Thursday, 20 October 2011

Self – Reflective Inquiry

So unfortuantely I was unable to attend the campus session, but wanted to thank everyone for posted up what I missed. It's really useful to know where everyone is, what is expected next etc.

Think I am sympathizing with others in saying it feels as if I am going in circles a bit with how my inquiry questions are developing. I had a very interesting skype call with Adesola, she opened me to dig a bit deeper in terms of where I was coming from if I really want to get the most out of the programme. I've really found to helpful to step back and really log in to where exactly my passion for Dance lies, and where I hope my career will take me in the future. I have gone back to my scrap booking, creating a collection of notes of personal interest and significance to me, these range from rough notes on what I notice when I go into my local dance school in terms of the building to the feeling of camaraderie between all students and teachers there, adverts in magazines, music lyrics, little poems that have provoked meaning. Reflection in this way has enable me to notice that although my passion crosses several boundary elements, there are some recurring themes that pop up. It turns out they are quite extensive, starting from my interest in teaching amateurs and semi - pros, performing myself, researching where Dance lies in society, particularly education, how we can promote dance as being accessible for all. Leading on from this I am particularly interested as to why Dance is used to often in promotion and advertising, Dance seems to have burst onto the media scene lately, I noted one particular example of dancers bursting out of a LG washing machine representational to their 'life's good' slogan! I have already created an SIG, more specifically aimed at the role dance plays in education, I hope to extend this topic slightly into the role dance plays in society, looking at its power upon media promotion of happy healthy lifestyles. Does this interest anyone else? Please feel free to contribute to the SIG if so!

3 comments:

Stephanie Thomas said...

I think dance in wider society might be an interesting topic to explore Sophie. It's a bit of a craze isn't it? With programmes on the tv and lots of people doing dance based exercise classes like Zumba. More and more people also seem to be getting into couple dances like ballroom and latin styles - perhaps society is craving a return to the days of more romance and glamour? People even do pole dancing classes on hen dos...I bet there is potentially a lot of money to be made be tapping into these markets. I'm not sure whether this is something that you'd want to do your inquiry about but it would be interesting to research the impact of dance on the non-dancer.

Mina said...

I too, think it's an interesting topic. (My inquiry explores the situation of a particular dance style (ballet) in a particular society (Singapore)).
Reading Stephanie's observation on the dance craze today reminded me of an article 'Looking at movement as culture' by Cynthia J. Novack. The author analyses relationships between dance/'movement' and the social mood during the era in which it was major, finding the significance of dance (as a mass cultural form) affected the society. eg. Rock dancing: ''Being able to 'do your own thing' on the dance floor carried out a commitment to individualism and egalitarian ideals frequently voiced in 1960's politics''(Novack, 2010?)
Will there be a big difference whether we focus on dance as social activities or performing arts?

Sophie Douglas said...

Yes, Stephanie, looking at the sociological role of engagement with dance really does interest me. I know why I dance, but observising and listening to friends who I dance with who are not professionals is so interesting. It has re foccused my thinking into remembering why I tried dancing in the first place, it is FUN! Relating to why performing arts are so commonly used in society, for advertising especially I think is due to the role of our bodies in society, the arts premote a healthy body image both physically and mentally. Would you agree? What made you want to take up Drama in the first place, and I suppose what kept you going back to lessons and such?

This is very interesting Mina. Would you say you notice any particular part of the culture in Singapour is reflected and drawn upon it its ballet style? Do you think training in different countries, but on the same discipline, ballet or tap for example would dramtically affect you as a dancer?

I am thinking of setting up a nw SIG about the role of dance in society in the Bapp Facebook page, please feel free to contribute to any discussions. Great to hear others opinions!