of what I am scrap booking about. Has anyone else become a wear of this? Perhaps it will not be a problem, as long as I keep up to date with regular explanation pages that clearly state the analysis of each page.

3 comments:

Sonal Natasha Patel said...

Sophie, Your question about your scrapbook being a 'Mish Mash to someone else, I have encountered this before. When I have been teaching in past I have been writing my choreography,some notes then sometimes using images. When I have then handed it over to someone else they have no idea whats going on?? I found this really odd at first as I knew exactly what everything was suppose to be! I then realised that these notes where truly personal to my professional practice and my work.

Therefore this as now given me ideas on how to make my notes more general and not as personal. Now as I have been using images to show the movement and dance it has been more effective for other people also. I do think it is important to keep some of it personal and a 'Mish Mash' as at then end of the day it is your work! But I defiantly know what you mean!

Stephanie Thomas said...

I don't think it matters that your scrapbook is only understandable to you Sophie. One of the problems I had when doing a video diary was that I felt I wasn't being fully honest and open, as I knew other people could be watching. Unless someone is writing a journal for the purposes of it being published or shared, it only matters that it makes sense to you. I imagine you are getting more spontaneous and interesting reflections because you are not worrying about whether it makes sense to others, so carry on I would say!

However, as Sonal mentions above, I do think it's useful from time to time to challenge ourselves to put some reflections into words - especially if as performers this is not our natural way of doing things. Maybe set yourself a challenge of sometimes doing something like a collage on one page and then try to express it through language on the opposite page?

Nicole Carman said...

I think it’s important to differentiate whether your journey is for self progression or to use as a source of information for someone else. I think as long as it makes sense to you and you are getting something from this form of reflection its fine. I feel this section of the course is about looking inwardly just as much as outwardly.
As a teacher I often draw stick men and random diagrams for recording choreography and this has been a great tool in aiding my developing thought process, however I’m finding it increasingly difficult to decipher my old notations. I now video record almost all finished choreography as a visual aid.